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Ideas For Putting Together Your Family History

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Part of genealogy research includes finding interesting stories from the history of your family. These types of stories are often handed down by “word of mouth”. It is important to save them before they are forgotten. Here are a few ideas on how to put together your family history before it disappears. There are plenty of good reasons why you should make some sort of record of your family history. Doing so preserves it for future generations. It is a way of making sure that those interesting stories, photos, and voices don’t get lost over time. The way you choose … Continue reading →

Family Reunion Season

Love them or hate them, summer is prime time for family reunions. My extended clan gets together for a huge gathering every year. And by huge I mean an entire weekend full of family-friendly events, including picnics, sit down dinners, brunch buffets, scavenger hunts, golf outings, fishing derbies, bowling contests, and group picture-taking sessions that can take almost the entire afternoon. Both of my parents come from large families. My father is one of 10 children whose siblings each have at least four children each. Those kids went on to reproduce more than 50 additional children, and counting. Needless to … Continue reading →

Memorial Day Celebrations

If you are planning a trip to visit family this Memorial Day, why not attend a Memorial Day parade or other activity in the local area that you will be visiting. Local communities offer many unique ways to remember those who gave their lives for our country. You may be surprised by what you find when you look into what activities are planned for the place that you are visiting. For example, today I learned about a Memorial Day event that is scheduled for my local community which really took me by surprise. The event is being held in honor … Continue reading →

A Fun Idea For A Family History Project

When you are doing genealogy research, it can sometimes be tempting to stick to the nuts and bolts of names and dates so that you can keep your research moving and complete your family tree. While completing something that you set out to accomplish is certainly a worthwhile and important goal, you may want to do other family history projects concurrently with your family tree research, or after you have finished your tree. The projects that you create will preserve your family’s history for future generations, so any type of project that you do is sure to be appreciated. Humor … Continue reading →

Ticking all the Boxes

It’s often interesting to ask the question, ‘Why did you get married?’ In these days when so many couples live together without being married, you might well wonder, then why get married at all? According to Andre Cherlin, Sociologist at John Hopkins University,’getting married is a way to show family and friends that you have a successful personal life. It’s like the ultimate merit badge.’ For many people it’s a case of ticking all the boxes. Recently a young woman I know would not go back to a school reunion because, in her own eyes, she was a failure and … Continue reading →

Help Your Family Get Along Over the Holidays

The holidays are upon us, and that means there will be several family gatherings for you to attend. If you are like many people, you may be experiencing feelings of intense dread when you think about having to spend time with certain members of your family. This is especially true if your family happens to be dysfunctional, and prone to arguments. What can you do to survive these gatherings? Here is some advice to help you connect with your relatives, even when you don’t particularly want to. If your family is especially large, what might be intended as a simple … Continue reading →

Fun Ideas for Family Reunions

In case you have not noticed already, I am very interested in food. I could talk about food all day long and not get bored. It is only natural, then, that occasionally when I sit down to write about genealogy or some other topic, I invariably end up writing about food. Today I thought of a fun idea for taking care of the menu planning aspect of a family reunion. A pot-luck is a great way to learn about your family history while enjoying delicious food. Each guest or family group can bring a dish that reflects the family’s heritage … Continue reading →

An Easy and Fun Genealogy Exercise

As an aside from the larger project of creating my son’s family tree, I decided to look into what other kinds of things I could find out through genealogical research. I came across an index of surnames and thought that it would be fun to look up my last name and my husband’s last name. Did you know that surnames came into use relatively recently in history? The Chinese began using them about 5000 years ago as a means of legally distinguishing two people with the same first name. A surname usually came from one of four sources: the father’s … Continue reading →

Family Reunion Planning: Planning Activities and Games

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Now that you know why you want to have a reunion, whom you are inviting, your budget, and the type of reunion you will have, you can begin planning activities and games to do during the actual reunion. Icebreakers: Icebreakers are a good way to get your relatives mingling. Some ideas include introducing yourself by saying how you got your name, a game of truth-or-dare, without the dare, or a scavenger hunt to find relatives that have something in common with each other (same color eyes, your cousin, same age, same birth month, etc.). Family Memorabilia: I am assuming that … Continue reading →

Family Reunion Planning: Who to Invite and How

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As I discussed in my last post, there are different types of family reunions you could have-from a small gathering of only a few relatives, to a large event of anyone who shares your last name. The size of your gathering may be dependent on factors, such as the reason for the reunion, your budget, and how many people your venue can accommodate. Start by grabbing a pen and notepad and jotting down a list of everyone you want to invite. Don’t forget to include your relative’s spouses and children. Note which relatives you have addresses or phone numbers for. … Continue reading →