Photo books are one way of sharing your story now. Are you taking the time to tell your own story? Be a good ancestor and share your own story so future generations will have a sense of what your life has been like. My choice: photo books I began to systematically document my life and family experiences in 2007, when I made the first of what became an annual series of photo books. My goal was to capture some of the most significant or fun things that happened during the year, so I could look back and rekindle those memories. But I also realized that photo books look polished and can b ..read more

My maternal Grandma Hermina Farkas Schwartz (1886-1964) was part of the first generation in the Farkas Family Tree, founded in 1933 to keep the Farkas siblings and their descendants in close contact.  Fortunately, the founders had the foresight to keep written minutes (originally in cursive, but quickly switched to typed) of their 10 meetings per year. And that's how I learned which member was the designated "Walter Winchell" of each year. Good & Welfare Chair = Walter Winchell The idea was to have one person in charge of gathering family gossip (good, bad, funny) and reporting durin ..read more

 The 1921 Census of England and Wales is now available on Ancestry. Subscribers can search that Census directly from this page. You will soon be able to see 1921 Census hints show up under the category of "new collections" on the hints page. Above is a photo of my husband's Ancestry family tree hints page. So far, only 4 "new collections" hints have appeared but there's a reason. Remember, to stimulate the hints system, you need to click on your ancestors and do a little searching. There are several dozen UK ancestors on the tree, but I've only researched four of those folks in the past ..read more

One of my favorite photos shows my maternal grandfather, uncle, and aunt at a very memorable Thanksgiving gathering of the Farkas Family Tree. The family tree association, founded in 1933, had been getting together for Thanksgiving dinners for more than two decades.  In 1956, the setting was the Hotel Gramercy Park in Manhattan, convenient to Farkas relatives and in-laws who lived in and around New York City. For this dinner, attendees were asked to come in costume. Many worked hard on elaborate (sometimes outlandish) outfits. As shown above, my Auntie Dorothy Schwartz (1919-2001) dresse ..read more

In 2025, I'm adding to my family history stories and expanding my online family tree by participating in two free genealogy activities: Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and the WikiTree Connect-a-Thons.  #52Ancestors Introduced in 2013, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a great way to jump-start writing about family history because Amy provides a genealogy prompt for every week of the year. No rules, no obligation to write every week, not even a blog is necessary. Participants receive a helpful prompt open to personal interpretation, plus we can join Amy's Generations Cafe Facebook ..read more

I'm just beginning my research into the family background of two in-law ancestors in my husband's family: Piacentino "Peter" Pietroniro (1901-1979) and his wife, Anna Yurko Pietroniro (1910-1989). This couple married in 1929. I have the date and the officiant's name, and will be doing more research to identify the church. Peter was an immigrant from Casacalenda, Italy who crossed the Atlantic in search of work and, like many from his area, settled in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1920s.  Anna was one of 7 children born to immigrants from Hazlin, Czechoslovakia (now an area in Slovakia). Her ..read more

Happy new year! My genealogy journey began in 1998, when a beloved maternal first-cousin-once-removed asked me a routine family history question about my father's father. I knew only the man's name, not his birth or death date or place. Curiosity led to determination and then to obsession and as I continued my research, I discovered loads of cousins who were new to me!  Now 27 years later, I'm still excited about connecting with cousins and connecting the dots for a more complete, more accurate family tree. Most important to me is to keep sharing what I learn so the knowledge isn't lost ..read more

  From the archives of Wood family history, two penny postal greeting cards sent to Cleveland in the early 1900s. Cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings all exchanged cards like these to keep connections strong in the Wood family. May your new year in 2025 be peaceful and bright.  ..read more

Reclaim the Records, that terrific nonprofit fighting to make public records public, won a lawsuit that makes a huge US military veterans' database available to all for the very first time--at no charge. And they didn't stop there.  Reclaim the Records created not just a neat searchable website for finding US veterans in the BIRLS (Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem), it built in a super-easy, super-convenient process for asking for Veterans Affairs records via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with just a few clicks and an electronic signature. Read the ..read more

  These colorful greetings are just two of the many penny postal greetings sent to a young Wood relative in Cleveland, Ohio from about 1907 to 1915. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah ..read more