Blog – Page 110 – Family Locket

Favorite Reads of the Week: 17 December 2016 – genealogy quilts, Christmas trees, and generosity

Christmas Trees Oh Family Tree, Oh Family Tree! by Colleen G. Brown Pasquale at Leaves & Branches O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREE! by Linda Stufflebean at Empty Branches on the Family Tree For Teddy Roosevelt’s Son, Rebelling Meant Sneaking Christmas Trees Into the White House by Cara Giaimo at Atlast Obscura – 1902: Christmas trees an “absurd fad” or a delightful surprise hidden in a closet? A Christmas Tree by Jill Ball at GeniAus – a festive way to […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer December 17, 2016 Favorite Reads of the Month

New Family History Technology – RootsTech Innovator Showdown Submissions

The RootsTech 2017 Innovator Showdown received 41 submissions. Innovators from all industries were encouraged to submit their family history related ideas for unique hardware, software apps, or services in the contest. I eagerly looked at all of the submissions. Here are the ones that stood out: Fun/Games Cuzins – see how you’re related to friends and celebrities and how celebrities are related to each other Little Family Tree – This app was submitted last year but has new games, including […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer December 16, 2016 Creating and Sharing Family History

The Adventures of Cowboy Bob: Pickin’ Cotton

How do you write a family history that your family might actually read? Turning your pedigree chart into a sentence is a sure way to turn them off. Instead, think about writing a scene to enliven your story. I had heard my dad talk about “pickin’ cotton” as a boy. He didn’t leave a written record, but I created this scene from my memories of his stories. My dad passed away six and a half years […]

By Diana Elder December 14, 2016 Creating and Sharing Family History

Favorite Reads of the Week: 10 December 2016 – Christmas Letters, Oliebolen, WWII Research Guide

It’s O-Fischel–You Should Index! by Lara Diamond at Lara’s Jewnealogy About Those Christmas Letters . . . by Jacqi Stevens at A Family Tapestry Dutch: Oliebolen and Windmills by Jane Eppinga at Ancestors in Aprons FamilySearch Gives Historic Freedmen’s Bureau Database to National Museum of African American History and Culture at the FamilySearch Newsroom Popular Genetic Genealogist, CeCe Moore, to Speak at RootsTech 2017 at the FamilySearch Newsroom How to Avoid Awkward Family Photos by Denise Levenick at the Family Curator Family […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer December 10, 2016 Creating and Sharing Family History

Hooking Teens on Research with Land Patents

What do you do when you have a great family history story and have just learned how to use a new set of historical records? If you’re my friend, Karen, you share the story with your extended family then help your interested niece find some land patents. Today we have a guest post from Karen telling how she helped her teenage niece connect with her ancestors. By Karen Walters A few months ago, we were […]

By Diana Elder December 9, 2016 Records, Research Tips, Sharing Stories

Family History is For Everyone Spotlight: Alana McCormack

Today I’m introducing Alana McCormack, my newly discovered cousin from London, England. Actually, Alana discovered me! FamilySearch sent her an email that she had Mormon pioneer relatives, something she never thought possible since she and her mum were the only members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in her direct line. Alana found our connection through our ancestress Mary Holloway, born 1753 in Sussex, England who married James Coomber and had a […]

By Diana Elder December 5, 2016 Family History is for Everyone Spotlights

Favorite Reads of the Week: 3 December 2016 – Giving back with indexing, Sinterklaas, #LightTheWorld

The Security of Your Mother’s Maiden Name by Dick Eastman at Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Roberta Estes at DNA eXplained News FamilySearch celebrates 10 years of indexing historic records by Jana Last at Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog Digital Public Library of America agrees to collaboration with Library of Congress by James Tanner at Genealogy’s Star Building a Backup to Internet Archive’s Digital Collections by Lorine McGinnis Schulze at Olive Tree Genealogy AncestryProGenealogists Announces Scholarship Program […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer December 3, 2016 Favorite Reads of the Month

“Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas” – Teaching about Heirloom Decorations

Do you have any heirloom holiday decorations? My mother, sister and I were all married in December and have kept the ornaments used to decorate the trees at our wedding receptions. I also have a special advent calendar that my grandmother cross-stitched for me. Every year we tie candy or activity ideas to the advent calendar, just like my mother did when I was a little girl. My husband’s stocking was lovingly created by his Grandmother. […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer November 30, 2016 Families and Children, Kids Book Club

Jump Start your Family History at the RootsTech 2017 Family Discovery Day

What is Family Discovery Day and why should you go? Designed for families and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is a unique opportunity to introduce people of any age to family history. Nicole and I attended RootsTech for the first time last year and for Family Discovery Day held on Saturday afternoon, fifteen of my ward’s youth and their leaders joined us. The youth ranged from age 12 -17 […]