Stories – Page 5 – Family Locket

Make Your Family History Book Kid-Friendly

Feb 26, 2016

Do you have a compiled genealogy book with numbers assigned to each individual? What do those numbers mean and how can you trace your family with them? If you have wondered how to navigate the long blocks of numbered text in these books, you’re not alone. Last September, my friend Gina and I were chatting about family history when she showed me a genealogy book compiled by one of her husband’s relatives. She let me borrow it. As I flipped through it, I realized how daunting...

Honor your Heritage with Heirlooms

Feb 24, 2016

Do you have a family heirloom sitting around gathering dust? Curious about the ancestor who owned it? Are you trying to find some ways to interest your teen in family history? Introduce them to this month’s Instagram challenge at makefamilyhistory.org and watch the magic begin. Teens love social media. Combine that with a fascinating family heirloom and you’ve got them hooked. I don’t have any teens left at home, but I am helping a...

Love Story inspired by David Isay Keynote at RootsTech

Feb 13, 2016

“It’s impossible not to love someone whose story you’ve heard.” This truth was spoken by David Isay of StoryCorps during his keynote at the Friday Opening Session of the RootsTech conference. The message of StoryCorps left a lasting impression on me as Isay beautifully illustrated how hearing stories of even strangers creates a connection. Most of my ancestors are strangers to me – but through their stories I feel a deep connection to them. “Every story matters.” -David Isay, StoryCorps...

Quilting Your Family’s History

Jan 25, 2016

Do you have a quilt in your closet with no clue who made it or why? Or maybe you have a stack of clothes from a loved one that you’d like to make into a quilt? Either way, a quilt can be a lasting way of preserving memories. I have a rich heritage of quilting in my family. Four generations of women snipped and sewed to create colorful and practical quilts that are a...

Make An Illustrated Storybook of Ancestors

Nov 28, 2015

I’ve been searching for a way to easily illustrate a book for kids about their ancestors. I would love to have several ancestor story books that I can read to my children at Family Home Evening, bedtime, and anytime they have questions about their ancestors. It would be great to use actual photographs, but what if you don’t have any? Here’s one solution: www.storyboardthat.com! It’s a simple way to make characters and customize them with different...

My “Greatest Generation”: A Tribute to the Veterans in My Life

Nov 11, 2015

Today is Veteran’s Day. This is a simple holiday where all we need to do is honor and remember those who sacrificed to preserve our freedoms. So to celebrate, I am honoring and remembering six of the many men in my life who joined the massive effort known as World War II. Each had unique experiences and each deserves to have their story told. All of them came home from the war and all of them have...

“I Have a Family Tree with Branches by the Dozen”: Primary Sharing Time Ideas

Nov 8, 2015

Need a way to involve your youth family history consultants? How about introducing family history to children from three to eleven? We combined both of these objectives with a Primary Sharing Time! In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the organization for children age three to eleven is called Primary. As part of our Sunday worship, the children have classes for their individual age groups then come together for Sharing Time. Sharing time...

Do You Have a Skeleton in your Family History Closet?

Oct 30, 2015

We all have them – ancestor stories that tend to be hushed up: illegitimate children, desertion, abuse, mental illness, etc. We call these life details “skeletons in the closet” because we like to imagine our ancestor’s lives as near perfect and may be tempted to bury these skeletons. What do we do when our family history research uncovers something unexpected? Recording these kind of details can be difficult. How do we tell our ancestor’s story with integrity and kindness?...

Getting to Know Your Mormon Pioneer Ancestor: Seven Steps to Success

Oct 25, 2015

Do you have pioneer ancestors who joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) in the 1800’s and came west to join the saints in Zion? The LDS church began emphasizing family history about 1890, so you may think that those branches of your family tree are complete and accurate. Just looking at your fan chart on FamilySearch’s Family Tree, it might seem that there are no more family members to discover. In...

Family Tree Explorers

Oct 22, 2015

Our stake has been focused on teaching the primary children ages 8-11 how to do family history, and our youth consultants are taking charge of teaching them. So I created a lesson plan for our youth family history consultants to use as they teach at the children’s homes. The lesson invites the children to become explorers and discover their family’s past. Four tools from an “explorer’s backpack” are used to explain family history concepts. The...