Genealogists love weddings. Attending a wedding is a joyful event in and of itself, but for genealogists, it holds the promise of making new connections and unearthing new information about the happy couple and the families that are joining together as a result of their union. Weddings provide a wonderful opportunity to get to know the new additions to the family and catch up with relatives that you may not have seen in a while. Weddings have come a long way since our the days of our ancestors’ ancestors. Early marriages were sometimes a result of capture, not of choice. … Continue reading →

Vacations are so much fun, and part of what makes them so special is spending a large block of uninterrupted time with family members. Families strengthen their ties during vacations as they have fun and create memories that will bring them joy long after the trip is over. Some families vacation in the same place every year. Some even pass down a vacation home from generation to generation, or they return with their families to places that their parents brought them as children. Vacations are an important part of each family’s story. If you are a family historian, you may … Continue reading →

If you are a genealogist and you have children, you have probably wondered whether or not your children will share your interest in researching family history. Whether your children are young or old, you may hope for the day when a situation comes up involving you and your child where you share a “golden moment” that piques their curiosity and gets them interested in genealogy. It is only natural to have these sorts of hopes and dreams. Genealogy is a family affair, and much of the purpose of what you do in your research comes from a desire to preserve … Continue reading →

What do you give to the person who loves a hobby that you don’t do, (or really understand)? This is a dilemma that family members of genealogists face every year. Whenever you are seeking unique, amusing, gifts, that genealogists will consider to be fun, it’s advisable to plan ahead. There are some great gift choices out there, if you know where to look. It isn’t easy to shop for fun gifts that will put a smile on the face of the genealogist in your life. You might not have any way to know, for certain, if that person currently has … Continue reading →

Everybody loves baby stories. Whether it is a story about how your brother used to pull you around the neighborhood in a wagon or how you tried to teach the family dog how to read, stories about what you and your siblings and other family members were like as babies and young children are always interesting. If you are interested in genealogy, you may want to incorporate some of your family’s baby stories into your work. To collect family baby stories for use in a family history book or scrapbook, you will want to start by interviewing people in the … Continue reading →

Has your genealogy research led you to the discovery of a long, lost, relative that you never knew of the existence of? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get the chance to meet that person, face to face? Perhaps you have been unable to schedule a family reunion with the long, lost, relative, due to cost. If so, then you may want to enter a contest that could win you a free family reunion. One of the most exciting things that can happen as a result of a person’s genealogy research is the discovery of relatives or ancestors that you had … Continue reading →

If you have ancestors that lived in America during the Great Depression, they may talk freely about how they survived those tough times. Some people don’t want to talk about it, but if you are lucky enough to know someone who does then you may want to spend some time interviewing them so that you can preserve their stories and their wisdom for future generations. When you talk to someone about how they got through the Great Depression, you may be surprised by what you hear – their tips for frugal living are usually relevant even in today’s economy and … Continue reading →

A woman in Carthage, Missouri has put together a very special Facebook page. It is designed to help people who lost their family photos in the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, to potentially find them. This may be the first time that a social media website was used to reunite families with the lost photos of their relatives and ancestors. A woman named Abi Almandinger, who lives in Carthage, Missouri, wanted to do something to help the people who lived in Joplin, Missouri. Joplin was hit by a tornado on May 22, 2011. In many cases, people lost everything they … Continue reading →

There are some things that are talked about and understood so much more now than they were in years past. When you are exploring your family history, you may find that there are ancestors that people are reluctant to discuss, or for whom many details are missing. It is possible that these ancestors may have suffered from a mental illness, for which they may have been hospitalized in a mental institution. Mental illness was very much misunderstood until quite recently, if you look at it from a historical perspective. During the 1930’s, frontal lobotomies (removing part of the brain) were … Continue reading →

Few things are as permanent as a tattoo. Perhaps this is why so many people choose to get tattoos that symbolize their heritage, or that are done in honor of another family member. How many of you know someone who has a tattoo of the names of his or her children forever etched into their skin? There are a lot of celebrities who have tattoos that are symbolic connections to members of their family. There have been a lot of stories online that talk about the giant tattoo that Monta Ellis recently had placed upon his body. Monta Ellis is … Continue reading →