Family History is Fun!

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, We have been eating our “family history elephant” one bite at a time.   Now is the time to celebrate our hard work! It is time to party ! We celebrate the birthdays and special life events for those who are here on earth with us – now is the time to do the same for those who have passed to the other side of the veil! Our celebrations can be simple or “all out”, depending on our situation, energy level and desire to plan and execute a celebration.   With our busy schedules, the decision may already be made for us!   Here are some ideas to get you started. Simple 1.          During Family Home Evening or on a Sunday afternoon, mention which of your ancestors had a birthday or life event this past week or has one coming up in the next week or month.   Did you know that FamilySearch keeps a calendar for you?   Here is how to find it: a.        Click on the...

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, One of the roles of our calling as family history consultants is to help you and your family find pleasure in doing family history.   When you look at the whole picture (the elephant in the room) it can be so overwhelming.   As we have been breaking down a part of this elephant called Saving Memories, our prayer is that you see that it can be done in small steps and can be quite a fun adventure.   Today we are going to take apart the task of transferring audio recordings to our Memories Tab in FamilySearch.   Much like the photos and stories we have added, audio recordings can be a wonderful addition to the pages of our family members in FamilySearch.   To hear the voice of someone who has passed to the other side of the veil is precious – their story in their words, their accent, their expressions, their feelings as they tell the story – all bring us closer to them. We may have these recordings on one (or more) of the fol...

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last week we talked about stories for our FamilySearch accounts. During a Relief Society meeting I attended a number of years ago, the topic of stories for family history came up. Some sisters were at a loss as to how to get those stories from family members. One of the sisters suggested doing interviews and, on the spur of the moment, other sisters in the room began presenting interview questions we could use to interview our relatives. Interviewing family members is a rewarding way to get to know them better. You get their stories along with their feelings, expressions, and “little known” facts that you may not have heard when a story was passed down from others. It is fun to hear about “the good old days” no matter your age! FamilySearch Blog has an excellent article on Interviewing. Here are some tips posted to that blog in August 2017. 1. Seize the Moment – be ready to record anytime. We just never know when someone will start telling a stor...

  Dear Brothers and Sisters, This has been a rather busy week for our family, so the blog post that I had planned on writing for you with instructions to upload your audio recordings to FamilySearch did not get written yet.   I will prepare it for next week.   However, this is a blessing for you, because you now have more time to prepare your interviews and audio recordings for FamilySearch!   (looking for a silver lining here… 😊 In doing some family history recording this week, though, I came across some articles that were a hoot and wanted to share them with you.   We are in the process of scanning more documents, news articles and photos to our computers and I ran across an obituary from September 1949 of one of Brother May’s family members.   It was not cut out but was still attached to a good portion of the page it was originally printed on. As I was reading the other articles around the obituary, I came across the following news blurbs from aro...