The Babybook

My girls just turned 8 months, and I've yet to add a single picture or word to their baby books. I've purchased the books (1 for each girl, the same book of course!). I've printed out pictures. I've been trying to keep up a milestone list/journal in my Google Drive of important events and firsts. But I just haven't found the right time to start making their firsts official. It's different with a blog or a google doc, I can change wording. Add or delete. But what I'm writing in their baby book is... definite and special. When they are all grown up I want them to find these books and love how organized and thorough their Mama was! These memory books can be a really great piece of family history.

My dad's baby book and the baby book my mom made for me are meticulously complete with records of baby and childhood. Dad's baby book even has notes/stories up until his college years! (filled out by his grandmother- verrry interesting details, like failing French lessons!) Reading my Dad's book was helpful to learn names of family and family friends, especially for recognizing names in letters and documents I found throughout my research. My baby book has all the details of my first words, foods, and major milestones- even the hospital bracelets and a lock of hair from my first haircut. I can only hope to complete such a detailed history of each baby in a complete succinct book. Right now I have notes, pictures, hospital bracelets, and birth announcements all over the place.

So until I have the time, organization, and confidence to fill out G&G's baby books- I made a photobook via Shutterfly of their first month. I know it sounds silly, the first month?! But with 2 babies and so much happening from the birth, home coming, family visiting, etc...there was a lot to pack into 20 pages. The next photobook I'll try and tackle the first year.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

I can't find the power cord to my printer/scanner- I'd love to add pictures from abovementioned baby books! It's on my to do list once the cord has been recovered. Might not happen for a while- but they are precious pages I'd love to share! Did I mention that I really need to get organized? :)

2011 Holiday Gift Guide For The Family Historian

Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner

This handy mobile scanner will give your family historian the ability to scan pictures and documents where ever they go! With Flip-Pal you can even scan pictures that are hanging on the wall. So many times I have been visiting with family and we look at old pictures or interesting documents and I struggle to take pictures with my cell phone or camera. Often times I can't get the settings right to get a nice clear image. I don't have one of these yet... :) But I've heard great things. Price $149.99

Family Tree Maker

Family Tree Maker software allows you to export your ancestry.com family tree directly to your desktop. Set up is really easy and they have versions for PC and MAC. Once your family tree is loaded to the software, you can access your tree even when you don't have an internet connection! There are tons of great reports, charts, and diagrams you can customize and print to give your research a professional touch. Price For PC: FTM 2012 $29.99 FTM "complete" $59.99 For Mac: FTM for Mac 2 $55.99

Ancestry.com Gift Memberships

The perfect gift for anyone who loves using Ancestry.com to research family history. With a paid subscription you have access to billions of historical records! You can choose a duration and start date for the membership. The recipient will receive an email alerting them of their membership on the membership start date you select. You will have the chance to print out the gift certificate to give to the person if you'd like. **This type of gift is only for people who DO NOT already have an active ancestry.com membership. See the gift membership FAQ for more information.** Price for 12 month U.S Membership: $159 Price for U.S 6 month Membership: $89

The Family Tree Problem Solver by Marsha Hoffman Rising

I found this book at the library and found it to be a very helpful resource! From amazon.com- "Has your family history research hit a brick wall? Inside you will find: Ideas on how to find vital records before civil registration, Tips for finding "missing" ancestors on censuses, Instructions for investigating collateral kin to further your pedigree, Work-arounds for lost or destroyed records....and much more! This revised edition also includes new information about online research techniques and a look at the role of DNA research. Plus you'll find a glossary of genealogy terms and more than a dozen templates for charts and logs to help you organize and record your research." Price: $15.76 (amazon.com)

Archival Photo Pages, Sleeves, and Binders

Archival materials are always a great gift for your family historian. You definitely want to encourage their motivation to organize and preserve your family pictures and documents. Every time pictures and papers are touched oils from your hands will slowly start to degrade the materials. By giving the gift of binders, plastic sleeves, archival boxes...you can help guarantee these precious family memories will be preserved for the next generation. You can buy these materials many different places, I'm linking to one well known site- Light Impressions.

Data Visualization and Genealogy

The Value of Data Visualization from Column Five on Vimeo.

I just love this video! I find it so inspiring and creative. I'm always looking for ways to simplify and share genealogical and historic information. A Family Tree is a great example of an infographic. You are taking a information that is hard to conceptualize and "drawing" it out in a way to identify the different components. Men from women, generations from older generations, places of birth/death...and so on. When you visualize your family tree, you might be surprised to see connections or patterns you might not have realized without displaying information in a visual way. Another avenue of data visualization I find incredibly relevant to genealogy are maps!

See how I've visualized genealogical and family history data.

I use wrapping paper to draw out family trees.

Tips and strategy for drawing family trees.

How to use Google maps to create a custom genealogical map.

* start your genealogy pursuit with a picture: draw your family tree!

If you're wondering how to get started with your genealogy research- DRAW out your tree!! Having a visual sketch of your family tree will help you absorb and organize new information. As you will see from my examples, I am an avid family tree sketcher. There are so many ways to draw your family tree, each perspective is unique and can help identify new clues and relationships. You don't need any fancy tools...I use wrapping paper!

It must run in the family.  These are 2 handwritten family trees found in the "box of old family stuff". These trees have given me so many amazing leads! ONE TIP: get credit for your hard work, leave your name and date somewhere on the tree! I don't know who wrote either of these trees, but I have passed them around to some family members for handwriting comparisons :) Someone in my family tree was interested in this great pursuit!

 My Genealogy Charts- get inspired!

 First Drafts

The first thing I do when I'm looking at a new family is sketch out their tree. This chart will be so much help for you while you're researching records. Expect to make mistakes, cross out information, and sometimes get confused...don't worry that's why you are drawing it out. A visual will give you some orientation. At first don't worry too much about making it pretty, you want it to be useful.

 Refresh and redo

Once your first draft gets a little too busy, you might want to consider drawing a fresh copy. When I did this I created a coding system with different colored markers and symbols. This way I could fit more information and keep it looking organized. To get an idea of what I used for encoding vital information, click here. 

Connect or Eliminate Leads

My grandfather, his grandfather, and his great grandfather all shared the name Joseph Kirkbride Wright. In an attempt to knock past a brick wall, my gggg grandfather Joel Wright born 1782, I tried to find a connection through this namesake. There was a well documented Joseph Kirkbride also from Burlington County, NJ with connections to Wright lines. I made this chart as I navigated through his family lines looking for a lead. For the most part this is a resource I can reference while I research new leads to see if I have already ruled out their connection to my line.

I made the chart below after researching a friends great grandfather. The witness on his naturalization shared the same last name, address, and was also a barber. After looking into this witness I found another male barber with the same surname living next door to the witness in the 1910 census record, another potential relative?  I needed to work through the information to see all the connections. Work in progress.

Step outside the box! Look at your family from different perspectives, get creative, and start drawing out your family tree. *don't fold them like I did, roll up the paper to maintain your work!*