With the start of the new school year, curriculum may be on the minds of many homeschooling families. If genealogy is something that you would like to incorporate into your children’s homeschooling there are many ways that you can do it. Genealogy lends itself well to many different study areas including creative pursuits like scrapbooking, English language (writing family history), science, and geography as well as history. Depending upon the ages and interests of your children, you can introduce them to genealogy in any number of ways. For example, you could create a pedigree chart, have each child choose a … Continue reading →

Is there a “Hidden Mother” lurking within the photos of your ancestors? Look closer! A “Hidden Mother” isn’t a supernatural event, or an alien from outer space. Instead, it is a clever way to safely take a great photo of a baby, long before Photoshop was invented. It is natural for parents to take lots and lots of photos of their newborn. It is a way to capture just how precious, and tiny, a child was before he grew into a “big boy”. Baby photos are one way that parents can hold on to a vivid memory of exactly what … Continue reading →

Genealogists who have had problems trying to log into Ancestry.com recently need not worry. It wasn’t caused by your computer, and it wasn’t due to hacking (probably). The popular genealogy website is aware of the site outages, and will let you know when things are back online. It doesn’t take much to ruin a genealogists evening sometimes. Those of you who have paid for a membership at Ancestry.com probably expect that the website will be available to you whenever you want to use it. Unfortunately, every website needs to go down for maintenance eventually. Once in a while, you run … Continue reading →

Genealogy is a hobby that tends to generate quite a bit of paperwork. Have you ever forgotten what documents, notes, or photographs you have because you couldn’t find them? It is definitely beneficial to find a way to organize your pile of papers. For me, this all started with a desire to find my birth certificate. I was attempting to begin work on my family tree by starting with myself. This piece of advice has some advantages. After all, most people know when their birthday is, and the year that they were born. Trying to find one’s birth certificate is … Continue reading →

Many of us point to our genes as a contributing factor behind why we do not like the way that we look in our jeans. Genes do affect the shape of a person’s body, and this may leave you wondering whether you are “stuck” with the type of body that you inherited. The connection between genes, diet, and lifestyle has been studies by many doctors and scientists in the hopes of gaining an understanding of how those things work together to impact our bodies. One doctor who has studied in this area of research is Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo, a … Continue reading →

Genealogy and computer technology have become intertwined in many ways. There are plenty of genealogy apps out there. How can you tell a good one from one that isn’t as useful? Here are some tips about how to evaluate a genealogy app review. You just read a review about a new, shiny, interesting sounding, genealogy app. Before you make the purchase, or download an app that is free, there are some basic factors that you should consider. Taking the time to consider these factors could be the difference between finding a great genealogy app, and getting stuck with a genealogy … Continue reading →

Part of genealogy research includes finding interesting stories from the history of your family. These types of stories are often handed down by “word of mouth”. It is important to save them before they are forgotten. Here are a few ideas on how to put together your family history before it disappears. There are plenty of good reasons why you should make some sort of record of your family history. Doing so preserves it for future generations. It is a way of making sure that those interesting stories, photos, and voices don’t get lost over time. The way you choose … Continue reading →

Memorial Day is one time of year when cemeteries see a lot of visitors. The holiday was established in 1868 to honor soldiers who had lost their lives in service to our nation during the Civil War. On Memorial Day, people often visit the graves of those who lost their lives in service and decorate their graves with American flags. Communities also have annual concerts and patriotic parades to mark the occasion. Many people also choose to visit cemeteries on Memorial Day to decorate the graves of family members who have passed away regardless of whether they served in the … Continue reading →

The genealogy research that you do is important! You might be creating the only record of your family tree that has ever existed. In addition to learning more about your own family, you can use your genealogy related skills to help out others. Here are a few suggestions about how to do that. There used to be a website called Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness, (or RAOGK). It was run by a woman named Bridgett Schneider. The website started in 1999 and ended in 2011 when Bridgett, who was 64 years old, passed away. The original website for RAOGK is … Continue reading →

Sometimes, it is nice to take a break from your current genealogy research project and try something a little different. Writing a family history story is a fun way to put some of the facts that you have gathered into a larger context and preserve information about the life and times of one or more of your ancestors. Wait, what’s that you say? You say that you can not write a family history story because you are not a good writer? That is okay. You do not have to be a published author, or anything close to that, in order … Continue reading →