7 Reasons to Start a Family History Blog

family history blogMore and more people are blogging about their family history. Here’s why!

When it comes right down to it, many of us want to write up our family stories, but we don’t really want to write or publish a 300-page book. Blogging your family history in short snippets is a perfect alternative! Why?

1. Its shorter, flexible format is much less intimidating for many people. You don’t have to lay out a book or fill hundreds of pages. You can write a little bit at a time, as your time and mood permit.

2. A blog is like your own family history message board. Every word you write is searchable by Google–which means others researching the same family lines can find and connect with you.

3. A family history blog can help bust your toughest brick wall. I’ve heard and shared countless stories here at Genealogy Gems from readers and listeners of how just “putting it out there” on a blog led to someone contacting them with a treasure trove of new information about their family tree.

4. Writing a narrative about your research will help you identify gaps in your research. Sometimes errors or bad assumptions you made will jump out at you.

5. Your kids and grandkids are (or will be) online. They will more likely want to read quick and easy stories on the go on their smart phones and tablets. Putting your research out there on a blog provides them with an easy way to digest the family heritage and subscribe to it, since blogs can be delivered to their email inbox or to a blog reader.

6. Because there are no excuses. You can start a blog for free. There are no rules, so you can decide how often and how much you write at once.

7. If you leave the blog online, it will still be there even when you’re not actively blogging. You will continue to share–and you may continue to attract relatives to it.

Resource:

Start a family history blog with this free series from our Family History Made Easy podcast (an online radio show)

Part 1: What to Consider when Starting a Genealogy Blog. The “Footnote Maven,” author of two popular blogs, talks about the process of starting a genealogy blog. She gives great tips for thinking up your own approach, finding a unique niche, commenting on other people’s blogs and more.

Part 2: Insights from Popular Genealogy Bloggers. We hear from two additional popular genealogy bloggers, Denise Levenick (author of The Family Curator and alter ego of “Miss Penny Dreadful” on the Shades of the Departed blog) and  Schelly Tallalay Dardashti (author of the Tracing the Tribe blog).

Part 3: Step by Step on Blogger.com. How to create your own free family history blog on Blogger.com. Learn tricks for designing a simple, useful blog and how NOT to overdo it!

Final tips: Wrap-up and inspiration. In this concluding episode, learn how to add a few more gadgets and details to your blog; pre-plan your blog posts, publish your first article, and how to help your readers subscribe. You’ll also get great tips on how to create genealogy content that others looking for the same ancestors can find easily online.

share notes with evernoteSHARE! Invite someone you know to start a family history blog by sending them this post. They’ll thank you for it later!

Longtime Family History Mystery Solved Online

computer_magnifying_glass_400_wht_11672Everyone’s families have a little bit of mystery in their past–or a lot!

TheBlaze.com recently posted this great story about a woman who was able to solve a longtime family history mystery by posting it online at Metafilter.com, a crowd-source blog. She posted this query:

“In my grandmother’s final days battling brain cancer, she became unable to speak and she filled dozens of index cards with random letters of the alphabet. I’m beginning to think that they are the first letters in the words of song lyrics, and would love to know what song this was. This is a crazy long shot, but I’ve seen Mefites [other site users] pull off some pretty impressive code-breaking before!” Then she posted the “code” from one of the cards.

Within 15 minutes someone solved part of the puzzle: a section of the code was the first letters of the prayer from the New Testament, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name….”

Have YOU ever been faced with indecipherable notes left behind by a family member? What family history mystery do you wish an online community could help you solve? Share this on the Genealogy Gems Facebook page and leave your answers.

Season Four

The Genealogy Gems Podcast Episodes
2009 Season Four

Scroll to the bottom of each Podcast Show Notes Page and click the episode mp3 file to download the episode for listening.  It will take a minute or two for the episode to download, and it will open in your computer’s audio program (for example: Quicktime or Windows Media Player.)

Episode 61 Listen & Show Notes
A sneak peek at the new website GenSeek with Steve Nickle, President of Familylink.com.  And Part 2 of Lisa’s interview with Darby Hinton where they discuss the Hinton Family History.

Episode 62  Listen & Show Notes
Go Genealogical Channel Surfing:  Part 3 of Lisa’s interview with Darby Hinton about his new TV pilot Hintons Living History.  Hang Ten with Ken Marks, executive producer of the new TV series Legend Seekers.

Episode 63 Listen & Show Notes
Lisa conducts an exclusive interview with Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, star of the hit TV series The History Detectives.

Episode 64  Listen & Show Notes
New Online Newspaper Databases, An answer to a listener’s Family Tree Maker software question, A Gem of an Idea: Online Downloadable Source Citations, Interview with Maureen Taylor, and the History of Casey Jones

Episode 65  Listen & Show Notes
Interview with George Morgan, Mother’s Day, Odometer History

Episode 66  Listen & Show Notes
An Important Anniversary:  D-Day, Upcoming Genealogy Conferences, Genealogy Records Update, Interview with Kathy Meade of Genline.com about new features at the Swedish records website, and Paper of Record at the Google News Archive.

Episode 67  Listen & Show Notes
Jamboree Highlights, News, Interview with Genealogy Blogger Randy Seaver of the Genea-Musings blog

Episode 68  Listen & Show Notes
GenealogyWise, Lisa on the Genealogy Guys Pocast, Paper of Record Update, Interview with Genealogy Blogger Thomas MacEntee, 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11, A Special Collection at the DAR Library, Lisa to Teach Family Tree Magazine Webinar

Episode 69  Listen & Show Notes
The First U.S. Census, Interview with author and genealogist Tony Burroughs, “My Mother Was a Quilter” by Lee Drew,

Episode 70 Listen & Show Notes
Resources for understanding the U.S. Federal Census, Member Connect Tour with David Graham from Ancestry.

Episode 71 Listen & Show Notes
The new Genealogy Gem rhinestone pin, The Mailbox, Member Connect with Ancestry, Part 2, Family History Thoughts with Lee Drew “Choices & Consequences,”

Episode 72  Listen & Show Notes
Civil War Records, The Mailbox, Probate Records with Jana Broglin, Sorting Your Bookmarks Alphabetically in Safari,

Episode 73 Listen & Show Notes
It’s All About You and Genealogy!  New Digitized Newspapers, Premium Episodes.

Episode 73 Video Cast  Show Notes
Genealogy News Segment

Episode 74 Listen & Show Notes
An Amazing Story Featuring the DeadFred Web Site (Interview with Joe Bott)

Episode 75 Listen & Show Notes
The New Free Genealogy Gems Toolbar, The Mailbox, Interview with David Rencher, Head Genealogist at FamilySearch About the Digitization of Records and the Future of FamilySearch.

Episode 76 Listen & Show Notes
News, Mailbox, The 1810 Census, Part 2 of Lisa’s Interview with David Rencher Head Genealogist at FamilySearch.org, the Free Genealogy Gems Toolbar.

Episode 77 Listen & Show Notes
News, Mailbox, Interview with Maureen Taylor “The Photo Detective” about ancestral hairstyles, Family Storytelling During the Holidays.

Episode 78 Listen & Show Notes
News, Mailbox, the New Genealogy Gems Podcast App for iPhone and iTouch, Adoption research, 45 History, and a video of Mona Golabek and the inspiring story of her family.

Episode 79 Listen & Show Notes
This episode is a broadcast of the LIVE Genealogy Gems Podcast presented at the Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona on January 22, 2010 featuring guests Gena Philibert Ortega, Thomas MacEntee, Bruce Buzbee and Anastasia Tyler.

Episode 80 Listen & Show Notes
Lisa’s special guest is Irene Johnson (you know her from the PBS TV series Ancestors).  She worked at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City for 15 years and gives us her best tips and tricks.

Find Family History with Online Newspaper Research: More Chronicling America

Have you already searched for your relatives’ names at Chronicling America, the the Library of Congress’ web collection of digitized American newspapers? Well, search again!

Recently the the Library of Congress added more than 600,000 historic newspaper pages to its enormous collection. According to a press release, these pages include “first-time contributions from Iowa, Michigan, and West Virginia. Other new additions include content from Hawaii, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.” The site now has over 6.6 million searchable newspaper pages from over 1100 newspaper titles, published in 30 states and Washington, D.C. between 1836 and 1922.

Newspaper Book CoverWhat are the chances your family will appear on one of those pages? Pretty good, actually. Here’s a list of the kinds of articles they may show up in from my book How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers:

  • Advertising: classifieds, companies your ancestor worked for or owned, grocery or dry goods stores ads (for historical context), runaway slaves search and reward, ship departures.
  • Births & deaths: birth announcements, card of thanks printed by the family, obituary and death notices, “Community Pioneer” article upon passing,  funeral notice, reporting of the event that lead to the death, or the funeral.
  • Legal notices and public announcements: auctions, bankruptcies, city council meetings, divorce filings, estate sales, executions and punishments, lawsuits, marriage licenses, probate notices tax seizures, sheriff’s sale lists.
  • Lists: disaster victims, hotel registrations, juror’s and judicial reporting, letters left in the post office, military lists, newly naturalized citizens, passenger lists (immigrants and travelers), unclaimed mail notices.
  • News articles: accidents, fires, etc. featuring your ancestor; front page (for the big picture); industry news (related to occupations); natural disasters in the area; shipping news; social history articles.
  • Community and social events like school graduations, honor rolls, sporting and theater events; social news like anniversaries, church events, clubs, engagements, family reunions, visiting relatives, parties, travel, gossip columns, illnesses, weddings and marriage announcements.

Learn more about researching family history with my book, available in both print and e-book format. And don’t forget to keep checking Chronicling America for stories and clues about your ancestors’ lives.

Family History Reunion Ideas (or Weddings or BBQs…)

love_magnet_400_wht_12552Do you have a family reunion, wedding or another special family gathering coming up soon? I’ve been busy helping plan my youngest daughter’s wedding, and we are looking for ways to capture memories from our loved ones while they are all together.

Hannah and I aren’t the only ones looking to make the most of this exciting event. Genealogy Gems podcast listener Kirsty recently asked me how she could incorporate family history gathering at her upcoming wedding (Congratulations, Kirsty!) and here’s what I told her:

1. Search family reunion websites and other websites for ideas you can convert to a wedding reception. For example, Reunions Magazine has a page devoted to family history activity ideas for family reunions. A search of Google and Pinterest should help you find more ideas. Check out my Pinterest board called Incorporating Family History Into Your Wedding.

My Board: Incorporating Family History into Your Wedding

My Board: Incorporating Family History into Your Wedding

2. If you have  your guests seated at tables, that’s a great opportunity to provide an icebreaker that can double as a family history gathering opportunity. You could have a form at each place setting for them to fill out. If you are having a videographer, you could have a short list of questions at each table, and when he comes to their table he records them answering the questions. (What’s your earliest childhood memory?  Who’s the earliest ancestor you have a photograph of? What are three things you remember about great-grandmother? etc) Can you imagine how this Martha Stewart placecard on Pinterest (which I found by searching “family reunion history” at Pinterest) might be adapted this way?

3. If you they won’t be at tables, you could have a family history table (next to another table they are likely to visit such as guest book table) and have your activity there. Let them know that this is their gift to you. You could even have some sort of treat or little sticker they can wear that says “I shared the family history, have you?” (In the U.S. when you vote they often give you a little lapel sticker that says “I voted.”)  Or you could create the “Sweet Memories Candy Bars” that feature family history that I write about in my book Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies.

I hope these ideas help inspire Kirsty and anyone who wants to gather their loved ones’ memories at their next family event!

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