As 2023 begins to fade into the history books, a look back at what I thought my priorities in genealogy would be this past year--and what they really turned out to be. My planned genealogy priorities for 2023 One year ago, I set five priorities for my genealogy activities in 2023: (1) continue writing/posting bite-sized ancestor bios, (2) resume my photo album project, (3) redo research about ancestors of particular interest, (4) continue my genealogy presentations, and (5) further my genealogy education. Oh, and I wanted to clean out the unneeded scribbled notes in my surname files. My actua ..read more

  Last month, I ordered one family history photo book so I could preview it before ordering multiple copies for relatives on my husband's side of the family. The main subjects are Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1946) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). I've spent much of 2023 creating such professional photo books so I can memorialize ancestors for the sake of descendants who want to read the "story" rather than just looking at a family tree or a couple of photos. The books include a tree and many old photos, but also quotes from the ancestors and memories from descendants. Pre ..read more

On this day in 1919, my mother, Daisy Schwartz Burk (d. 1981), and her twin sister, Dorothy Helen Schwartz (d. 2001), were born in New York City, to parents Hermina Farkas Schwartz and Theodore Schwartz.  This snapshot was taken during their first year...and unlike most photos, the twins were carefully identified (much later, not at the time). Mom, who was 5 minutes younger than her twin, is at left.  Checking the New York Times archives, I learned that December 4, 1919 was clear and cold, with temperatures below freezing all through the day. Truly a winter day! Remembering ..read more

On vacation or at family gatherings, my wonderful Sis strongly encourages friends and relatives to be visible in at least one photo. She reminds them: "If you're not in the photo, you weren't there." Translation: You'll remember you were there, but others won't know you were there unless you're in the photo.  Who was there, who wasn't there? Also true in family history. Years from now, who will know you were at that birthday party or holiday dinner or reunion if you don't appear in any photos from the event? Uh, people might remember you being there even if you're not in a photo ..read more

Although Veterans Day has come and gone, I'm still submitting edits or making edits on Find a Grave to designate the veterans in my family tree. It's a way of honoring my ancestors who served in the military, memorialized on a site that is free, searchable, and accessible worldwide.  At top, the edit screen for my cousin Harry Pitler's Find a Grave memorial, which I created and maintain. To edit, I moved the veteran designation to indicate Harry was a veteran. Once I clicked "save changes," the memorial showed a tiny V next to his name, as in the screen capture directly above. For mem ..read more

The 24th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was held 73 years ago, on November 23, 1950. My honorary Aunt Lee Wallace (1903-1989) directed the whole shebang as the head of Macy's special events and public relations. She had so many creative ideas and was brilliant at getting publicity for the department store. So many famous folks and so many impressive floats and performances made this a special parade for spectators of all ages who lined the route in Manhattan. According to the 1950 news advertisement on the fandom page for the parade, Jimmy Durante led off, with Bert Parks greeti ..read more

This colorful penny postal greeting was sent from a Wood cousin in Toledo, Ohio, to his cousin in Cleveland, Ohio in November of 1910. The message was a reminder that the cousins were gathering for a big meal on the day after Thanksgiving, so save room for more holiday feasting.  May you and your family enjoy a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!  ..read more

Finally, after more than two months of on-and-off work on my latest family history project, I pressed the "buy" button for a single copy. This is a professional photo book telling the story of my husband's maternal grandparents, Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-19487) and Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970).  Of course, I previewed the book many times on my screen, zooming in on every page to read carefully and look at how the images are positioned. I made countless changes during the project and had my husband preview the book at least 5 times in the last few days. So many small adjustments mi ..read more

If you missed some of the informative WikiTree Symposium talks earlier this month, you can still watch on YouTube! Lots of tips, tricks, and fascinating methodology from well-known genealogy speakers. Here's a link to the entire schedule. Remember, these free videos are available only for a limited time. By early December, they will be gone--so take advantage while you can.  In particular, I highly recommend the panel discussion about artificial intelligence and genealogy--a very hot topic. Watch it here.  My presentation, Keep Your Family's History Safe for the Future, runs less t ..read more

Did you locate all the US ancestors you were hoping to find in the 1950 Census? Immediately after the release of records last year, many of us rushed to find people who were enumerated on April 1, 1950. Still, I have yet to find a couple of dozen ancestors, so I'm going to redo my Census searches again on multiple sites, focusing on this one point in time. At top, I'll use the Ancestry hints to see what that site has already found for ancestors in my family trees. To be thorough, I won't just rely on hints--I'll also specifically search the database "1950 United States Federal Census" with cr ..read more