This weekend, I am making some family memories with my husband, my son, and my in-laws. A few years ago, my husband and I started joining my in-laws on their annual trip to the Common Ground Fair up in Maine. This will be our second time going with our son, and we are excited to take many pictures and record videos and notes of our experiences. Family vacations are one of my favorite ways to connect with both my parents and my in-laws and I am very lucky that we have been able to make a couple of trips pretty … Continue reading →

For every wonderful genealogy topic that there is, there is also another that is not at all wonderful. Whether we are discussing physical traits like who the baby looks like or what your cancer risk is based upon your family history or personality traits like how you seem to have inherited your mother’s knack for cooking or whether your child will suffer from depression like her grandmother, there are shadows that are cast by the branches of many family trees. Some of the shadows loom larger than others and today, I would like to take a look at something that … Continue reading →

It is interesting how everything old becomes new again and things that were done years ago often become popular again because of something in the present moment that causes us to pause and think, “Wait a minute, this has happened before. What did people do last time?” With the economy still at a low point, I have noticed that there is a lot of interest in what people did during the Great Depression to make ends meet. Many families have at least one family member who lived during the Great Depression and these people have valuable stories to tell. The … Continue reading →

Genealogy research sure does create a lot of “stuff”. Whether you are just starting out on your family history research or you have been researching for a while, you have more than likely notice that you have a lot of piles of paper and other things that are accumulating as you progress in your quest for information about your ancestors. The question of what to do to organize all of your genealogy “stuff” can be overwhelming, depending upon how much “stuff” you have. It is not impossible though, and the sooner you get everything organized and stored in a way … Continue reading →

What’s in a name? Actually, quite a lot of information can be gleaned from a person’s name. A name can help connect relationships between different generations of a family. A surname could give clues about a person’s heritage. When a politician changes his name, even slightly, it could alter the way he is perceived by potential voters. Rick Perry is the current Governor of Texas. He is a Republican. He has been in the news lately because of his view that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all “a Ponzi scheme”. His birth name is James Richard Perry. He shares … Continue reading →

Boy Scouts can earn a badge called the Genealogy Merit Badge. Kids that are still too young to join the Scouts can become a Cub Scout. They don’t have a Genealogy Merit Badge, but they can earn the Heritage Belt Loop. It focuses on the family heritage aspect of genealogy. The Cub Scouts is a family and home centered program that is for boys who are too young to join the Boy Scouts. It is broken down into separate groups, based on the age of the child. Tiger Cubs are first graders (who are at least seven years old). Wolf … Continue reading →

Grandparents’ Day is this weekend. I have some memories of this holiday, largely associated with my elementary school years. I remember that each year, the school would have a special lunch on Grandparents’ Day and we could each invite our grandparents to attend. Before the lunch, there were musical performances by each classroom and before Grandparents’ Day we would make special cards or pictures during art class to present to our grandparents. I remember that one or both of my grandmothers would attend the celebration each year. I am sure that much has changed since I was in elementary school. … Continue reading →

If you are researching your family history and would like to share it with others in your family, here is an idea for a fun project that makes a wonderful gift. Sharing family history is a wonderful thing, and family members always appreciate the work that goes into a genealogy related item like a scrapbook or a family history book. Creating those family treasures takes time and effort, especially if you want to make multiple copies to share with the whole family. A digital scrapbook can be a wonderful way to share photos, stories, family tree charts, and other items … Continue reading →

There is a tool that genealogists can use to help organize their research. SortYourStory is a piece of software that you download onto your computer. It helps you to create digital copies of photos and important documents, and organizes them in a way that makes it easy to find when you need them. SortYourStory was created by Lorel Kapke, a genealogy expert. The software has been designed as a tool that genealogists can use to store their research quickly, easily, and securely, all in one convenient location. All of it is stored directly on your own personal computer. SortYourStory costs … Continue reading →

Heart disease is a very scary thing. It is important for people to know whether they are at a higher risk for developing heart disease than other people so that they can take steps to decrease that risk as much as possible. Fortunately, you can find out about your personal heart disease risk by doing some family history research and sharing your findings with your doctor. In order to get an idea of whether heart disease runs in your family, ask your parents. If at all possible, find out whether your parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents had … Continue reading →