Photo matching: The importance of
Learning to group and match photos Overwhelming? Yes, but keep at it For some of you, this may not seem like a valid topic or something you should read. If your collection is small, it may seem that matching does not matter. For those of you with an overwhelming pile of photos (I come from ...
Clues and hunches to identify the unknown
The importance of clues and hunches Instinct and identifying unknowns We all seem to have a mystery photo, the people in which we cannot identify. It is tempting to look at the obvious, accept the unknown and give up. Yet, there may be more to it than we realize; there may be help we hadn't ...
A Butterfield Geier wedding story
Creating my grandparents' wedding story Using 1921 souvenirs Perhaps one of the most important stories I want to leave my children is the one about my paternal grandparents' wedding. I can't really say why. This is the grandma I knew best, the one I spent more time with, the one they'll never know; perhaps I ...
Ancestor profiling using mixed methods
Creating ancestor profiles using mixed methods Using everything in your bag of tricks The premise of this blog is to use the documents and heirlooms in your possession to create a profile and write a story about your ancestor. It's about using items and artifacts you already have for one, to identify heirlooms, and two, ...
Obits and what they offer
What there is to learn from an obit There may be surprises My great, great grandfather was Alfred Josiah Smith. Let's pick apart the obit for his sister, Alice May Smith Lytle, presented in the following article. Looking at the information regarding the pallbearers, Susan makes a good point that not all of Alice's siblings were ...
Grandaunt Bertha: Making a slideshow
Profiling when there is scant information Create a simple slideshow using what you have MEMORIES Dad used to say Bertha was a fabulous cook. I didn't have the pleasure of sitting at her dining table but once; however, I recall that visit. The year was 1980, and it was the only time I visited Aunt ...
Truth or fact: Honor guard or wounded soldier?
Separating truth from fact when reading old documents A matter of focusing on your goals When deciphering journals, diaries, or even census records, it's very important to keep in mind that someone's family story is their truth, which will be repeated as such. This does not mean it is factual. Perhaps a story or fact ...
Meeting an ancestor through a biographical sketch
Ways to learn about our ancestors Creating a biography In the following article, Susan creates a biographical sketch of Mary Smith Phelps, her husband's grandmother. Mary was someone that neither Susan nor her husband ever met. Incidentally, Mary was sister to my great, great grandfather Alfred Josiah Smith and aunt to our malevolent matriarch. By ...
Scanning, negatives, labeling, storage, and journals
Properly preserving, labeling, storing and more Scanning Photos take a lot of time to scan and label. Some are quite large and cannot be easily scanned. My photography skills come into play here--or lack thereof--and this can be a challenge. I've managed to take photos with my cell phone of most of the larger, awkward ...
Creating a new document
Using Google Drive Creating a "new" document (or, a slideshow) A post about creating a new document in Google may seem unnecessary, but for those not particularly tech-savvy, it may come in handy. Or, maybe you are tech-savvy but don't want to start a blog. Back to preserving your family history for a moment, I ...
The Malevolent Matriarch 