Here are my picks for genealogy and family history news and interesting articles this week. I’m trying to make my list shorter but there are so many good articles out there!
News
Ancestry Acquires Adpay, Inc. at Utah Business – Adpay, the owner of Memoriams.com (an obituary input network), was acquired by Ancestry to go along with Ancestry’s Newspapers.com in strengthening newspapers’ presence in their communities.
MyHeritage is Adding Free DNA Matching at the MyHeritage Blog – People who have already tested their DNA can add the raw data to MyHeritage’s new DNA matching service get more value from the DNA test they already took.
Families and Children
Preparing for Our ‘Relative Race’ by Melissa Finlay at The Finlay Family – Melissa shares how their family is preparing for a summer road trip to visit relatives, cemeteries, and other family history sites.
The Genealogy Kids: Make a Family Tree! by Jana Greenhalgh at the Genealogy Kids – The Genealogy kids share a video about making family tree posters.
5 Simple Habits to Keep Your Photos Organized by Cathi Nelson at FamilySearch Blog – Helpful monthly habits and an idea for a ‘do you know’ family history children’s photo book.
Personal History Awareness Month: Everyone Has a Story, Including My Dad by Lori Gillespie at the APH Blog – Lori tells how a story she preserved about her Dad was fascinating to her 12 year old son.
Memorial Day
The Perfect Family History Cemetery Kit at MyCanvas – 10 things to bring when going to the cemetery.
How to Find Military Records Online for Free by Natalie L. at Crestleaf Blog – 5 free websites for finding military records.
Identifying Military Ancestors by Janine Adams at Organize your Family History – Making a spreadsheet of your potential military ancestors.
Family History is For Everyone
Articles that tell why people from all walks of life are interested in family history
Over 3,000 Years of Humans Exaggerating Their Lineage on Family Trees at Atlas Obscura – the author tells about the origins of family trees and hypothesizes that genealogy is a popular hobby today because “it allows us to see ourselves as part of a continuous line, of something bigger than our own lives.”
A PATRIOTIC HISTORY: Genealogy research leads to woman’s membership in Daughters of the American Revolution at Duluth News Tribune – How a DAR member with an incredible Revolutionary War ancestor story feels deeply connected to her ancestors.
‘Genealogy Roadshow’ explores Hollywood woman’s family ties at Sun Sentinel – Joshua Taylor reveals that one research project for the show took 1,000 hours and included contacting the CIA for records.
How My Family Stories Impact Me by California Woman at Keepers of Our Culture – How understanding her past has helped one woman feel more secure and less judgmental, and more able to meet life’s myriad issues with minimal anxiety.
Biden plans trip ‘home’ to trace family roots at Independent.ie – Vice President Joe Biden says his Irish roots have shaped his entire life. He is proud to be descended from Irish immigrants.
From Toronto to Texas to retrieve an heirloom by Clayton Seams at Driving – A young man tells about how he drove 13 hours to make sure his grandpa’s handmade tools were preserved and the good memories that came from the effort.
Judge’s pride reflected in ancestor’s success at Tulsa World: Legalnewsfeatures – Judge tells new American citizens they will one day be thanked by their descendants and reflects on his own family history.
May I Introduce to You . . . Cheryl Cayemberg at GeneaBloggers – Cheryl tells that she first became interested in family history when she happened on genealogy software while shopping.
Musings on a DNA Sunday by Judy Russell at The Legal Genealogist – “Let’s not forget the relationships of the heart even as we enthusiastically learn more about the relationships of the genome.”
Creating and Sharing Family History
Donny Osmond Shares Why Frank Sinatra Gave His Dad an Apology Letter and $1,000 at LDS Living – A Letter Osmond’s father threw away but should have kept!
More Fathers’ Day Ideas to Bring Memories to Life by Laura Hedgecock at Treasure Chest of Memories – Unique gift ideas for dads.
How to Create Captivating Family History Videos – New Video Series by Lisa at Genealogy Gems – How to use Animoto to create family history videos that captivate the non-genealogists in the family.
Grandpa returns to the Western Wall at Ynetnews – “One of the fantastic things that makes a person happy is his ability to pass on to the next generation what he went through,” said the former paratrooper. “It was a great pleasure to accompany my older grandson, tell him the story of the war and to see that he enjoyed it and had fun.”
How to Create a Coloring Book for Family History by Sunny at Genealogy Gems – How one mom made a coloring book from family members’ artwork and steps for making a coloring book with photos.
Save Your Stuff; Collection Care Tips by Trice Boerans at the FamilySearch Blog – how to save collectibles from your own life for your descendants.
An easier and more rewarding way to do a family history by Marianne Goss at Retired in Chicago – About social history and how it can make family history come alive.
3 places to find raw material for life story and 3 sources of inspiration at Clickago Storywerks – “When one thinks of one’s entire life and ponders writing a memoir, the sheer volume of experiences might cause writer’s block. Where to begin?”
Research Tips
Everyone Makes Mistakes: Why You Should Review Your Research Notes by Lorine McGinnis Shulze at Legacy News – “The numbers were backwards. It was a slap my forehead in disbelief moment. I was looking at bleed-through from the next page! The strokes I saw in each column on page 2 had nothing to do with the people on the previous page.”
Was My Black Texan Ancestor Fathered by a White Judge? by Henry Louis Gates Jr. at The Root – The research process for verifying a fascinating family story.
You Should Browse Probate Records on Ancestry.com – Don’t Rely on Only the Index by Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings – An example of additional records you can find in Ancestry’s probate collection that are not indexed.
The Myth of Not Finding Anything by Amy Johnson Crow – “When we come up empty in a search, it isn’t the end. Instead of concluding that the person we’re looking for isn’t there, think about other sources, other search strategies, and other ways of using those records.”
Online & FREE Masonic Records — Are You Using These Wonderful Resources? by Diane L. Richard at Upfront with NGS – searching for records of ancestors who might have been members of the Masons.
The 13 Reasons You Can’t Break Down Your Brick Walls at Family History Daily – 13 common reasons you’re not finding what you need in your genealogy research.
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