As family historians, the time comes when we wonder about the family Coat of Arms. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a family Coat of Arms, it’s a myth. Oh sure we could believe the idea that a generic…
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Genealogy should be a family activity since ancestry, history, and even genetic health issues, pertain to each and every member of the family. This interest in the past should begin early in life, and children are never too young to…
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You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family!  I bet that we have all heard that, or a version of that, many times. How many of us know very much about our family beyond our parents or…
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People are curious about their ancestry and have been all their lives. They like to believe that somewhere in the long line of forebears there have been people of importance and they have an insatiable desire to place themselves in…
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Once upon a time, bragging rights among genealogists might very well include the fact that their family was descended from Charlemagne. However, now it seems as more and more research has revealed, that a great many people of European origin…
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It seems to happen at least once in every family. There is an old family photo and there are some people that no one seems to recognize. Or it may be that everyone has a different idea of who the…
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Making the most of computer tools for genealogy begins with understanding the different types of tool and what they can do for you. Computer tools for genealogy range from genealogy websites, to software that can create your family tree and…
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The human genome holds secrets about man’s lineage, makeup or health waiting to be unraveled. It just takes the right ‘tool’ to decipher its code. After decades of exhaustive research, genetic engineering seems to have added one more piece to…
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An important aspect to consider when looking into Jewish ancestry is to define what being Jewish really signifies. According to Bennett Greenspan, President of FamilyTreeDNA, while DNA testing can be used to compare a person’s DNA to a database comprising…
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Research in family history has been a passion of many for generations. Previous research had been limited to what you could learn in libraries and what you could learn from your older relatives. Now, the Internet and other technology has…
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Celebrating your family history can be fun for the entire family. Learning about ancestors, knowing where your family comes from, and finding deep roots can be a good thing. So how can you share the joy? The hall of flags…
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Old family photographs often require some detective work in order to identify who the people actually are. Even when pictures are in pristine condition putting names to faces can be hard. Well known relatives may have looked very different when…
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Family history often involves a great deal of hard work researching family lines, locating official information, old family photographs, documents, along with other memorabilia along the way. Displaying this information is a very important part of the exercise that is…
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Sharing family histories with future generations is an important tradition in many families. Some families can trace their history back to the World Wars, the US Civil War, and often when their family came to the place they live now,…
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If you are interested in genealogy, few things are more exciting than finding an old box of family photographs filled with a pictorial history of your family. Often, the pictures are not labeled and the people who can identify those…
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Before you begin to research your family history you may envisage that the product of your efforts will be a simple family tree showing a number of marriages and the resulting offspring, going back a hundred years if you are…
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One of the most accessible resources available for genealogical research is the census record of the United States government.  Federal census records were first collected in 1790 and since then have been collected every ten years.  These early records contained…
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When I was working in a cultural museum, I was amazed by how many people wanted to learn about their family history. There are myths and legends in every family, but people wanted to learn what was fact and what…
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Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor. Rich man, poor man, beggerman, thief? The old childrens’ rhyme takes on a new meaning when researching your family’s history. Our ancestors could have been any of themor none. Just think.How much do you really know…
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I wish I would have written down some of the wonderful stories my grandmother and great-grandmother shared with me. They are both gone now, and I’m finding my memories are fading. The exact details of their stories are slipping away,…
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A great many of our youth (my peers) don’t really understand that the journey to now didn’t start in suburbia, it started in the ghetto or across the sea. Not always has their family driven in new suvs and town…
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“Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” This portion of the inscription on the Statue of…
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The small boy holds up a rock and threatens my grandmother with it “Do you want me to throw this rock at you?” he screams. My grandmother, being brave and bold in all of her seven years yells back to…
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Finding out one’s family ancestry is very fascinating. It feels so incredible discovering past generations. It’s a lot of fun to fill out ancestry charts of the family’s history. Think about it, it’s family, past generations…names, dates and information about…
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Are you thinking of starting your own family tree? Genealogy is something that so many people find interesting, and conduct searches to find out who their ancestors are everyday. Why not try it out for yourself? You never know, you…
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Your personal and family heritage is not dead history, but is very much alive in the lives and experiences of your oldest living relatives, your grandparents. You have to wonder how many people regret never taking the time to speak at…
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