Writing an Autobiography - Family History Review Blog
Apr 13, 2016
Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive
This book just released today, April 12th, 2016. It sounds like a very good book for "discovering creative and meaningful ways to keep the memory of loved ones alive."
I am looking forward to receiving my copy from Amazon. According to the book's description there are " 85 imaginative ways to celebrate and honor family and friends we never want to forget."
Be sure to check it out.http://amzn.to/1XuD1Jz
Continue reading "Passed and Present: Keeping Memories of Loved Ones Alive"
Dec 31, 2015
Preserve Family Memories - 2015 Family Year in Review
Preserving Family Memories. A Year in Review: Preserve memories of you and your family over the past year
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Nov 26, 2015
Sharing Life Stories and Legacy - News - Resources - Links
Working together to interview, write and preserve life stories and legacy.
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Jun 05, 2015
Personal and Family History Forms and Examples to Strengthen Your Family Ties
The writing and sharing of personal and family histories will do more to bring you closer to your children and your children to you than just about anything else.
Continue reading "Personal and Family History Forms and Examples to Strengthen Your Family Ties"
May 30, 2015
Negative Scanning Service ~ Review ScanCafe - 800 Photo Scans Article
ScanCafe is a negative scanning service that I have used twice. My latest order -over 800 images to scan. Most of those were negatives.
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May 29, 2015
Fathers Day Poem, When is Fathers Day 2015? Memories of Dad - June 21st
A Fathers Day poem entitled "A Father's Hands" Wow, I love this. When is Fathers Day 2015?
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May 20, 2015
You As Family Historian?
You, a family historian? Your descendants will someday number in the thousands! Will they know anything of you?
May 19, 2015
Non-Traditional Family Traditions with Grandparents, Parents, Siblings
Many traditions have been lost to our families. Many current traditions that you hold dear are in danger of being forgotten unless families take an active part in preserving them
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May 07, 2015
The Benefits of Throwback Thursday.
For awhile now, I've noticed my friends on Facebook doing this thing called Throwback Thursday. They take the occasion of a Thursday to post some of their older pics of themselves or family members. Well, I did my first stab at Throwback Thursday today! Why not, right?
Having given it some thought, I quite like the idea.
1. It gives us a chance to share memories, in picture form, with family and close friends on Facebook.
2. It gives us reason to dive into our old pictures to find several to share.
3. It distributes copies of these photos to family members, increasing the odds that those particular pics will never be lost (in the event that my computer crashes or my house burns down, etc.)
4. If you tag your kids, it will mean that they will always have a copy of some of your favorite pictures of them. This is a much better plan than having one of a kind pictures stored away in a closet at my parent's home...like many of my childhood pictures. (I'm working on it) :)
5. The pictures that you post will make many people smile....or laugh, in some cases.
So, have you ever participated in Throwback Thursday?
Nov 05, 2014
HeyDay App - The Automatic Journal
I'm currently checking out the HeyDay app. It is free and it helps organize your photos, stories and places you go "so you'll never forget another day." It works for both Apple and Android devices. http://www.hey.co/
Sep 19, 2014
Photo App to Automate Journal Writing - iPhone Journal & Android - Heyday
Find a photo app for easy journal writing. Ideas to keep an automatic journal with iphone or Android devices
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Jun 05, 2014
How Not to Lose Your Digital Family Photos
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of backing up your irreplaceable family photos.
A few years year ago I made a big mistake. This mistake would have cost me thousands of digital family photos that I had on my computer's hard drive.
These pictures were ones that I had taken over the previous 5 years. It would have been a huge loss!
Without going into great detail about how it happened, I accidentally hit a button that started to wipe clear my hard drive. I unknowing started the system recovery function of my computer.
When it was all finished, my computer was just as it was the day that I bought it...nothing on the hard drive!
The only thing that saved me was that I had purchased an Carbonite online backup subscription. So once my hard drive was wiped clean, I was able to log into Carbonite online backup and download every last one of my pictures, back to my computer!
Phew! What a relief!
Carbonite costs about $55 a year. After getting my family photos back, I think that was about the best $50 I ever spent. Their online data backup service is very easy to use and it is completely automatic.
Of course, Carbonite is not your only option. Mozy remote backup is another popular online data backup service (Mozy.com)
Since then, ways of backing up your family photos has changed a bit. Many of us use Facebook to share, at least, our best family photos. Of course Facebook is free and, in my case, I would have been able to recover many of my "lost" photos because I had shared them via Facebook.
There are also digital storage experts like Seagate. One of their newer digital backup tools is called LyveHome. It will make is possible to collect into one spot, all of your family photos and video regardless of which device you'e used to capture them. It includes two terabytes of storage space.
If this is a sign of things to come, I am excited about the future of digital photo storage, preservation and organizing.
Apr 21, 2014
Digital Photo Storage: Will Your Digital Treasures Ever Be Seen By Your Grandkids?
When it comes to your family’s digital photo storage, what are the odds that yours will ever survive and actually be seen by your grandchildren? My
Apr 21, 2014
A Good Photo Scanning Service Will Save You Hours and Worry ~ Negatives
Photo scanning service - What a relief to finally get those slides, negatives and photos scanned
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Jun 06, 2013
End of School Year Time Capsule Questions!
Click below to download a free chart. The chart, created by TodaysMama.com, is a great idea and a way to preserve childhood memories of the past school year.
http://todaysmama.com/files/2013/04/EndofSchoolTimeCapsuleQuestions.pdf
Aug 04, 2012
Preserving Post Tsunami Photos in Japan
This tells an amazing and selfless story about a group of people that preserved thousands of damaged photos, damaged by the 2001 Tsunami, in Japan.
May 09, 2012
Growing Old and Leaving Your Home for the Last Time
This story makes me happy, sad and nostalgic all at the same time. It also makes me think of both my grandmas.
One lived by herself, until cancer forced her to move to live with our family. She passed away in 1984. My other grandmother is 89 years old, this year (2012). She still lives by herself, although it is getting harder for her.
Continue reading "Growing Old and Leaving Your Home for the Last Time"
May 09, 2012
Great Inspiration for Oral History Preservation
This type of story invigorates me! This sort of work is so very important.
After my mother-in-law passed away, we discovered that her voice was “accidently” captured on her answering machine. She must have picked up the phone late, when she received a call from a friend, and it just kept taping/recording. We basically have a 15 minute conversation that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.
This is one of the only recordings that we have of her voice. It brought back tremendously great memories and it simply made my wife cry. At the point of discovery, she hadn’t heard her mom’s voice for several years.
Michael B
Continue reading "Great Inspiration for Oral History Preservation"
Mar 28, 2012
Behind the Homestead Walls
An amazing blog post and even more amazing photographs of an old South Dakotan homestead.
It is still standing and held many surprising, nostalgic treasures inside.
http://thesimplecountrylife.com/2012/03/27/behind-the-homestead-walls/
Feb 10, 2012
Who Do You Think You Are Season on TV Tonight
Don't forget to watch Season 3, episode 2 of Who Do You Think You Are?
This is a very inspiring show and one that is, for me, very enjoyable. Tonight's episode is about Marisa Tomei's Italian ancestors.
Continue reading "Who Do You Think You Are Season on TV Tonight"
Oct 21, 2011
Memorygrabber has Encouraged me to Connect with My Family
I come from a very large family. I was adopted from Vietnam in 1974, which is how my mother began her business in international adoption. After having
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Oct 16, 2011
Re-enactors Will Revive Historic Coast Figures
Fun story out of Mississippi:
Sea captains and city fathers, long ago buried in South Mississippi cemeteries, will come back to tell their stories for Halloween.
Brought to life by their descendants and actors from Biloxi local theater and area high schools will be eight Biloxians whose lives depended on the Gulf.
Continue reading "Re-enactors Will Revive Historic Coast Figures"
Oct 15, 2011
Featured Site - Are You In My Photo?
Everyone is in someone elses photos without even knowing it, and this is the place to find these unexpected connections. It is a free service. You never know who you might find. Great concept and kind of fun looking at all the old pictures from yesteryear. You can also post your own photos, of course.
Oct 07, 2011
Family Medical History
Keeping a family medical history for your children is a very important task and a very good idea.
Here are two resoures:
https://familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action
http://scott-fox-blogs.typepad.com/MedicalForms/FreeFamilyMedicalHistoryForm.pdf
Sep 01, 2011
Remembering Pets in our Life
Memorygrabber was absolutely excellent for anything that you could want to know or remember. The only thing that I can think of that it did not have was
Aug 19, 2011
Oral History: Idea Inspired by His Dad
At StoryCorps, Frank spoke about how his lifelong fascination with the stars turned into a project of cosmic proportions.
It’s the brainchild of Frank Kovac, a former paper mill storeroom clerk, who built this roadside attraction in his backyard. Entirely homemade, the project took nearly a decade to complete.
Aug 11, 2011
Life Story Workbook now in British English version
As of August 2011, Memorygrabber is available in a British English version. This version reflects British spellings and wording/expressions. Apartment = flat, diaper = nappy, realize = realise, etc.
You'll be given the option to download either version, on the download page.
Continue reading "Life Story Workbook now in British English version"
Jul 16, 2011
My Precious Childhood Memories
When I was about 8 to 10 , I left my hometown as my family was transfered to another city. I love my hometown as I born there. I have sweet memories
Jun 23, 2011
New Yorkers Lost Wallet Found 40 Years Later
A very inspiring story. Shows the power of old pictures and how much can change in 40 years.
Continue reading "New Yorkers Lost Wallet Found 40 Years Later"
Jun 15, 2011
Daddys Girl Memories
Since a very young age, I have always been ‘Daddy’s Girl’. Through the many adventures and mishaps between the two of us, there are plenty of stories to
Jun 15, 2011
Memories of Dad and Cub Scouts on Fathers Day
When I was younger, I was a member of the Cub Scouts. My dad was always one to help me and my brother as we grew up with all activities we did. When
Continue reading "Memories of Dad and Cub Scouts on Fathers Day"
Jun 06, 2011
Highlight Site: NewGrandmas.com
Carol Covin, also known as Granny Guru, has built a really nice site that highlights, among other things, the wisdom of mothers and grandmothers and the importance of writing autobiographies. I think you'll enjoy a visit to her site.
Jun 05, 2011
Singer Trace Adkins Loses Irreplaceable Pics in Fire
Thankfully popular country music singer Trace Adkin's children were able to get out, but Trace and his wife lost many irreplaceable items in a house fire.
Gone are many of their family pictures, including those from their wedding. We have to safeguard those things.
Do what you can to digitize all of your old photos, then get them backed up, so you won't lose the only copies that you have.
Continue reading "Singer Trace Adkins Loses Irreplaceable Pics in Fire"
Jun 04, 2011
Site of the Day: - FamilyChartMasters.com
I only recently discovered FamilyChartMasters, but they have so many cool family history trees, charts, etc. Click the more
Yes, some of them can be pretty spendy, but I think you'll like what you see there.
Continue reading "Site of the Day: - FamilyChartMasters.com"
Jun 02, 2011
StoryVault.com - Life of a Boy at the end of World War 2
This video was posted on a great site called Storyvault.com . I highly recommend that you visit this site and post a story of your own.
Jun 02, 2011
If you would not be forgotten....
"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing."
- Benjamin Franklin
Read other cool quotes at:
Jun 01, 2011
Don't Throw Out Those Local History Books!
...In both cases those quaint local history books are likely to be tossed in the trash.
Continue reading "Don't Throw Out Those Local History Books!"
May 26, 2011
Not Too Late for Grandpa
Here's what my family did after the passing of our grandfather last August. It's not an original idea by no means but I think it is worth mentioning to help others who may have "missed" some chances already.
May 23, 2011
Sharing Family Stories with our Kids
It always puts a smile on my face when I hear a young child (age 9 in this particular case) tell stories about when they were young...too young for the child to remember the event firsthand, actually.
This tells me that parents are actively telling and sharing individual and family stories with their children.
This inspires me to talk more with my kids. Kids love these sorts of stories. Take the time to tell your kids about when they were younger, about when you were younger and about their grandparents. Your life will be much richer for it.
https://www.familyhistoryproducts.com/family-stories.html
May 18, 2011
Getting Started on My Genealogy and Family Tree
Q: I am trying to get our family tree together so I can get my indian card. Do you have any suggestions on how to track down my family and a good way to
Continue reading "Getting Started on My Genealogy and Family Tree"
May 18, 2011
“What's your life like now, Dad?”
I'm a big fan of StoryCorps. This is a short audio of two daughters interviewing their father, who is suffering from the onset of Alzheimer. It is so very important that we all have conversations like this, before it is too late. To hear that audio clip, click on the "Click for more info", link below.
Here are some tips on conducting a good oral history interview
May 17, 2011
A bit of Nostalgic News: Last Roll of Kadachrome
This is a bit of old news, but one that I wanted to mention here. The last roll of Slide film (Kodachrome) was shot and processed.
I used to use Kodachrome all the time, back in the 1980s. I'm sure probably did as well. Sad to see it go, BUT I'd never go back to it. I love digital too much.
Related page: 35mm slides to digital
Continue reading "A bit of Nostalgic News: Last Roll of Kadachrome"
Apr 14, 2011
Do You Have British Roots? Apply for a New British TV Show
Dragonfly TV in the UK is currently making a new TV series that will be called "Guess the Relative".
They are seeking Americans and Canadians that have distant British ties or roots.
The show will be about family history and distant relatives. In the show British contestants will spend a week with three Americans/Canadians, one of which will be distantly related to the British contestant.
At the end of the week, the British contestant will attempt to figure out which of the three that they are related to.
If selected for the show, it will give you a chance to travel to Great Britain, live in the English countryside, and potentially meet distant relatives, that you never knew existed.
To apply:
http://www.guesstherelative.tv
Mar 16, 2011
Family Search Experiences
I recently asked some site visitors about their attempts to research any of their family tree. If so I asked them how they went about it. Here are a
Mar 04, 2011
Used Various Sources for My Family Tree Search
Tracing back the heritage of my family tree was quite a daunting task. I started by asking my parents about their parents, and my great grandparents.
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Mar 03, 2011
Exploring Your Family Tree is Worth The Work
Exploring my family tree has been a hobby of mine since I was a young girl participating in 4-H, and I submitted a family tree portfolio as my project
Continue reading "Exploring Your Family Tree is Worth The Work"
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