FHF

Video is king, as we're discovering on our YouTube channel. But video learning has a culture and challenges that must be understood so we can have a positive experience in the online webinars and conferences we will attend. I've included five tips that will help you to participate in a virtual conference, especially one organized by Family History Fanatics , without the frustration. 1. Read Your Confirmation Email After you register, you will receive an email with details about the conference, the schedule, and when and how to log in to attend the conference. If you have any questions, be sure to email the conference organizers. 2. Watch for Follow-Up Emails As the conference approaches, you'll receive reminders on when to attend and how. You should also receive links to the webinar handouts, in some cases. For Family History Fanatics eConferences, we send out the handouts the day before a live event so you don't misplace the email. After the event, you should receive a...

Graveyards have rich genealogical details waiting to be unearthed. The Cemetery Research Boot Camp Digital Download is perfect for those looking to improve the photographs they take when they visit cemeteries and how to solve mysteries they discover lying in their family plots. During 3 hours of recorded webinars, Devon Noel Lee shares photography tips and a cemetery case study that impressed Thomas MacEntee enough to invite her to share it in a genealogical journal. 8-pages of handouts compliment the video instruction. Topic I: Snapping Better Gravestone Photographs: Go from Point-and-Shoot to Beautiful.  Photographs of headstones and grave markers are fantastic resources to mark the final resting place of our ancestors and can provide rich genealogical details. Despite the ease of taking photographs with digital cameras, why is the quality of grave marker images still no better than the photos from the 1970s? In this session, we will talk about the tips and tricks to take bette...

For many localities, civil registrations of birth, marriage, and death are a modern convention with records beginning around in the early 1800s, if you are lucky. However, many church record collections of baptism, marriage, and funeral rites trace ancestors back many centuries. The Catholic Church began keeping these records at different time periods, but in some areas, priests recorded the earliest baptism in the 1500s. Beyond providing details about the essential events in an individual's life, Catholic Church records can provide clues to cracking the cases on family mysteries. Author of the Catholic Genealogy Legacy QuickGuide ™ and contributor to The Catholic Gene blog, Lisa Toth Salinas will provide tips and strategies for accessing the sacramental records in addition to other Catholic documents and sources. Her webinar is part of the  Lake Havasu Genealogical Society spring eConference " Moments of their Lives ." The   Moments of Their Lives   eConference is a fund...

Are you looking for records that can add meat to the bones of your genealogical research? Are you only searching online for sources that can expand your ancestor's story and timeline? Well, if you are, you're missing out on a hidden gem in an archive near you.  Melissa Barker is an archivist with a genealogist's heart. She says that loose records hold many records that you're desperate to find but are looking in bound books and online collections. If you would instead look at: Loose Records Photo Courtesy of Melissa Barker When you peruse loose records, you may find any of the following: Marriage Records Court Case Files Probate files Photographs Newspaper Clippings Ephemera, and more! Photo Courtesy of Melissa Barker Loose files and archives are generally not the records that first come to mind when we dive into genealogy. In fact, those words sound scary and possibly daunting. Melissa simplifies the archive research process in your as part of the Lake Havasu Genealogi...

Birth, marriage, and death records, oh my! After you scour the vital records, you moved on to the census records. Then what? Well, Diane L Richards has three quiz-type questions to ask yourself about the Post Office. Did you know that the 1800s post offices managed newspaper and magazine subscriptions? Did you know that individuals weren't the only ones who subscribed to these publications? Did you know that businesses and establishments (e.g., hotels) often subscribed to publications to be read by many in a community? Did you know that many 'extinct' small communities were once the backbone of the extensive post office network? Did you know the locations of these old posts offices provide important clues to where our ancestors lived If you didn't know these facts, then you need to sign up for Diane L Richard's presentation that is part of the Lake Havasu Genealogical Society spring eConference " Moments of their Lives ."  Her session: The Moments of Thei...

Every year, you take photos by the thousands and rarely do anything more than storing them on the computer. For decades, scrapbooking has been the solution to the picture accumulation problem, but it has also been a curse. Scrapbooking is too crafty or too time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be that way. During the Power Scrapbooking Boot Camp, you can turn your memories into printed treasures. During 3 hours of recorded webinars, Devon Noel Lee shares how you can create beautiful photo books that capture your memories and preserves your family history.  The Power Scrapbooking Boot Camp is perfect for those who have tried scrapbooking and lost their fire. Also ideal for beginning scrapbookers who know how to drag and drop using any computer service! Topic I:   I Feel the Need for Speed: Power Scrapbooking Principles Before you learned to type, you needed to learn your alphabet and how to make words. In Power Scrapbooking, you have to prepare to assemble your pages b...

Following the success of Andy's DNA After the Test eWorkshop, we're pleased to release five on-demand lectures from Family History Fanatics. Follow the links (that are the webinar titles) to the Vimeo store. 1.   Blogging Your Family History Blogs are a great way to share your family legends and discoveries with your extended family. You might even make some new cousin connections in the process! We’ll discuss the steps to set up a blog, what to write about, and pitfalls to avoid.  Regular Price: $9.99 2.   Heritage Scrapbooking Simplified Scrapbooks can be a visually appealing way to share your family legacy with children and those who ‘aren’t interested’ in family history. We’ll discuss what goes into a heritage scrapbook and two sources that can help you complete your project. This workshop is based on the book Family History Scrapbooking Simplified . The workshop is influenced heavily by digital scrapbooking, but paper scrapbooking will also be mentioned. Re...

Did you ancestor have a legal name change, was tried for misdemeanors, work as an indenture, break the Sabbath or marry outside of a church? If so, you should be investigating Justice of the Peace records. Wait. What? Yes. Justice of the Peace records handle many small transactions in the lives of our ancestors, but few people know how to access this information. Thankfully, Michael L Strauss of the Genealogy Research Network is available to help us discover the many records the JPs kept and how we can access the files. Your ancestor's case might be ready to crack open with a review of this record set. Micahel says that Justice of the Peace records, " are long overlooked by genealogists. These records are a wonderful source of genealogical information that will prove to be a treasure of information for any researcher." His webinar is part of the  Lake Havasu Genealogical Society spring eConference " Moments of their Lives ." The   Moments of Their Lives   eConfe...