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The idea of writing your family history might seem a little overwhelming, but if you’ve done a lot of research on your family’s genealogy, it makes sense to put it together in some sort of format you can share. Keep in mind that you don’t have to compile the type of dusty volumes pictured above if you don’t want to. There are many different approaches you can take to writing your family history. If you’d like to get started, the first thing you need to do is pick a style. I’ve outlined 10 different styles of family history writing below,...

In my previous post about 8 genealogical resources you might not be thinking of, I kind of dismissed the idea of using your local public library and told you to head to the local university library instead. I decided that wasn’t completely fair, since some public libraries do have a wealth of local history (particularly if there’s no established historical society in your area) and often the city’s depository for historical materials is tied to the public library. In fact, a few years ago I spent a day at the Marin County Free Library, located in the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. If you...

1. Newspapers.com You need a paid subscription to use Newspapers.com but I consider them my favorite genealogy resource. In addition to marriage announcements and obituaries, you can often find letters to the editor or local interest pieces that mention your family (particularly if they lived in a smaller area). You may also be able to find some papers posted online for free on sites like the California Digital Newspaper Collection. 2. eBay If you’re looking for yearbooks, small regional books (like community cookbooks), or photographs from an area at a particular time, eBay is a great resource. There are people who make their living just...

Over the last year, I’ve learned far more about my father’s family than I ever knew before. We’ve never lived close to any of his parents or siblings, so visits were few and far between and became pretty scarce in my adolescence, so I never spent a significant amount of time with my grandparents. They were divorced, so the time I did spend with them was usually split between two vacations, and ultimately they both passed away far from where I was and I didn’t even make it to the funerals because I couldn’t afford to fly in. Piecing together...

It’s Pioneer Day in Utah, which is a state holiday that celebrates the heritage of the settlers who came here in the 19th century. We have parades and fireworks and everyone hangs out and barbecues all day. For Eva’s first Pioneer Day, we took her to the local living history museum, This is the Place park, so we could get the real pioneer experience. That turned out to be a completely horrible idea, because the rest of Utah was crammed into the same park, but we enjoy the park on all other days of the year. It’s fun to wander through...