As family historians, we often confront the challenge of discovering the truth behind family stories. In Murder in Matera – A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy, we follow Helene Stapinski’s journey to unravel stories heard as a child about her great-great-grandmother, Vita. The book takes us along as Helene travels multiple times to her family’s hometown in Southern Italy. Through a series of fortunate events, she locates documents that tell the true story of her ancestors. We’re reading Murder in Matera for our Family Locket Book Club’s winter selection. Join us on Goodreads to see past...
Have you been thinking about writing your life story but procrastinated because of not knowing how to start? What you might need is a beautiful journal with thoughtful prompts to make the recording of your memoirs an enjoyable and fulfilling project. My colleague, Lisa Lisson, has recently published a pair of journals titled My Life Story So Far: A Grandmother’s Journal and My Life Story So Far: A Grandfather’s Journal. Beautifully designed and illustrated, Lisa has created prompts covering your life from birth to the present. Lisa writes: Each prompt is designed to help you reflect on the life you’ve lived....
It is an excellent time of year to think about the things we are thankful for! I’ve been thinking about DNA-specific blessings, and I made a list of my top 5. What are you grateful for in the realms of family history and DNA? I’m thankful for: DNA tests that can help us discover ancestors whose names and lives are lost due to time and memory. Newly discovered family members. Renewed connections with cousins and distant family members who share a love of family history or at least have an interest in it. The opportunity to increase knowledge about genealogy...
Do you have any ancestors who moved to the frontier? What was it like for them to leave their community and create a new home in the wilderness? Historian, David McCullough, provides important insight into the settling of the frontier after the Revolutionary War in his latest book, The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West. We meet five major characters instrumental in constructing the settlement of Marietta, Ohio. Experiencing the inherent challenges through their diaries, letters, and other documents, we can envision our own ancestors and see what it took to settle the...
Have you inherited Grandma’s recipe collection and are looking for a way to share favorite family recipes? Maybe you’d like to create something for your own posterity based on your family’s culture or heritage. Making a family cookbook can bring families together and connect the next generation to their ancestors. In part 1 of this series, Sarah Arnoff Yeomanm, photographer and creator of The Family Cookbook, shared her thoughts and experiences about food and family history. In part 2 of this series, Sarah gives us three tips for making our own family cookbook. You can see more examples and tips...
What food do you identify with as part of your family history? It may be something that connects to a country or culture. Perhaps it is a favorite food your family always made at Christmas. We all speak the universal language of food – so exploring some ways to use it to connect to our heritage is a worthy endeavor. In this guest post series, Sarah Arnoff Yeomanm, photographer and creator of The Family Cookbook, shares her thoughts and experiences about food and family history. In part 2 of this series, Sarah will give us three tips for making our...
If you’ve read Before We Were Yours, the fictional account of a family torn apart by Georgia Tann and her Tennessee Children’s Home Society, you might be interested in learning what happened to some of those children who passed through Tann’s hands. Lisa Wingate, the author of Before We Were Yours, collaborated with journalist, Judy Christie, to bring us Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. We’re reading Before and After for our summer Family Locket Book Club selection on Goodreads. If you share a love of reading and a love of writing your...
Is a visit to a cemetery in your summer plans? If so, I have a few tips to share after my recent experience. As part of Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to visit the cemetery in Preston, Idaho, where my mother-in-law’s ancestors are buried. With her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents all laid to rest in the same cemetery, I thought it would be a quick and easy thing to locate them. We quickly learned that there was more to it than arriving at the cemetery and walking around. After reflecting on our experience, I thought of three tips to make...
DNA Day is coming up on Sunday, 25 April 2021. This day celebrates the anniversary of the Human Genome Project completion and the day the journal article was published by Watson and Crick that described the structure of DNA. Find a list of some fun and educational activities and resources to learn more about DNA on the CDC Genomics and Precision Health web page https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/events/dna_day.htm The DNA Day Escape Room Challenge looks like fun! The National Human Genome Research Institute has another list of activities. https://www.genome.gov/dna-day/events https://www.genome.gov/dna-day/get-activity-ideas Find more activities to celebrate DNA Day: https://www.genome.gov/dna-day/celebrate Some of my...
Do you have a family story to tell? One that depicts a transformative era in an ancestor’s life or maybe a simple story of connection? You may be at a loss, not knowing where to begin. In Annette Gendler’s book, How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History, you will learn techniques to start you on the path of writing your own family stories. We are reading How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History as our spring Family Locket Book Club selection on Goodreads. After reading various family history books, maybe it’s time to write something of our own! The...
