Genealogy Insider - Celebrating your heritage

Editors Pick: Family Tree Legacies

Diane — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:09:46 GMT

Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacy and I talked about everything we’d want in one of those “record your family history” books, and Family Tree Legacies: Preserving Memories Throughout Time is the result. We’re a little biased, but we love how well-organized, versatile and pretty it is (and we think it would make a good Christmas or wedding gift).

This book is a three-ring binder with blank fill-in pages for all kinds of information, and a CD in the back that has printable versions of all the fill-in pages.

Lovely tabbed separators divide the book into themed sections, each focusing on a different type of family history information.

Sections let you record details about your immediate family, extended family, memories and traditions, photographs, family heirlooms, relatives who served in the military, newspaper articles featuring family members, places that are prominent in your family history, family recipes and important dates.

Each section begins with tips and tricks (the one below gets you started finding newspaper articles about your family members) . . .

. . . and then has specially designed pages to record information. The pages below are in the Family Heirlooms section.

There’s also an introduction with 10 steps to discovering your family history and a reference guide with helpful references, websites and books. We also love the fold-out family tree chart (below).

You can use the stickers to mark historical family events in the calendar section, maps in the Places section and more.

We’re hoping Family Tree Legacies will become a keepsake you can pass on to future generations.

Now's the Time to Start on Family History Gifts

Diane — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:07:21 GMT

We don’t mean to rush you into the winter holidays—it was just Halloween—but if you’re thinking of giving family history-related gifts this year, now’s the time to start.

Many such gifts require prep work: For example, you’ll need to gather, scan, digitally touch up and label photos for a photo CD; start laying out an online photo book or calendar; or collect and transcribe family stories. Maybe you want to check another record or two before finalizing a compiled family history.

And by starting early, you can watch for coupon codes and sales; and make sure anything you order online will get to you in time.

As our early gift to you, here’s our December 2006 article with 13 family history gift ideas you can make. The projects range from very quick and easy to moderately quick and easy. The article has supply lists and step-by-step instructions for seven of the projects.

A few more sources of family tree gift ideas:

Perennially popular gifts for genealogists, from inexpensive to a little pricey

Maureen A. Taylor’s gift ideas for photo fanatics

How to create a family cookbook

Family Tree Magazine Plus members can access this article on making photo gifts using online services

Our very own how-to books, CDs and other helps for your genealogy friends (or wanna-be genealogy friends). You can sign up for our e-mail newsletter to learn about specials in ShopFamilyTree.com.

I’m kinda partial to this one: Family Tree Legacies, a book Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacy and I put together for recording all kinds of family history information—not just names and dates, but also family stories, news articles, house history, military service details, where people lived and more.

Tell Us Your New Year's Traditions (You Could Win a CD)

Diane — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:29:36 GMT

We’re still taking entries for our November 2009 All in the Family challenge, but only for another week. If we publish your entry in Family Tree Magazine, you’ll win our Organize Your Genealogy Life! CD.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Think of your family’s weird, wacky or wonderful New Year’s traditions. Did you irritate the neighbors by banging pots and pans at midnight? Play board games and watch the ball drop on Times Square? Consume cabbage, donuts or black-eyed peas for luck?

2. Next, describe that tradition in 200 words or less.

3. Send us your description either by posting it to our Talk to Us Forum (you must register with the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum to post) or by sending us an e-mail.

Please include your name and your city and state with your entry, like so: Diane Haddad, Cincinnati, Ohio. If we pick your entry, that’ll make it easier for us to credit you in the magazine.

And in that case, we’ll contact you by e-mail to ask for your mailing address so we can send the CD (so keep an eye on your in box).

You have until Nov. 10 to enter. Let’s hear those New Year traditions!

Genealogy News Corral: October 19-23

Diane — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:08:48 GMT

Here are some of the week's genealogy news tidbits:

We wrote about ethical wills (last statements concerning personal values rather than property) in the September 2008 Family Tree Magazine. (Family Tree Magazine Plus members can read the article here.)

Ready to get started on one? Personal historian Dan Curtis is offering a free, seven-part online course on writing an ethical will for your heirs.

The 2010 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, five days of family history classes happening Jan. 11 to 15, is taking registration. Learn more about the schedule, registration fees and course descriptions on the Utah Genealogical Association website.

We don’t hear a lot of news about Chinese genealogy in the United States, but there’s an article about China's ancestral halls on the Wall Street Journal website. (Thanks to Tom Kemp of GenealogyBank for sharing this link.)

Discover more resources for Chinese genealogy in these Genealogy Insider posts.

The new Amelia Earhart movie is getting tepid reviews (from what I’ve seen, anyway), but the real-life details of her 1937 disappearance might be more interesting. Ancestry.com’s "Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad" collection contains a case file of correspondence concerning an investigation into the theory that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were imprisoned in Saipan. Find out more about the case on Ancestry.com’s blog and on Ancestry.com's “What really happened to Amerlia Earhart?” page.

Genetic genealogy company DNA Consultants has added a blog to its revamped website; posts review news and research on dna testing and popular genetics. That involves some complex scientific terms and concepts, so put on your genetic genealogist hat when you visit.

Special All in the Family Challenge: Ancestral Anniversaries

Diane — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:18:42 GMT

For the All in the Family department in the 10th anniversary issue of Family Tree Magazine, we thought it would be fun to go with the theme by including readers’ stories of ancestral anniversaries.

Tell us about your family's longest-wedded couple: who they are, when they were married, how they met or how they celebrated a milestone anniversary, and maybe even their secret for a long, happy union.

If we publish your story in the January 2010 issue, we'll send you one of our genealogy how-to CDs.

Things to remember before you enter:

Post your entry to the Ancestral Anniversaries thread in the Talk to Us Forum. (To help combat spammers, forum registration is required for posting. You can register by clicking here.)
Please keep your entry under 125 words, so we can include more stories in the magazine.
Please add your city and state to your entry for publication in the magazine.
We'll contact you for your mailing address and possibly for a photo of your anniversary couple, so please keep an eye on your e-mail account.
By submitting, you give Family Tree Magazine permission to feature your contribution in all print and electronic media.

We'll need your entry for this All in the Family challenge on or before September 15. Thanks for sharing your family's stories!

Colonial Williamsburg and Other Places to Time Travel

Diane — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:39:10 GMT

My ancestors got here after Colonial days, but all the same I enjoyed an afternoon in Colonial Williamsburg earlier this week while visiting family.

The park covers 301 acres with 88 original buildings plus other reconstructed ones. I hadn’t realized Colonial Williamsburg isn’t an enclosed park—rather, it’s a historic part of the city of Williamsburg, Va., with streets closed to cars but otherwise publicly accessible. You can walk around outside and enter shops and restaurants for free; a pass gets you into the park’s other buildings (except private homes and offices) and exhibits.

On our whirlwind trip, we visited the courthouse

... apothecary

... blacksmith shop

... and the magazine and guardhouse, carpenter’s shop and gaol (jail). Exhibit hours vary, and special programs happen daily at different times and places, so if you’re planning a visit, check the online calendar.

You can see our ancestors’ world at living history centers around the country, such as Old World Wisconsin, Ohio Village, Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City.

Find more museums here or run a Google search on “living history” and the city, county or state you’re interested in.

Fee-Free Weekends at Historic Parks

Diane — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:01:30 GMT

Want to immerse yourself in history but still save a few bucks this summer? Plan to visit a national park on one of these two entrance fee-free weekends:

July 18-19

August 15-16

You've got more than 100 parks to choose from, including Georgia’s forts Pulaski and Frederica, Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana, Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in New Mexico, and Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming.

Learn more about National Park Service fee-free weekends here.

Bringing the Family History to the Reunion

Diane — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:13:00 GMT

This weekend we drove out to southeastern Indiana for my dad’s mom’s family reunion on the dairy farm my grand-uncle and -aunt started in 1934.

With so many new faces showing up at this every-other-year affair, it gets hard to keep track of who’s who. I loved my grand-aunt's generationally color-coded system for creating name tags:

Above is my husband’s name tag, with my grandma’s name in green (her brother and his wife owned the farm), my dad in black, and my own and my husband’s names in blue.

I also got to add Greg to one of the genealogy charts she hung up around the room.

She also brought old family photos and snapshots from past reunions.

Activities included catching up ...

getting to know the local residents ...

and playing basketball by the barn, at least for awhile.

If you’ve got a reunion coming up, check out these tips on bringing your family history into the picture and these recommended resources.

Ellis Island Hosts Stars, Expands Museum

Diane — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:16:27 GMT

Our lucky New York-based colleague Guy LeCharles Gonzalez attended the Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards yesterday. He got the scoop on the latest Ellis Island exhibits and rubbed elbows with the stars (well, at least he was in the same room).

Here’s Guy’s report:

Emilio and Gloria Estefan (below) accepted the inaugural B.C. Forbes Peopling of America Award in a star-studded 8th Annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards ceremony yesterday, hosted by actress Candice Bergen in the historic Great Hall on Ellis Island.

The awards celebrate the lives and work of individuals who immigrated to America and their descendants; with the Forbes honor going to those who arrived through a port other than Ellis Island. It reminds us that America continues to be the destination for those seeking freedom, hope and opportunity.

Accepting the award alongside her husband, musician Gloria Estefan noted the common denominator shared with the day’s other honorees—Joe Namath, Eric Kandel and Jerry Seinfeld—that no matter where they or their families had come from, or when, they all sought to escape some form of tyranny. In America, they’d found a home where they could live freely and pursue their dreams.

Sponsored by the Forbes family in honor of patriarch B.C. "Bertie" Forbes, the Peopling of America award is also named for the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation's newest project: the Peopling of America Center.

The center will expand the Ellis Island Immigration Museum to include the entire panorama of the American immigrant experience—from native American groups to today's New Americans, whose numbers are growing exponentially.

The new center is an ambitious $20 million effort to make Ellis Island even more compelling and relevant for the coming decades, with the goal of telling all of our stories about being and becoming Americans.

Its precursor, the Peopling of America exhibit, is in the Great Hall's former Railroad Ticket Office, where immigrants could make travel arrangements to their final destinations in the United States. Several displays visually chronicle the more than 60 million people who’ve come to the United States, voluntarily and by force, since 1600.

This map details sources and destinations of the Atlantic slave trade:

This exhibit compares immigration (blue arrows) to emigration (red arrows) by decade:

Other displays include an interactive Map of Diversity, which can show the number of people in each state who claim a certain race or ancestry (based on US census data); maps and charts of historical immigration patterns; and the American Flag of Faces, a "living and interactive exhibit" to which anyone can add a photo (names and captions are searchable online).

See more photos of the ceremony and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum here.

Happy Jewish-American Heritage Month!

Diane — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:32:39 GMT

Jewish American Heritage Month, which starts with the first day of May (that's tomorrow), brings you opportunities to learn about Jewish history.

President Bush announced the first monthlong commemoration of American Jewish roots in 2006. May was chosen to mark successful celebration of the 350th anniversary of American Jewish history in May 2004.

The National Archives headquarters in Washington, DC, will celebrate with a May 21 panel discussion of the National Museum of American Jewish History, which will open in Philadelphia in fall 2010.

The Library of Congress is holding three presentations, including one May 19 that explores the Jewish communities in Washington, DC, and Alexandria, VA, during the Civil War.

This Sunday afternoon, May 3, in Sacramento, Calif., there’s a Jewish American Heritage Festival.

Check with your library, synagogue and Jewish community center to find events near you. You can learn more about Jewish-American Heritage Month and see online exhibits by clicking here, through this site's events calendar still lists 2008 celebrations.

For tips and resources on researching Jewish roots, see our research toolkit and look for Schelly Talalay Dardashti’s seven search strategies in the September 2009 Family Tree Magazine (which mails to subscribers mid-June and goes on sale July 7).

Be First to Try FamilyTeller Online Community

Diane — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:20:25 GMT

We first met Matt Unger over the Internet when associate editor Grace Dobush covered his Papa’s Diary Project blog—where he transcribes and annotates his grandfather’s diary one day’s entry at a time—for the May 2008 Family Tree Magazine.

Unger sent us a note this week—seems he heard from a lot of people asking for advice on creating similar projects with their own family materials. They inspired him to put his Web development and publishing background to work on an online community called FamilyTeller.

In Unger's own words, FamilyTeller “will allow people to more easily scan, organize, annotate and share family artifacts on the Web.”

Can you beta test this new service? For a discounted subscription rate, you’d get assistance digitizing and uploading documents and photos, automatically catalog and organize them, try a few transcriptions, create a blog-style Web site to share with your family, and more—as well as, of course, provide feedback on your experiences with the site.

Benefits include lifetime discounts on subscription and service fees, plus the chance to influence what the site will be like.

Wanna try it? Fill out this online form and Unger will contact you.

Ellis Island Honors Immigrants' Contributions

Diane — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:06:48 GMT

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation announced the recipients of this year’s Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards, to be celebrated at a luncheon May 19. You’ll probably recognize them:

Eric R. Kandel, MD, won a Nobel Prize in 2000 for his studies in the molecular basis of memory. He immigrated from Vienna as a child in 1939, after Germany annexed Austria.

Football legend and Hall of Fame member Joe Namath’s father and maternal grandparents immigrated from Hungary.

Jerry Seinfeld, of course, is a comedian, television star and producer. I also credit him with helping “Seinfeld” fans instantly bond over entire conversations consisting solely of quotes from the show. His maternal grandparents came from Syria.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan, formerly of the band Miami Sound Machine and now, respectively, a singer and music producer, will receive the BC Forbes Peopling of America Award. Both fled Cuba with their families after the rise of Fidel Castro.

The awards honor immigrants (through Ellis Island or another port) and their descendants who've made significant contributions to the American experience. Read more about the honorees at EllisIsland.org.

Campaign Urges Families to Preserve Their Heritage

Diane — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:45:27 GMT

The founders of the International Association of StoryKeepers and the Treasury of Family Heritage family networking site launched the Great Heritage Campaign March 31 to encourage families to preserve their traditions and stories.

Treasury of Family Heritage co-founder Dennis Stack calls the campaign “a call to action for members of the heritage industry to help bridge the disconnect between its various elements and to drive the movement in an interactive way.”

He adds that his site is a “key piece” of the campaign, serving as a platform where families and heritage-related businesses can connect and preserve stories.

To use the Treasury of Family Heritage, you set up a profile (choose from a family, business or social page), then upload video, audio, images or stories. Packages range from free to $15 per month, depending on storage size.

In the crowded area of family networking/storykeeping sites (Geni, MyHeritage, Genetree, TribalPages, to name just a few), genealogy sites with networking components (Footnote, Ancestry.com, FindMyPast, etc.), wikis (WeRelate is one), and genealogy applications for general social networking sites (including FamilyBuilder’s Family Tree and FamilyLink’s We’re Related), will the Great Heritage Campaign direct attention to the Treasury of Family Heritage? We'll have to wait and see.

The Great Heritage Campaign doesn't seem to have its own Web site, but you can watch a video on the Treasury of Family Heritage site.

Tips From a Family Reunion Whiz

Diane — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:58:03 GMT

Remember our blog post about a year ago about the upcoming super-size Miner-Minard-Miner-Minor 2008 family reunion?

Organizer Mark Miner sent us a post-party update. Maybe you can steal some inspiration for your own annual gatherings: He's someone who knows how to put on a reunion. Below, a few takeaways.

Enlarge your invite list. From his genealogy research and family Web site, Miner estimates 50,000 people were eligible to attend. They didn't all get engraved invitations, though—he used the media to get the word out, and more than 115 cousins traveled to the three-day reunion last June.
Consider sponsorship. It wouldn't work for everyone, but this celebration's reach and the family’s roots near Pittsburgh earned it official status as part of that city's 250th birthday.

Visit a historical site. “Our primary event was in the Sen. John Heinz History Center," Miner writes. "Guests were treated to remarks by history center CEO Andy Masich and Pittsburgh 250 executive director Bill Flanagan, as well the unveiling of a photo-memorial to cousin Erick Foster, killed serving in Iraq in 2007.”

Incorporate family history. Miner showed a PowerPoint presentation about the family’s connections with history (one involves Gen. George Armstrong Custer).

Photo and memorabilia displays included a photograph of Oklahoma pioneers James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown and letters from a cousin, Corwin D. Tilbury, who served on Pittsburgh’s city council during the city’s 150th birthday in 1908. (Mark put period postcards and photos on a Pittsburgh 150 Web page.)

In the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine (on newsstands May 5) look for tips on using family reunions to (gently) squeeze genealogy information from relatives.

And click Comments below to share your own reunion advice.

St. Patrick’s Day Stats

Diane — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:41:28 GMT

Enjoy these numbers along with your celebratory corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and green beer:

30.5 million US residents claim Irish ancestry, the second most frequently reported ancestry, according to the Census Bureau's Ancestry 2000 report.

4.5 million Irish immigrants traveled to the United States between 1820 and
1930.

4.2 million, roughly, is the population of Ireland.

248 is the number of consecutive years New York City has put on its St. Patrick’s Day parade.

100 pounds of green dye were added to the Chicago River St. Patrick’s Day, 1962. The river was green for a week. (See the 2009 dyeing in this video.)

24 percent of Massachusetts residents have Irish ancestry, says the Census Bureau.

9 cities or towns in the United States are named Dublin (also from the Census Bureau).

0 is the number of snake species native to Ireland (which has more to do with geography than St. Patrick, if you ask the National Zoo).

And you'll find innumerable tips and resources for tracing your Irish roots in our Irish genealogy research toolkit.

Speaking of Irish Roots and Women's History ...

Diane — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:42:08 GMT

March is both Irish-American Heritage Month and Women's History Month. (If you're an Irish-American Woman, double hats off to you!)

March 2, President Obama followed his predecessors' example and proclaimed March Irish-American Heritage Month. (Wonder if he was thinking of his own Irish roots when he signed the paper?)

The next day, again following precendent, Obama also proclaimed March Women's History Month.

You're guaranteed a reason to celebrate: Even if you're not one of the 30.5 million Americans who have Irish ancestry, I'm pretty sure you have female ancestry. See FamilyTreeMagazine.com for resources on tracing both:

Access all our Irish research tools in our online Toolkit. The March 2008 Family Tree Magazine has our seven-step guide to tracing Irish roots.

For help finding women, see our list of best records, article on search strategies, and tips on discovering maiden names. The February 2008 Family Tree Magazine has our research guide (sold out on paper, but a digital downloads is available).

Superstitious Ancestors? Enter Our Challenge for a Chance to Win

Diane — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:25:38 GMT

It’s both 15 days till St. Patrick's Day and your last chance to get in on Family Tree Magazine’s March 2009 “Lucky Charms” All in the Family Challenge.

To enter, tell us about a lucky charm or superstition in your family. For example, when I was a kid, whenever someone was getting married or we had a soccer tournament or good weather was needed for some other reason, Mom would set a figurine of Mary in the kitchen window (facing outside, or it wouldn't work).

Maybe you’ve saved Grandpa’s lucky penny or you throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder while cooking, just like Grandma always did.

Cross your fingers and describe your family’s lucky charm or superstition for us. E-mail your entry before March 9, and be sure to include your name and hometown.

If we select your entry to publish in the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine (knock on wood), you’ll win our Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy digital download.

Start This Sunday With Genealogy TV

Diane — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:46:47 GMT

Family historians get a two-fer this weekend on CBS “Sunday Morning”: Topics include keeping your family’s memories technologically accessible and the first national census. Bet this show would go great with pancakes.

Photo Book Discount at Shutterfly

Grace — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:53:59 GMT

Heard through the grapevine that Shutterfly is offering 20 percent off its photo books—plus two free 8x10s—with the promo code BOOKSANDPRINTS. Offer ends March 10.

My Ancestral Homes Tour

Diane — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:44:24 GMT

This past Christmas Eve, my mom took me on a tour of the houses where her family lived just across the Ohio River in Bellevue, Ky.

It included my great-grandma Mamie’s home—an old photo made it into a book on Bellevue by Arcadia publishing. Google Book Search does it again:

The house my mom’s dad built on the same street has burned down, but Mom showed me where she babysat and where her best friend lived. A grocery store down the street is now a house. Mom said she’d stop after school, pick out what Grandma needed for dinner, and add it to the family's tab (try that at Super Target).

My Great-grandma and Great–grandpa Frost’s first home looks a lot smaller now than in this photo from around 1925 (Family Tree Magazine readers might remember the picture from our September 2008 house history research guide.)

I remember the house below (Google Maps does it again), situated right by the railroad tracks, where the same great-grandparents lived in their later years.

At Christmas, the whole family—their five kids, at least a dozen grandkids and several of us great-grandkids—would all squeeze inside. Some of those great-aunts and -uncles and second cousins I haven't seen since Christmases at Great-grandma's.

It's neat to be able to visit your ancestral homes in person, but you may not have to drive around to see them. Check out what a FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum member did with Google Maps.

New Site Helps You Plan Heritage Travel

Diane — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:12:54 GMT

Are you hoping to one day see where your ancestors lived and walk where they walked?

Heritage Travel, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has pre-launched a Web site called GoWithAPurpose.com, focused on heritage travel.

Registered users will be able to post travel reviews, stories and photos—or, if all you can do in these times is live vicariously through others' experiences, you can read their posts and dream about your own trip.

Registration is free. (Funny, the list of interests registrants can choose from doesn’t include "genealogy" or "family history.")

Early-bird registrants also can “participate in an exclusive pre-launch recognition program, and receive special, insider-only benefits.” Advertising and historic tourism organizations will help fund the site.

Save Money on Photo Gifts

Diane — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:09:46 GMT

Still at a loss for what to give relatives this year? How about turning a calendar, mug, puzzzle, keychain, album or other item into a keepsake by adding a special photo (or photos)?

And you can save money with the holiday specials at several online photo services:

Snapfish is posting a new special every 48 hours. Until midnight tonight (Dec. 8), for example, 12-month photo calendars are 33 percent off.

Shutterfly is taking up to 30 percent off photo books and 25 percent off calendars, and giving free shipping on orders of $50 or more.

MyCanvas (part of Ancestry.com) is offering 20 percent savings on all products through Christmas Eve.

American Greetings' PhotoWorks has a buy one/get one free offer for photo calendars that ends Dec. 31. And now through Dec. 12, photo books are discounted and shipping is free on orders of $20 or more.

I didn’t see any holiday specials at Photomama, but you get 50 free prints for signing up and there are some unique gifts such as t-shirts, pet bowls and lollipops adorned with photos.

If you sign up with Ebates and then start your shopping from there (select the Electronics and Photo category, then Photo Services), you’ll get cash back for purchases on participating photo and other Web sites.

Tales of Terrific Family Tree Teamwork

Diane — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:49:27 GMT

Waaaaaay back in April, to play up the promising possibilities of genealogical research collaboration, we asked for your entries in our Terrific Family Tree Teamwork Contest.

We heard a lot of great stories, but managed to winnow them down to the winners, who're portrayed in the November 2008 Family Tree Magazine. There’s something to learn from each example:

Our grand prize-winners, Bev Ophoven Ewing and Kathleen Lenerz, have never actually met. In 1998 they discovered a cousin connection online. Now, they tackle family mysteries by bouncing ideas around, building off each other’s thinking and divvying up research tasks.

Gwendolyn Cameron and her cousins wanted to learn about their great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran. They traced him to the state hospital where he'd died. The group organized a memorial service, and since our November issue went to press, the hospital has restored its historic graveyard. A rededication is scheduled for tomorrow.

In 2006, Melissa Hogan found a team in the Chilton County (Ala.) Yahoo! genealogy group. They turned out to be relatives, and set their sights on discovering the fate of an ancestor rumored to have served prison time.

Susie Bullion recruited her team by creating a memory quilt with squares relatives filled with stories. To share the history, she and her siblings typed up the stories, researched background information and turned them into a family memory book.

Valerie Craft’s family history research began as a college project that never ended. Her mom served both as fan and teammate, especially helpful in putting Valerie in touch with distant relatives.

All the teams won our State Research Guides CD; the grand prize also includes Family Reunion Organizer software from RootsMagic, a Web site from MyGreatBigFamily.com and free batch photo scanning from ScanMyPhotos.

See these and other teamwork tales in our Exclusives for Registered Users Forum (note you must be registered with the Forum and logged in to view this section).

Civil War Research and Events Updates

Diane — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:55:23 GMT

A few Civil War research and history news items to start your day:

The Western Maryland Regional Library has put the Antietam National Cemetery payroll for 1866-1867 online. The digitized and transcribed book bears names and wages of laborers who built the wall around the cemetery. You can browse or search (the search is in the upper right; choose the payroll database from the pulldown menu).

The Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) and partners are sponsoring a digital photography competition for amateur shutterbugs.

Entry is via the CWPT’s Flickr site. The deadline is Aug. 31, with prizes in four categories ranging from certificates of recognition to free Civil War conference registrations.

This year marks the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Gettyburg, and more than 10,000 participants will stage a battle re-enactment July 4-6. Tickets range from $24 per adult for a day to $57 for three days, with lower prices for kids. Get ‘em at the Gettyburg Re-enactment Web site.

The Best Scrapbooking Blogs

Grace — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:49:30 GMT

If you're the crafty type, you're probably at your best when you're among creative people or when you stumble across something beautiful that makes you cry out I want to do that. What's that old saying—no scrapbooker is an island?

The March issue of Family Tree Magazine's Preserving Memories column was conceived while thinking of the crafter in dire need of inspiration. Our very scientific process of visiting approximately a bazillion blogs resulted in this list of five fabulous sites.

Bookmark these babies and enjoy!

Lessons from the Scrapbook Page: On this inspirational blog, you can watch the latest installments of Real Women Scrap TV.

Mad Cropper: Keep up-to-date with news from the scrapbook world and plenty of step-by-step projects.

Memory Makers Blog: The editors of our sister magazine give you a peek at their latest pages (like the one you see at right).

SimpleStudio: Simple Scrapbooks serves up advice plus lots of layouts and photos.

Sprague Lab: This "studio of scrapbook alchemy" focuses on computer-assisted scrapping.

Christmas Traditions Around the World

Diane — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:48:33 GMT

Well, my stocking is hung by the chimney with care, and there better not be a mouse stirring anywhere.

The stocking tradition probably started in Europe, where kids hung their everyday socks from nails for St. Nick to fill. Here are some other holiday traditions our ancestors from around the world have celebrated:

In France, kids put shoes by the door or fireplace, waiting for the Christ child to fill them with presents during the night.

Dutch children put hay and sugar in a shoe outside the house on the night before St. Nick’s Day. After his horse has a snack, St. Nick (Sinterklaas) leaves goodies in each shoe.

Dec. 13 in Sweden is St. Lucia's Day, celebrating the patron saint of light. Traditionally, a family’s first daughter would wear a long white dress and crown of leaves, then serve coffee and treats to the family. (Somehow I can’t see my sister ever doing this.)

A sprite-like child with angelic wings called the Christkind ("Christ Child") is delivers presents in areas including parts of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein. Legand has it Martin Luther invented the Christkind to discourage the figure of St. Nicholas.

Christmas in the Philippines starts Dec. 16 with dawn masses called Misas de Aguinaldo (Gift Masses) or Misa de Gallo (Rooster's Mass) On Christmas Eve, families go to midnight mass and then eat a traditional feast.

Between Christmas and New Years Day, Norwegians go Julebukking. People wearing masks and costumes knock on neighbors’ doors, and the inhabitants try to guess the julebukkers’ identities.

Inspired by the sound of a burning log, a London confectioner named Tom Smith invented Christmas crackers in 1847. The colorful wrapped tubes that snap and reveal a trinket when people pull on the ends are universally popular in England and other Commonwealth countries. Australians call them bon-bons.

Mexican children leave notes in their shoes on Jan. 6, when tradition holds the Three Wise Men arrived with gifts for baby Jesus.

In the UK and Canada, Boxing Day is celebrated the day after Christmas (or the next week day, if Dec. 26 falls on a weekend). There are many theories behind its origins. Nowadays, it’s known for great sales.

Just What Is Figgy Pudding, Anyway?

Diane — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:08:23 GMT

In the song “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” a crew of carolers demands to be served figgy pudding before they’ll leave—causing generations to wonder: What exactly is figgy pudding?

So I checked around. It’s a British-style pudding, actually resembling more of a cake, which reached its popularity peak as a Christmas dessert in the 1800s.

You can bake, steam or boil figgy pudding. It’s got figs, of course, plus apples, nuts, cinnamon, cloves, butter, sugar, bread crumbs, milk and eggs. Oh, yes—the recipe I found also calls for three strips of finely crushed bacon. Just what I love in a dessert.

The ancestor of figgy pudding (and plum pudding) is a medieval spiced porridge known as Frumenty.

Here’s a nontraditional figgy pudding with persimmons. Bon appetit!

Holiday Gift Ideas for Genealogists

Diane — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:45:21 GMT

When it comes to holiday presents, genealogists don’t seem hard to please—anyone who’d crawl around a weedy cemetery in search of a tombstone can’t be that high-maintenance. But if you’re at a loss for what to give the genealogist in your life, try one of these suggestions:

a set of Family Tree Magazine CDs: the International Genealogical Passport ($12.95), the 2006 compilation ($24) and 2007 compilation ($20)

a subscription to Family Tree Magazine (the gift that gives all year!)

a GPS, which traveling researchers can use to locate cemeteries, libraries, the old family homestead or a place to eat lunch

a prepaid gasoline card to help fund those research trips

a reference such as the Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Erin Nevius and Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Family Tree Books, $29.99) or the Red Book edited by Alice Eichholz (Ancestry, $49.95)

a cemetery research kit with non-fusible interfacing (for tombstone rubbings), rubbing wax (you can get it from stores such as FunStuffforGenealogists), masking tape, gardener’s shears and knee pads, bug spray, and an “I brake for cemeteries” bumper sticker

a genetic genealogy test

a research favor, especially if a fellow genealogist has a hard time getting around. Maybe do lookups for her at a Family History Center, drive him to a conference or help scan a load of photos.

a nice, archival-quality album and/or photo storage boxes to safely keep old photos. You can find these at scrapbooking stores such as Archiver's and the online suppliers listed on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

for a new genealogist, a research tote bag with basics such as a how-to book (Unpuzzling Your Past by Emily Anne Croom is a good one) and blank charts from FamilyTreeMagazine.com's forms page

any of genealogical writer James A. Beidler’s recommendations in his weekly newspaper column

If you've gotten a great genealogical present—or are hoping for one this year—click Comment and tell us what it is.

Family History-Themed Gift Ideas

Diane — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:27:48 GMT

Wondering what to give your son, daughter, brother or mother-in-law for the holidays? Everyone loves a warm-and-fuzzy tribute to family history. Let these present ideas set your gift-giving gears spinning:

On photo Web sites such as Snapfish, Shutterfly and Kodak, you can put family faces on mugs, mousepads, puzzles, playing cards, calendars and more. See the January 2008 Family Tree Magazine for five great photo gifts you can order online for under $25.

Digital photo frames are ubiquitous this year, and more affordable than in the past. Load the memory card with images, and keep them coming all year. They start as low as $70, and you can get digital photo keychains and tiny desktop frames for less than that. Check big retailers and electronics stores for these.

Make copies of your family’s favorite vintage photos and put them in a mini-album (available from scrapbooking and crafts stores) or a collage frame.

Order decorative family tree wall charts from a site such as The Family History Store, or find one free online (Martha Stewart has a nice fan chart). Then polish up your penmanship and fill out a tree for everyone. You also may be able to produce wall-worthy charts using your genealogy software.

Put together a family story-and-photo book using AncestryPress. You can print it yourself for free and put it in a binder, or have it spiral-bound at a copy shop. Or, order a hardbound copy through AncestryPress for around $30 and up.

For parents or grandparents, how about one of those fill-in-the-blank memory books that encourages them to share thoughts and stories in writing? One is Memories for My Grandchild by Annie Decker and Nicole Stephenson (Chronicle Books, $19.95). The family cook might enjoy a recipe journal such as Cook's Recipe Collection by Iona Hoyle (Ryland Peters & Small, $19.95).

If you have a lot of relatives on your list, make a CD of photos and give everyone a copy. You can dress it up (but you don't have to) by designing a nice insert.

Maybe you’d planned to assemble binders of all your research for everyone, but now time is too short. Professional genealogist Kathleen Hinckley has some more-manageable ideas for smaller-scale, themed family history books.

See the December 2005 Family Tree Magazine for more heritage-themed gift ideas. If you’re even a little crafty, our December 2006 issue has ideas for simple projects you can make. Templates for several of those projects are on our Web site.

Are you giving family history-themed gifts this year? Or have you gotten a great one in the past? Click comment and tell us about it—you just might help someone finish his gift list.

The FIRST First Thanksgiving

Diane — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:37:48 GMT

We hate to disappoint you, but the very first Thanksgiving in the New World wasn’t the Pilgrims’ legendary feast in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Nope, the first Thanksgiving was Dec. 4, 1619—a year and 17 days before the Pilgrims even left England—at Berkeley Plantation, when Capt. John Woodlief and 37 other settlers held a short religious service the day they ended their two-and-a-half-month voyage from Bristol, England.

Now, don’t go getting your drumsticks all in a bunch: Not a morsel of food was involved in that first first Thanksgiving. Makes you kinda glad the one we celebrate is the second first one—even though the Pilgrims, lacking sugar and ovens, didn’t have sweet cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. (They didn’t wear those black hats with big buckles, either, rendering inaccurate the Thanksgiving art projects of second-graders everywhere.)

See FamilyTreeMagazine.com for more about Berkeley Plantation and the real first Thanksgiving, and for a dash of Thanksgiving genealogy.

Our Photo Detective in the Wall Street Journal!

Diane — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:25:07 GMT

Family Tree Magazine’s very own Photo Detective, Maureen A. Taylor, is featured in today’s Wall Street Journal, right there on the front of its Weekend Journal section.

The article tells the stories of several families whose photos Maureen has used to fill in a missing piece of the past. Several of the pictures, such as this one showing three young ladies, have been featured in Maureen’s Photo Detective column in Family Tree Magazine and her Photo Detective blog on FamilyTreeMagazine.com.

You also get a sense of the research that goes into each photo analysis. Maureen draws on her burgeoning library of obscure reference books; guides to historical uniforms, clothing, accessories, fraternal insignia, artifacts and other items that show up in our ancestors’ photographs; a closetful of antique photos; other historians' insights; and a store of knowledge that comes from studying history and analyzing thousands of images over the years.

See a portion of the article on the Wall Street Journal Web site.

In Family Tree Magazine and her Family Tree Books, Maureen shares tips you can use to glean family history clues from your own clan's photos. Here are some links to get you started:

Photo Detective blog
Here, Maureen analyzes readers' photos, gives advice on preserving old images and more.

Photo Detective Online Archive
Maureen has been identifying images on FamilyTreeMagazine.com for years! Access those articles here.

Uncovering Your Ancestry Through Family Photographs, 2nd edition
In this book, Maureen offers in-depth advice and examples to help you analyze your own family's photographs.

Dating 20th-Century Photographs: Links
Maureen recommended these Web sites in a June 2006 Family Tree Magazine article on analyzing and preserving more-recent images.

Photographic Mystery—Solved!
Another photo success story, showing the value of consulting your relatives when researching family photos.

Now What? Online: Dating Foreign Photos
Some things to look for in images taken overseas.

Software for Organizing and Editing Photos
Maureen and other Family Tree Magazine authors recommend these programs for fixing up and storing digitized images.

The Photo Detective
Maureen's Web site, where you can submit photos and ask questions and find out where to see her presentations.

Oktoberfest in "Zinzinnati"

Diane — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:32:32 GMT

German is the ancestry Americans most often claim, and Family Tree Magazine’s hometown, Cincinnati, could run for flag-bearer. We're so German that one of the city's oldest neighborhoods is called Over the Rhine.

Our Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, which I attended last weekend, is the biggest Oktoberfest outside Munich. We’re proud of our world record for the largest group chicken dance: In 1994, the visiting Crown Prince of Bavaria led 48,000 of us in tweet-tweeting our hands and flapping our elbows to Der Vogerltanz. (We held the title until 1997.)

This year, BallinStadt, the Hamburg emigration museum that opened in July, even sent someone to tell Oktoberfest revelers how they could learn about their German ancestors’ departure for America.

Our Oktoberfest is also a gold mine for lovers of goetta (prounounced get-uh), aka "Cincinnati caviar." The story is German immigrants brought us this peasant dish, meant to stretch meat supplies.

Goetta is mostly ground pork and pinhead (steel-cut) oats seasoned with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme, then boiled, sliced into square patties and fried. My mom made it for breakfast, but any time is goetta time at Oktoberfest:

In summer, a local Goettafest offers even more variety, including, for the truly devoted, goetta fudge. Tasty.

Hungry? You’ll find recipes for goetta here and here.