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...
Do you have a goal to write a family history of an ancestor? Does the project seem overwhelming? If so, you can draw hope from today’s guest blog post. Lorna Gorringe Coombs shares the challenges and the triumphs she experienced in collecting and writing family stories of her grandmother. She overcame technology issues and a lack of starting material to produce a book complete with narrative, citations, and pictures. Lorna joined our Research Like a Pro Course to learn the process that would ultimately help her reach her goal. Enjoy her story! Diana By Lorna Gorringe Coombs Lorna Gorringe Coombs...
Are you staring at the facts about your family – gathered from a variety of sources – and wondered how to write this in a fashion someone would actually read? If so, you are not alone. As family historians, we want to leave a legacy, yet turning dry facts into a compelling story is no easy task. Author Carol Baxter provides an example we can learn from in her biography, The Fabulous Flying Mrs. Miller: An Australian’s true story of adventure, danger, romance, and murder. Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the book relates the true story of Jessie “Chubbie” Miller,...
As family historians, we know the power of learning the stories of our ancestors. We’ve discovered how they overcame losing loved ones, economic struggles, mental and physical challenges, and more. We research from the comfort of our homes with many resources like computers, the internet, and access to records through online databases. What about the homeless, who are simply struggling for survival? Can learning their ancestor stories help them as well? In this guest post, I invite you to read about a non-profit organization that is connecting homeless families with their ancestors. The goal? To strengthen them in their own...
Do you have Eastern European Jewish ancestry? Have you wondered about the historical events that might have affected your ancestors and how to discover their stories? Daniella Weiss Ashkenazy’s new book, Playing Detective with Family Lore: How plugging the holes in a family history unintentionally came to tell the saga of Jews in a microcosm showcases how a journalist set out to discover her family origins. The author provides the reader with informative footnotes on each page, that we as family historians will appreciate. Written in a conversational style, Playing Detective takes the reader on the research journey, and along...
Do you have a forgotten story in your family history? One that might seem unbelievable until some fact checking proves it to be true? We all have ancestors whose story might be begging to be told. Could a family story been silenced due to shame, misunderstanding, negligence? If so we have a challenging task ahead of us to uncover more information and provide the perspective that comes with time. In Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt, we have an example of uncovering the story of an incredible feat that was initially silenced by...
Have you wanted to write a family member’s history but run into challenges? Perhaps they don’t want to talk about the past or you don’t know how to broach a difficult subject. We know that learning how our ancestors worked through the challenges of their lives can benefit the next generation, but how exactly do we discover the stories and then write them. Finding True Connections: How to Learn and Write about a Family Member’s History by Gareth St John Thomas can help. The introduction explains: You are about to embark on a very privileged journey. Discovering a person’s life...
I used to work in the quilting industry. It was always fun to be a part of the heightened flurry of activity that began about this time of year as our customers hurried to complete quilts and other handmade gifts for loved ones in time for the holidays. As a genealogist, I have that same desire to share what I am passionate about with those around me in meaningful ways. The upcoming holiday season provides the opportunity to do just that. What family history related gifts will you be giving this year? Here are a few quick and easy gift...
Last month, I wrote a post for Family Locket all about how much I enjoyed using EPSON FastFoto Scanner to digitize all our wonderful family photos. Unfortunately, right after I sent the scanner back, I found a few pictures that I missed and wasn’t sure what to do! Nicole told me about another option for scanning, so I thought I’d try it out too. Photomyne is an app available for iOS and android. It ‘scans’ photos right from your phone or other digital device (it felt like I was just taking pictures of the pictures with my phone). The app...
The Adventures of Cowboy Bob: Texas Tricks and Trouble Stories are a powerful way to connect to the past. The trick is finding a way to share them that conveys the emotion and passion of the original telling. My dad had a childhood filled with adventures and he loved to tell them to his children and grandchildren. But how to pass those treasured tales on to future generations? To preserve them in a way that will speak to his posterity, I’ve chosen to fictionalize those tales. Enjoy this step back in time to Texas about 1933. Texas Tricks and Trouble...
