Family History

Ever wonder where your family originated from or who your ancestors were? Learning our family history can be just as surprising as it is exciting. Here are a few tips on how to research your...

The Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University hosts a large collection of family history books in it's Family History Archive. The books include selections from the FamilySearch Family...

Homemade slides can distill moments in a creative configuration. Through the arrangement of the slides into a slide show, editors can create a narrative that provides comedic levity and dramatic...

It's time to pen in the branches of your family tree, and you are hunting for genealogical clues in Germany. This is a potentially daunting task since warfare often played havoc with family...

Genealogical researchers spend a lot of time poring over names and dates in order to prepare a family tree. This can be confusing, especially when information is sketchy and sources broad. Those...

This article is easy to write in these tough times in 2009.I am surprised to see so many things that have changed over the years i have been living .

Why would anyone take a serious interest in photographing tombstones? Actually, there are several reasons people take pictures of gravestones. Genealogists do it to document the birth, death and...

A coat of arms or family crest is steeped in symbolism usually representing national pride or family interests. Originally designed to resemble Roman battle flags, meaning varied from country to...

It seems that almost everyone wants to know more about their family history but, very few actually follow through by tracing a well researched genealogy. Too often it is because they just don't...

A family tree is a fun project that not only serves to teach a child about his family but also reveals history and events that occurred when his grandparents and great-grandparents were young. Use...

A parable is a brief story that delivers a moral or message. Because parables are short, simple and direct, they are easy and enjoyable to write. Using inspiration from your own family's history,...

Native Americans have had an unbroken history for centuries. Unfortunately, some tragic circumstances have decreased the availability of traditional genealogy resources for the original...

Finding information on your ancestors starts with a simple step, as long as you have some other living family members. They will be your best sources of information, especially older ones that can...

Each part of a coat of arms holds significance: the shape of the shield, colors, patterns, borders and symbols. In many cases, the meanings of certain symbols have been lost over time.

If you are ready to research your family history, but do not know how to get started, here are some tips to get you on the road to finding your ancestors.

Members of the military service who have died either during service or after separation could be buried anywhere in the world, though many veterans are buried with honors in special cemeteries. If...

Here is a clever trick to apply Google's news timeline feature to searching for your own family name. Unless you have a very rare surname, you will probably have to sort through a lot of info that...

Doing a family genealogy can be fun and rewarding. It can bring you ancestors alive. The most visual result of such research is a pedigree chart. A pedigree chart contains basic information on a...

Creating a family tree wall can be fun and informative for the whole family. If you're doing it with your kids, it's a great opportunity for teachable history discussions by discussing the time...

Every family has them--that box or album of photographs that no one can identify. They have no writing on the back, and no one living knows who the people in these photographs are. It seems a...

Digging up the roots of your family history has always meant going through old records in libraries, courthouses, and even up in grandma's attic. But increasingly, historical books and records...

To do the very best family history research we should learn as much as possible about our hobby. Brigham Young University offers several free online genealogy courses that are open to anyone. You...

My sister and I have been working on our genealogy for many years. It is mind boggling all of the information you can accumulate about your forefathers. As much as we would love to travel to...

Most people have an old box of family photographs in the back of the closet or stored in the corner of the attic. These photos may be interesting to look at, but without information on who the...

Researching your family history in France has become easier in recent years, with the digitizing of documents and the establishment of websites for even the smallest villages in France. With the...

Tracing family history is an exciting puzzle, especially when trying to locate a specific person. People look for ancestors for reasons such as discovering cultural heritage or making connections...

In searching for information on your family's history, it's important not to overlook specialized databases in business and finance that can shed light on your ancestors and relatives. Here's how...

The United States census is a valuable resource for genealogists and social historians. This article will show you how to use this resource efficiently, to cut down on the time you spend looking...

Discovering your ancestry can be challenging. For African Americans it is even more difficult given the history of slavery in America where original names were lost and African Americans were...

pipl is a person locating service generally thought of as a way to find living persons. But, I have also found it to be an excellent tool for locating information about my ancestors. pipl search...

Ever wonder if anyone in your family tree was a fiddle player in the Ozarks, a Motown recording artist, or a concert pianist back in the old country? There are ways to search ancestry information...

As pioneers and early settlers crossed harsh terrain to settle the West, they usually came with nothing more than a team of oxen or horses and a covered wagon that held all of their worldly...

If you have been looking for the cemetery that you ancestors were buried in, but it is located across the country or in another state, Findagrave.com is the perfect place to start looking. It...

Armies tend to keep pretty good records of their soldiers, and they have done so for centuries. That's why both professional genealogists as well as casual family history researchers love getting...

Census records are wonderful sources of information for family history research. Until recently, you usually had to subscribe to a service like Ancestry.com to obtain census information. But...

Most people are used to seeing a ‘subject’ index at the end of a book, but another type of index is a ‘name’ index. A name index is especially important when you are writing a family history or a...

Family histories can be written about one person, one generation or your ancestors covering many generations. Genealogists learn that sharing information helps all other people researching the...

With new discoveries in DNA and medical research, we are finding that we need a medical history to determine the potential for diseases such as heart failure, and genetic medical conditions like...

Cemeteries are restful and reflective places, but many are neglected. The only testament to a person's entire existence is often their gravestone, and stones in disrepair are a sad sight indeed....

Writing about your family is important to bring them ‘alive’ to members of your current family and for generations to come. Writing about them in a ‘historical’ manner takes some patience, much...

People interested in learning more about their family history may want to consider using genetic testing as part of their genealogical research. Scraping some cheek cells into a test tube can...

Genealogy is a hobby that many people enjoy. However, it can be difficult to keep track of all of the information you acquire about your family history. Consider using some of the many tools...

Creating a family tree explains your origins and how you fit into the grand scheme of history. You can hire a genealogist to do the legwork or you can buy an expensive software program to automate...

A birth certificate serves as proof that an individual was born in the United States and is a natural born citizen. If you have had your birth certificate lost or stolen, the state or county vital...

As I have grown older I can look back on my life and see just how important a role my father had in it. He was not a rich man. He never graduated high school. He was however a kind caring man who...

The Social Security Death Index is an easy to access source for basic vital statistics for the millions of people whose deaths were reported to the U.S. Social Security Administration. Birth...

Finding out when your great-grandfather was born, died and when he married that girl from Ypsilanti is interesting, but our ancestors become more intriguing the more we learn about them, such as...

Genealogy is one of the fastest growing online hobbies. Most people have an innate desire to know about their family and where they came from. Once you have gathered family history information,...

Family crests are symbols that let others know the status of a family, including social status, history and values. Crests can be created with consideration for your family history as well as...

Genealogy family tree charts are one of the best ways to record your family history information. They are very easy to use. You can record family information in a simple format for personal use. ...