Turning Wills, Census Data & Documents into Poetry

How genealogists can transform family records into heartfelt verse.

Finding the Story in the Silence

Genealogists are not strangers to archived or online census sheets, court records, and faded wills. These documents create the scaffolding of family history research. They're rich with names, dates, occupations, and mysterious blanks. But how do we go from columns and clauses to something alive with emotion and memory? One powerful answer is poetry.

Poetry can allow us to fill in the rigid boundaries that documents provide with imagination and empathy. What did a widow think as she signed her "X" mark on a will? What stories live between the ten-year gaps in the census? Turning documents into verse doesn’t change the facts...it gives them voice.

You'll learn below that this voice often isn't pretty. Racial inequities, political policies that hurt individuals, and natural disastors all offer fodder for the documentary poem. Reality, also, is key in this genre. I give you a break both in the image above and in the prompt below to focus on something loving before you decide to dig deeper.

Books, Poems & Poets Who Turn Records into Art

Note: The books are affiliate links. Nothing extra will come out of your pocket, but BooksAMillion will pay me for sending you their way. Thanks!

Books to Inspire:

• 📖 "Most Way Home" by Kevin Young. A Black man's perspective on documents, news, life, and struggles. I listed a sample poem below under "Individual Poems to Read".

• 📖 The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser. This poetry book documents the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel disaster of 1931 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Powerful.

• 📖 Holocaust Poetry edited by Hilda Schiff. A collection, which also preserves poems written by those who themselves perished in the Shoah, the final testaments and eternal lessons of unknown soldiers, unheralded heroes, unsilenced voices. 

Individual Poems to Read:

• "The Documents" by Terence Winch

• "Reward" by Kevin Young. This is a poem based upon a newspaper or broadside notice that was a reward for a runaway slave. This poem is from his book mentioned above, Most Way Home.

• "The English in Virginia, April 1607" by Charles Reznikoff. Poem based upon the Works of Captain John Smith, edited by Edward Arber.

Extra Resources:

• Docupoetry: A series of podcasts, "For generations, through wars, crisis, and political upheaval, documentary poets have helped make sense of some of our most difficult moments – by expressing what might otherwise be impossible to say. So what are they writing about today?"
• What the Record Shows: An inexpensive course offered by Lynnell Edwards, author of The Bearable Slant of Light (Red Hen Press, 2024)."In this generative workshop we’ll look at how poets have incorporated and adapted found language and forms from these kinds of documents to create richly textured poems." Currently, the course is not available, but I've contacted the Carnegie Center for more information.
• Poetry inspired by a viral photo of drowned migrants wins the National Book Award: Trigger warning. This article speaks to the poem "Floaters" by Martin Espada, based upon the deaths of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria.
• Documentary Poetry, Poetics, and Craft: This PDF contains tons of marvelous examples of documentary poetry as well as methods for the writer.

Poetry Form Spotlight: The Found Poem

The found poem is a perfect match for document-based writing. It takes existing language from a will, land deed, or inventory list and transforms it into poetry by rearranging, spacing, or emphasizing certain phrases by using the "blackout method" to develop blackout poetry.

Why the found poem works:

• It's rooted in real language—perfect for historical materials.

• You don't need to invent anything—just select, shape, and feel.

• It teaches us to listen closely to the original voice in the record.

How to begin:

• Choose a single document such as a will, census form, or pension application.

• Highlight or copy key phrases that resonate for you emotionally or that seem to tell a story.

• Rearrange them in lines or stanzas. Add line breaks for rhythm.

• Let the gaps and silences speak too.

Bonus Form: Epistolary Poems (poems in the form of letters) also work beautifully if you want to “respond” to the record from your ancestor’s or your own point of view.

✅ Poetry Toolbox: Genealogy Document to Poem Checklist

Use this quick checklist to guide your transformation from record to verse:

🗂️ Choose Your Document
☐ Will, census, pension, land grant, or legal record
☐ Highlight emotion-packed or unusual phrases
☐ Note patterns, lists, or repetitions

📝 Pick Your Approach
☐ Found poem (rearranged document text)
☐ Epistolary (letter-style) poem
☐ Narrative or lyrical poem inspired by gaps or silences

🎭 Add Humanity
☐ Imagine the person’s voice, choices, or feelings
☐ Consider what’s missing—what would they say?
☐ Use line breaks and spacing to shape emotion

🪄 Polish & Reflect
☐ Read the poem aloud—does it feel like a voice or story?
☐ Let fact and feeling coexist
☐ Title it with intention—sometimes the original date or place name works beautifully

🧵 Mini Prompt Box

Prompt:
You don’t need an original birth certificate or a distant ancestor’s journal to start. A single probate record or census listing can hold enough humanity to inspire a lifetime of poems. You can start with:

“The Williams-Jones marriage, announced yesterday...”

You might describe the medium (newspaper, census record, birth certificate), use the words, and imagine the outcome.

✍️ Call to Action: Your Turn to Find the Poem

Title: Your Ancestor’s Voice in the Records
Try this: Choose one historical document—such as a will, land record, or census page.

• Highlight 5–10 striking or emotional phrases.

• Rearrange them into a found poem.

• If you'd like, add 1–2 of your own lines imagining what the person might say.

• Give your poem a title based on the year, place, or record type.

This is your chance to bring their story to life—in just a few lines of verse. Start with a document that has always intrigued or confused you. Look at it with fresh eyes - not as data, but as a glimpse into a life.

If you have a poem you'd like to share, please drop it in the comments below!