We've got you covered with 12 great titles for just $12 each! Choose from:

• 101 Brick Wall Busters: Solutions to Overcome Your Genealogical Challenges book
  
  
• Remember That? A Year-by-Year Chronicle of Fun Facts, Headlines, & Your Memories book (which I think would be great for the person who doesn't need another pair of slippers, but would love if you bring a baked treat, sit for a spell, and go through this book together and reminisce)
  
  
• Family History Detective: A Step-by-Step Guide to Investigating Your Family History book (terrific for someone who wants to start on his or her genealogy)
  
  
• Family Tree Magazine 2011 Annual CD (update your digital Family Tree Magazine library)
  
  
• Family Tree Pocket Reference book
  
  
• Genealogist's Research Trip Planner digital download (I will be consulting this guide to plan my research in Cleveland this April, which will piggyback on a trip to the Ohio Genealogical Society conference April 12-14)
  
  
• German Newspapers in America video class
  
  
• International Genealogy Passport CD
  
  
• Irish Genealogy Online video class
  
  
• Military Research Guide CD (another good gift for a beginner, or for anyone tracing a Civil War, WWII or other military ancestor)
  
  
• Photo Rescue digital download (wonderful for the keeper of your family's photographic heritage)

Get more details on each 12 for $12 goodie on ShopFamilyTree.com.

Monday, December 12, 2011 11:16:34 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

On the 12th day of Christmas, my genea-Santa gave to me … a Family Tree Magazine VIP membership!

Did you procrastinate on a gift for your favorite genealogist? Don't panic! The Family Tree Magazine VIP membership—a great last-minute gift that doesn’t require shipping—includes:

• a subscription to the print Family Tree Magazine
• access to the genealogy guidance in our searchable online article archive from past issues of Family Tree Magazine, as well as The Family Tree Sourcebook
• 10 percent off purchases in ShopFamilyTree.com
• …and more! ;

Click here to check out the benefits of a Family Tree Magazine VIP membership.

Thursday, December 23, 2010 11:13:55 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

On the 11th day of Christmas, my genea-Santa gave to me … the Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy download!

Was someone on your Christmas list bitten by the genealogy bug this year? Our downloadable getting-started guide has important information for beginners to know in a user-friendly, engaging presentation. That includes:

• Research principles (such as starting with yourself and working back in time)
• How to fill out basic genealogy forms
• Finding and using essential records, such as censuses and vital records
• How to keep your research organized
• Common myths and research traps to avoid
• Best websites for genealogy research 

The Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy download is a fully searchable PDF your giftee can refer to again and again. Click here to get it from ShopFamilyTree.com. 

Thursday, December 23, 2010 11:12:48 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

You can give the gift of genealogy learning, even if it’s too late for shipping by Christmas. FTU Independent Study downloads include the lessons, recommended reading, resource lists and other materials from Family Tree University classes.

Nearly 20 courses are available, including Tracing Immigrants, which helps you find important clues for tracking ancestors in their homelands. In the first lesson of this course, you’ll learn what key facts that will help you start tracing ancestors overseas:

• The immigrant’s name (before and after immigration—many immigrants Americanized their names once they got here)
• Date of immigration
• Port of entry
• Port of departure
• Town or village immigrant came from
• Place immigrant settled in the United States
• Names of siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins
• Religion (may give clues to parish back home)
• Native language 

Click here to explore the available FTU Independent Study course topics. 

Wednesday, December 22, 2010 5:11:31 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

The Pocket Reference is a handy, timesaving collection of genealogy reference material—resources, tips, lists and need-to-know facts. The downloadable version is a fully searchable PDF. You'll get definitions for unfamiliar terms and acronyms, US state fast facts, family tree software at a glance, genealogy data websites, surname origins, cultural naming practices, census dates and questions, US immigration ports and more.

Here’s one quick example of what you'll find the military records section: 

Depending on when your ancestor was born, here are the war records to look for:

• Born 1726-1767: Revolutionary War (1775-1783) records
• Born 1762-1799: War of 1812 (1812-1815) records
• Born 1796-1831: Mexican War (1846-1848) records
• Born 1811-1848: Civil War (1861-1865) records
• Born 1848-1881: Spanish-American War (1898) records
• Born 1849-1885: Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) records
• Born 1872-1900: World War I (1917-1918) records
• Born 1877-1925: World War II (1941-1945) records
• Born 1900-1936: Korean War (1950-1953) records
• Born 1914-1955: Vietnam War (early 1960s-1973) records

Click here to get the Family Tree Pocket Reference from ShopFamilyTree.com.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010 4:41:08 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

America's No. 1 how-to family history magazine delivers the tips and tools you need to discover your family’s past. Our user-friendly approach to discovering, preserving and celebrating family history makes genealogy a hobby anyone can enjoy.

Check out FamilyTreeMagazine.com to see some of the genealogy advice you’ll find in our pages. Try these for starters:

• 101 Best Web Sites for Genealogy
  
• Free Genealogy Forms 
• Genealogy Glossary 
• Insider’s Guide to Genealogy Acronyms
  

Click here to order a Family Tree Magazine subscription in the United States. 

Click here for a Family Tree Magazine subscription in Canada. 

Click here for an international Family Tree Magazine subscription. 

Monday, December 20, 2010 10:30:13 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Family Tree University downloadable on-demand webinars give you how-to advice on genealogy topics from online research to brick walls to researching ancestors in various states. You’ll be able to use your computer to watch an hour-long presentation showing you research strategies, tips and the best online tools.

This census advice snippet is from the webinar Online Census Secrets: Best Web Sites and Strategies to Find Your Ancestors Webinar:

The government designated an official census day for each census. Of course, the enumerating didn’t all happen on this day, but the information the census takers collected was supposed to be accurate as of that date. If a baby was born after Census Day, he was supposed to be left out of the census. If a person died after Census Day, he was supposed to be recorded. Ages were also to be reported according to the person’s age on Census Day. Census takers and informants didn’t always comply with these instructions, however. These are the official Census Days:

• 1790-1820: first Monday in August
• 1830-1900: June 1
• 1910: April 15
• 1920: Jan. 1
• 1930-1940: April 1

Sunday, December 19, 2010 9:46:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

On the sixth day of Christmas, my genea-Santa gave to me … The Family Tree Sourcebook: The Essential Directory of American County and Town Resources.

You’ll also find a how-to article and books, organizations and websites for each state, as well as a listing of national genealogical sites and organizations.

And, the book comes with a month of searchable online access through a Family Tree Magazine Plus membership.

Click here to get yourself a copy of The Family Tree Sourcebook (on sale now at 33 percent off!).

Saturday, December 18, 2010 6:19:13 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

This CD offers the instruction you need to find ancestors online, including the best websites to search, effective search techniques, time-saving computer tricks, social networking sites and more. You’ll also find online searching caveats, such as this research trap to avoid: 

Trap: It doesn't matter whether online information comes from a record, a transcription or an index.

Fact: An online record is an original document that's been digitized for viewing on the Web. For example, Ancestry.com,  Footnote.com and FamilySearch.org have posted images of original census enumerations. When you pull information from one of those images, you’re looking at the original record.

You have to be more careful with online transcriptions, which have typed text from original documents. You'll find transcriptions of passenger lists (on the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild site, for example), tombstone inscriptions (at Find a Grave and Interment.net) and all sorts of other records. Remember that typographical errors easily can sneak into transcriptions. Even a careful transcriber might not correctly read the handwriting on an original document. Always verify spellings and dates by checking the original record. 

Online indexes can help you find references to your ancestors in state vital records, books, periodicals and other sources. An index will contain only a fraction of the information recorded in the original source. When you locate your ancestor in, say, the Periodical Source Index (searchable via HeritageQuest Online, free through many libraries), jot down all the information, and then look for the genealogical or historical journal where the data appears. Or if your ancestor's name is in an online death records index, note the certificate number and request a copy from the state vital-records office.

The Trace Your Roots Online CD is available from ShopFamilyTree.com.

Friday, December 17, 2010 4:28:21 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

The book Family Tree Legacies: Preserving Memories Throughout Time is great for beginners, newlyweds or anyone who’s ready to create a lasting family keepsake from their genealogy information. You can get a good look at what’s inside the book in this blog post. 

It comes with how-to information and pages for recording family information of all kinds, plus a CD so you can print extras. You can download the Military Service Record, for writing about ancestors who served their country, as a free PDF from FamilyTreeMagazine.com. 

Click here to order Family Tree Legacies from ShopFamilyTree.com. 

Thursday, December 16, 2010 4:26:58 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]

Family Tree University Independent Study courses have all the materials from FTU online classes, with the advantage that you can truly proceed at your own pace. The CDs cover about 20 course topics, including Finding Your Ancestral Village (shown above), Google Tools for Genealogists, Newspaper Research 101 and more. 

From the Land Records 101 course, for example, you’ll learn essential terms such as

Widow’s Examination: Required in many jurisdictions until the early 1900s. A wife was entitled to “widow’s rights” or “dower rights” (typically one-third) of her husband’s property—although she often could not directly control or sell it in her own right. Before he could sell the property, she was required to sign an independent statement that she was aware he was selling the property and she was therefore losing her dower rights. If she did not sign, the property could not be sold. 

You’ll also learn how to find and read deeds, land patents, bounty land warrants and more.

FTU Independent Study CDs are available for about 20 course topics. You also can choose a downloadable Independent Study course

Wednesday, December 15, 2010 1:44:31 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]

On the first day of Christmas, my genea-Santa gave to me: a great book called Questions to Bring You Closer to Grandma and Grandpa: 100+ Conversation Starters for Grandchildren and Grandparents. 

With questions such as “What is your favorite family memory?” “How did the world you grew up in differ from today's world?” “Is there anything in life you wish you did, but never have?” this book will help grandkids—young ones and grown-ups—start conversations that will bring the generations closer and pass on family lore. 

Questions come in nine chapters including “On Our Family History,” “On Children, Parenting and Being a grandparent” and “Grandma and Grandpa’s Favorite Things.” There’s plenty of space to write in the answers, and you’ll also find advice for starting the conversation and using the book.

Learn more about the book Questions to Bring You Closer to Grandma and Grandpa on ShopFamilyTree.com.

A quick reminder: Today, Dec. 13, is the last day to order for ground shipping delivery by Christmas.

Monday, December 13, 2010 10:07:41 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]