FHF

Stop writing a boring family history. Stop. Stop it right now! There is no need to have a dry, dull family history when these five website can help you imagine the time and place where your ancestor lived. These resources are primarily for the United States ancestor, but if you have some fantastic international resources, share those in the comments below. History Timelines datesandevents.org/ When you don't know much about history, then you can turn to History Timelines to find clues for topics that might have happened when your ancestor lived. They may or may not have been involved with the incidents, but these events often were in the paper and discussed in social settings. The great thing about this site is that the United State timelines can be broken down by state. Plus, you can learn a few additional facts about each state that you might not have known. Iowa Timeline begins in 1682. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection Davidrumsey.com Maps are always changing. In my sh...

Numerous writing tips videos tell you to write for a particular audience. When you're writing a fictional book or blog post or a non-fiction how-to book, knowing who your audience helps you tailor your language to them. However, in the first step of writing a memoir or a family history narrative, it's the worst advice.  Can you build a house without identifying what materials you have to use? Not really. If you have access to bricks, you'll build a different house than if you only have access to mud and clay. If you have no steel, it will be difficult to construct a 70-floor apartment building. You have to know what you have to work with before you can plan your building? When we write a memoir or a family history, we need to know what materials we have to work with. To do that, we need to ignore the ultimate audience for the final product and focus on collecting our possible materials. When you're writing your first draft of a memoir, you're pulling memories out of...

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and traditions abound, but for a gal without family traditions regarding Turkey, what foods bring me closer to the past? That's the question I ask myself as I think about the Family History for Children Blog Link-Up for November: Family Recipes The questions prompt: "How do family recipes bring your family together? Do you have any old family recipes that are passed down in your family? What favorite foods of your children will you pass down through future generations?" Again, I think about the recipes that bring the Geiszler family together and there really are none. My mother believed "if food couldn't be nuked, baked, or ordered in, it wasn't done." And then I stumbled upon the Thanksgiving after my father died. My aunt asked me what I missed most about my dad, and I said, "Bob's Cheesecake.' Watch my video about daddy's cheesecake and how he almost took it too the grave. I highly encourage you to plac...

It's that time of year when people are B--U-S-Y. It's also the time of year when you're trying to make good on old resolutions or plan for new ones. Below I'm sharing a list of tasks you can do in 15 minutes or less that will have you finding time for genealogy during your hectic seasons throughout the year. When it comes to researching, there are many tasks that can be done in 15 minutes or less. Some tasks are addictive set a timer. When it beeps, STOP. You can keep come back the next time! Create a research log or to do list Brainstorm new search ideas Examine ONE hint on FamilySearch  Examine ONE hint in RootsMagic for FindMyPast or Heritage Investigate a newspaper site for an ancestral name and place Contact a fellow researcher and ask for tips or to share resources Look up a specific record such as: SSDI or census record Look up one name on Find A Grave Submit a correction or update to Find A Grave Run an problem report in RootsMagic Resolve one clean-up task usin...

When we acquire large databases, I wonder how many times we are like the three monkeys Hear No Problem See No Problem Speak No Problem But, far too many GEDCOM files (and our own databases) are rife with errors and if we ignore them, we're like another animal. One with feathers, a long neck, and likes to stick it underground! The first step to having reliable genealogy is to check our files for potential problems. The most common problems in our databases are: 1. Age-Related Errors Can a woman give birth to a child past the age of 50? With few exceptions, the answer is no.   Can a woman give birth when she is 5? Even that's a bit too young for puberty to kick in.   Can a man sire a child 3 years after his death in a time before artificial insemination? Nope. A child generally has to be born within 9 months after his father's death pre-AI. 2. Living After Death Property remaining in a deceased person's name can occur, until their estate is settled and new owners scrawl ...

When writing about an ancestor, we start by including their parents. Unfortunately, parentage is not not as simple as you provided the biological ingredients to create life. When attempting to record 'who's the daddy' of your ancestor, who should you include? Being a family history writing educator is such a blessing. The question student present are varied and challenging, as is the case of today's inquiry. My father's biological father was never married to my grandmother. Grandma had two husbands. After her first husband died and before she married the second one, she had conceived and gave birth to my daddy, who was the product of an illegitimate relationship. When I write about my father at the time of his birth, marriage, etc. who do I include? Bio dad or his step-father, who was the only father he ever knew? When writing about your ancestor, it's important to include the family context to the narrative. Let's break this question into parts, because the...

Robbers, adulterers, colorful characters and glorious heroes are among the most interesting people in many family trees. Some of us are descended from great wealth or suffered extreme circumstances. And then, there are the farmers, bakers, milkmen, and day laborers. They lived. They begat children. They died. And there isn't much in between. Or is there? Question:  How can I write about my ancestor when they're not very interesting? In one three-week writing workshop that I led, I invited aspiring family history writers to pick a more modern ancestor to start with as the access to available details about their lives would be easier to obtain. For one participant, that meant writing about her boring father - her words, not mine. She wasn't certain that she'd have much success but was willing to give it a try. Before class began on the third week, she stopped me to reveal her excitement. During the past two weeks of home work assignments, she had written two pages about ...

Ask the Family History Fanatics:   Voice should I use when I write my family history? I want to share my family history but I also want to write commentary on that family history. Should I write solidly in the third person or should I switch between first-person and third-person? What a GREAT question for a family history writer. The first reason is that there is a specific task associated with the question. Otherwise, the answer would be 'it depends.' Let's dissect a few things and then provide the advice appropriate for this situation. Voice in writing can have two meanings. The first is the sentence structure to be either passive or active. The second deals with a story's narrator and which perspective they use. Active vs. Passive Voice The short answer is to use active voice as often as possible. For some of us, this is difficult to do when writing in the past. In fact, when an editor reviews the rough drafts of my narratives for ancestors, passive voice is my numbe...

Thank you to all those who participated in the RootsTech 2018 Giveaway. Congratulations to: There are still other opportunities to win your way to RootsTech . Check out my friend Melissa Finlay's giveaway at Boundless Genealogy . Entries will be accepted from October 27, 2017 to November 10, 2017. For other giveaways, visit Conference Keeper's Giveaway Guide . See you in Salt Lake City on February 28th!

For many youth, school is exciting on the first day and the last. There is a long gap between these two exiting points in education. Why not make school, be it public, private, or home school, more interesting by adding genealogy into the mix. But not use the boring term "-ology" term, use Family History or better yet, the history of YOU! Incorporating the following items during the school day, on 'free days' rather than turning on the movies, or suggest as bonus work or service projects if you're using these ideas in public or private schools. For home educators, considering doing these suggestions after morning devotionals,  during downtime, or as a weekend activity when a working parent can also be involved. That's the beauty of family history as part of school... it can be a school-like activity that is done on a day of rest without being secular work. Family history is definitely something the Lord would love for all to participate in on the Sabbath or th...