FamilySearch.org offers many ways to discover ancestors. Below is a list of the email campaigns and discovery activities that FamilySearch has created to help users discover interesting facts about ancestors, including their occupations, obituaries, headstones, and how much we look like our ancestors. Many of these activities are perfect for youth activities or for helping children become acquainted with ancestors for the first time. How does it work? If you have an account with FamilySearch...
Family History is for Everyone: Becky Villareal, Teacher and Children’s Book Author When should a child start to learn about their family’s history? Nicole and I believe it’s never too early. We are passionate about sharing family history with children and love to meet other’s who share our sentiments. We recently connected with retired elementary school teacher and author, Becky Villareal, who has written a series of children’s books aimed at interesting them in learning...
Have you heard of GeneHeritage.com? The owners of this third party DNA analysis tool, E. Castedo Ellerman and Joseph Silver, contacted us and offered to show us how their company can analyze your raw DNA results and give new information about inherited traits. As you probably know, I am fascinated by inherited traits. I think it’s an especially useful way to begin teaching children about genetic genealogy. Here are some posts I’ve written about this...
When is the last time your immersed yourself in the history of a research locality? You might know the records well and have a basic understanding of the history and geography, but reading a full length book is an excellent way to bolster your genealogy knowledge. As a southern United States researcher I often come across land records that state something like “land obtained by the Creek Session of 1832.” I had a vague understanding...
I’m excited to share a guest blog post today by Kristen Ziller and Laura Richardson, two amazing teachers I met at RootsTech. They were there sharing about their 8th grade family history project at the Family Tree Maker booth. They have used their teaching expertise to craft a year long project for 8th graders to learn about their family history through primary sources family stories. Kristen Ziller at RootsTech Introduction Our journey with family history projects...
I have a great family history activity for children to share today – teaching children to find names for the temple by doing family history research with historical records! The activity was created by Alana Anderson. Alana lives in an LDS stake near me in Tucson. She is an activity day leader and did the Finding Franklin Time Machine Activity with her group. It went so well, that she decided to create a “Family History...
Are you an adoptee looking for your biological parents? Maybe you’re helping an adoptee or you have someone in your family tree who was adopted. In each case, you might have tested with the various DNA companies and have a slew of results but you’re stymied with what to do next. I’m currently helping my adopted sister, Nancy, locate her biological father. Years ago I helped her find her bio mother using traditional genealogy sleuthing....
Today is the first day of our new family history for children blog link up. This one will last three months and be all about learning family history through play. Experts agree that children learn best when they are playing. What fun ways have you shared family history with children? How do your children like to play? My son enjoys dressing up and pretending. My daughter loves playing with Play-Doh and doing crafts. We have...
Should children take DNA tests? Thought leaders and genetic genealogy experts say yes. In keynote speeches and interviews at RootsTech 2018, Cece Moore, Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Living DNA co-founders David Nicholson and Hannah Morden, reveal their thoughts about the booming DNA industry and how it can benefit children. Overcoming Prejudice LivingDNA is making great strides in the industry, especially in pinning down ethnic origins to specific regions within the British Isles. Yet...
RootsTech 2018 is done and in the books, or is it? The theme for the 2018 conference was Connect. Belong. Reflecting on the amazing connections I made at RootsTech, that sense of belonging will continue. I couldn’t think of a better way to share my experience than through photos, so here is a sampling. Connect. Belong. Family. RootsTech introduced the new addition to the FamilySearch app of “relatives around me.” Each day, host Jason Hewlett,...
