FHF

If I had the rights to make a sidebar banner without fear of copyright infringement, I would make one that had the FamilySearch logo and the words “FamilySearch Fan Girl” below it. In fact, I would enthusiastically wear the same banner design on a shirt. Despite how much I appreciate this online collaborative family tree, I often hear three major reasons why my friends and associates do not want to use FamilySearch Family Trees. The FamilySearch Family Tree is too tangled. I know my stuff is accurate and I don't want folks changing my tree I can't upload my Gedcom file Oh, boy, do I hear you. Finding tangled trees with  crazy and obvious errors can be frustrating; however, the problem often didn't start with FamilySearch. Tangled trees with egregious problems float around in print and online trees. When you've spent hours fixing the problems you've discovered, it's hard to ask you to help fix the FamilySearch Family Tree. So, if you don't have the patience,...

It's Family History Month in the United States, and we are reflecting on our travels to genealogy conferences, to in particular - Southern California and Family Roots Conferences. Let me share some of the highs and lows of traveling, so when you prepare for your next conference later this year or next, you'll find ways to mitigate the issues, if necessary. Flying for me is very difficult because of my battle with motion sickness.  Tips for Flying If You Battle Motion Sickness:  I have battled motion sickness while flying  for many years. I also have issues when I'm not the driver of a vehicle. Andy once treated me to a personal airplane flight. I lost my lunch on the landing, and there were no barf bags. It's not pretty. Since that embarrassing trip and a follow-up when I traveled with my daughter to my cousin's graduation, I've attempted to discover ways to combat motion sickness without taking a medicine that makes me loopy.  Here's my unscientific discove...

Question: I have looked everywhere for records about my ancestor, but they just aren't online at FamilySearch. How am I supposed to track them down? Help! - Discouraged Genealogist in Henderson, Nevada Thanks Discouraged, When we're climbing our family tree, it's tough when we aren't finding records for them where we want them and when we want them. Rather than repeat the wisened genealogist matra, "Not everything is online" and shaking my head (which I promise I'm not doing but some readers might be), let me cover a few reasons why you aren't finding your ancestor's information. Change Your Search Methodology If you aren't using larger date ranges for the events in your ancestor's life, you might be missing the records that are on FamilySearch. If you are not changing the spelling of your ancestors, you are overlooking potential records on FamilySearch. You might also want to look for your ancestor's extended family members, neighbors,...

To celebrate Family History Month, Andy and I are reflecting on some of this year's conferences we've attended. Most especially, we're focusing on volunteering at genealogy conferences. Andy and I have planned two local genealogy conferences that attracted over 100 folks to a one-day event. We'd also served as volunteers at several local family history conferences in Iowa and Texas. I volunteered to help the registration desk at the Texas State Genealogical Society Conference, the first 'major' conference she ever attended. We know how important a staff of volunteer is to a conference. No matter the shortcomings of a conference in terms of planning and speakers, volunteers are the boots on the ground crew that can turn a positive experience rotten and a poorly planned conference into a better than rotten experience. In most cases, Andy and I are unable to be volunteers at conferences that we travel to because our business is still small and we have to focus on c...

Attending RootsTech is like attending a quilting convention or a ComicCon for genealogy. There is so much to see, do, and learn and we don't want you to miss it. As such, we gave away an AWESOME 4-Day 2019 RootsTech Pass. We also gave away a few awesome bonus prizes. If you didn't win, we HIGHLY encourage you to take advantage of the Early Bird pricing of $209 for the 4-day event including the access listed above. That's a $90 savings over the regular price. Click here to register if you want to attend, even if you don't win the free pass. The winner is Jo K from Los Angeles, California Congrats Jo, we can't wait to meet up with you in Salt Lake City!!! We have to take photos with you just like we did with last year's winner, Debbie! Three follow-up prizes winners will be notified via email. Their prizes include the following on-demand webinars : DNA: After the Test 2017 Pre-Recorded workshop  Digitizing Grandma's Stuff Pre-recorded webinar Heritage Scra...

With 15 percent of Americans listening to podcasts on a weekly basis for entertainment and enlightenment, this platform is attracting the attention of entrepreneurial individuals and groups to start creating new podcast channels. A number of new channels are genealogy focus. With two powerhouse podcasts available for genealogy and a few second tear channels, is it worth your time to try something new? Andy and I do listen to podcasts on a regular basis, with Andy listening more than me because of his regular trips to his full-time engineering job. My trip to my full-time job means living my bedroom. In any case, I prefer podcasts about homeschool encouragement, politics, and social media marketing. Notice what we don't see me listening to often - genealogy podcasts.  For myself, I don't have enough time for lengthy genealogy podcasts. Additionally, I am a "Show Me" learner when it comes to genealogy. When I attempt to comprehend genetic triangulation or reading and an...

It's Family History Month and we should take a moment to celebrate our Genealogy Super Powers I'm curious. Which of the following skills do you most identify with? All of these skills help you be a fantastic genealogist, but sometimes we have more natural tendencies that impact our research style. This post is meant for your consideration and then to actively share one of these images on Twitter  or Instagram . Add the @FHFanatics account tag #MyGenealogySuperPower for the hashtag.  Feel free to share more than one if you can't select the one best fit. The following images in this table are suitable for sharing on Instagram . SKEPTICISM You doubt the validlty of everything you are told. You question every documents you read or fact you hear. You are hesistant to use terms like 'confirms' or 'proves' when there is even a remote possibilty that a plausible alternative to a fact exists CURIOSITY You enjoy exploring mysteries and things you do not know....