Category: General

Becoming a Patient Genealogist

As the well-known saying goes, “Patience is a virtue”—and that is certainly true in genealogy research. But is patience in genealogy only about enduring pain? If so, that would explain why a lot of people decide not to test the family history waters. Indeed, the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of “patient” seem to prominently highlight the “pain” concept: bearing pains or...

Appreciation for The Family History Guide

Janet Helland served for a number of years as the Patron Services Coordinator at the Granite FamilySearch Center in Sandy, Utah. Now she and her husband Jacob have been called on a three-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the new Ghana Takoradi mission (western Ghana, on the coast). Before departing for her mission, Janet...

Breaking News: The Family History Guide on PBS

It has been a landmark week for The Family History Guide Association. On May 20 we received an unexpected email from “Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid,” a popular documentary series that runs on various PBS channels. Their research team had selected us as a potential partner for the filming of their new project: Roots Rediscovered – Exploring the World of Genealogy....

What’s New in The Family History Guide – Aug. 2023

Summer is great time for vacations, family trips, family history – and for updating The Family History Guide. Here is a brief summary of what we’ve been up to lately, with content updates on the website: QUIKLinks—We’ve added several hundred QUIKLinks to record collections from FamilySearch, Ancestry, and MyHeritage. These can be found at the end of many Choices in...

Why Family History is Great for Young Adults

There is a common misperception today: doing family history is something that can or should be left until the “retirement” phase of life, when there’s more time to focus on it. The Family History Guide is living proof that all ages can benefit from being involved in family history, from kids eight and younger all the way up to seniors....

Family History: The Great Connector

You’ve heard them before … those time-worn reasons that people give for not becoming involved in family history. (And being involved really means doing anything meaningful in that area, not necessarily becoming a genealogist). Here are two of the most common ones: “I don’t have the time.” “Aunt Clara [or name a favorite relative] does all the genealogy in our...

Small Tip for Big Results

Nature reminds us that small things lead to great things. A tiny seed becomes a rose; a little acorn becomes a great oak. It’s the same in family history. There’s something small you can do that has the potential to make a big difference. It’s simply this: when you’ve been doing family history and have to stop to focus on...

Integrating Family History into Your Lifestyle

Editor’s Note: This article by James Tanner appeared previously in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. Overson Family about 1915 enhanced and colorized by MyHeritage.com Genealogy can become an all-consuming passion but it is always best to have moderation in all things. Some of us spend an inordinate amount of time doing their own...

Fitting Family History into Your Life

Question: How do you squeeze a huge object (family history) into a small box (your free time to work on it)? Answer: In small pieces. As explained in the 15 Minutes page of The Family History Guide, you can accomplish some amazing things with your family history by approaching it in segments of 15 minutes or more. In the “Fitting...

The Family History Guide and Home Schooling

Editor’s Note: This article by James Tanner appeared in the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is used with the author’s permission. After living through the effects of last week’s announcements about the Coronavirus COVID-19 and the fact that many schools across the United States are now temporarily closed, it seems to me to be a natural extension of the school...