A Memoir Biography Sample

B was born in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, around 1923. The family doesn’t know the exact date but they celebrated his birthday in June every year. B had a big family: his parents, four brothers, and three sisters. He was an intelligent and curious young boy who loved to play. 

Though his childhood was largely normal there was something that set him apart from his siblings and other children around him – he could remember his past life. According to his daughter A, B would talk about his previous life in Germany, where he was an army officer. 

She said that young B had certain strange habits. For one, he would take a stick and march like a soldier. Another was that he would ask for cutlery while eating, which isn’t the practice in Indian homes. He talked about relatives in Germany, specifically an aunt. He also had a round mark on his neck that he said was from a bullet injury sustained during a war. “I clearly remember the big round mark on the side of his neck.” A said. “Like if you cut through a betel nut, that kind of design and size.” 

At the time, B’s family didn’t really understand what was going on. “They were brushing it aside as maybe something is wrong,” A said. “I don’t know in detail how they reacted but I’m sure they must have been saying he’s a strange boy. It was quite alien to them.” 

His story spread was picked up by local and national newspapers, and even to North America, where it caught the attention of a renowned psychiatrist who was researching reincarnation. Stevenson came to India to interview B and then went to Germany to corroborate his story. All of it was true, so much so that the former army officer's existing family in Germany wanted B to move there and be with them, but his family in India refused. Stevenson published his findings in a book and presented B’s family with a copy. 

A said that her father’s memories of his past life did not go on for very long, only during his childhood.