Artifacts + Context = Family History Story

 

I'm finishing a 20-page photo book about my husband's paternal grandparents, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) and Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925) and their life together. It's a bite-sized family history project, focused on one couple and their background and children. A page in the book is devoted to postcards...with a photo and context for these artifacts. The caption reads: 

James Edgar Wood's relatives were spread across several states. They stayed in touch via penny postcards and visits. Two of these cards were sent by Dorothy Baker (daughter of Ada) to her first cousin Wally, and one was sent by Aunt Nellie Lewis (sister of James). All are addressed to 12513 Lancelot Ave in Cleveland, a home built by James, where the Wood family lived from 1910 to 1912. The colorized photo shows this house in 1911, with Ed and Wally standing in front.

This page appears late in the book, so readers will already be familiar with the names, but they may not remember the relationships, which I included in parentheses. 

The colorized photo, passed down in black/white in the family, shows the very house where these postcards were delivered more than a century ago. The addressee and his older brother are pictured in front. The house was built by their father, James Edgar Wood, and it's still standing today, as you can see here. 

By linking these separate artifacts and providing context, I created a story that I hope will stick in the minds of the younger generation, part of my overall plan to keep family history alive for the future.

Comparing Bite-Sized Family History Photo Books

Above, two of the bite-sized (6 inch by 6 inch) photo books I made to focus on very specific aspects of family history. I'm quite happy with both of them! Quality is good, color reproduction very nice, lots of customizable options for covers and interior layouts. One is from Shutterfly, which I've used for years, and one is from Mixbook, my first try. 

These bite-sized photo books have been a hit with the younger generation, so I'm sure I'll make more later in the year. One recipient appreciated the pocket-sized book because it was "adorable and informative." Win! 

Shutterfly

At left, the Shutterfly photo book about the WWII military ancestors in my Schwartz and Burk family trees. The six inch square size is measured on the outside covers, from spine to tip. Inside, the pages are 5 5/8 inches wide and tall. This is called an "instant book" on Shutterfly, with 20 pages included in the price of $23.98 with standard hard cover (today's price). Promotions are frequent, so wait for a discount! Professional and long-lasting, I crammed a lot of photos and a bit of text into one little book, and my audience was both pleased and fascinated, rereading and asking questions!

I love Shutterfly's nearly infinite options for customizing every aspect of a photo book, including lots of embellishments like frames for photos and fancy wording like "family." The pages are slightly thicker and have a slight sheen, very easy to read at a glance. It takes time to learn Shutterfly's customizing features, but the results are well worth the learning curve, whether you're making a photo book or some other project (family calendar, etc.). 

Mixbook

At right, the Mixbook photo book about the Mayflower ancestors in my husband's Wood family tree. The outside size is 6 1/4 by 6 1/4 measured from spine to tip of cover. Inside, the pages are 6 inches high and nearly 6 inches wide. This is a "blank canvas" square book, with 21 pages included in the price of $26.18 with standard hard cover (today's price). Definitely watch for a discount! I didn't cram too much into this book, because I was only writing about 5 Mayflower ancestors plus some historical context and naming famous descendants of these ancestors, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Very attractive, a quick read and a mini-reference for the younger generation.

Mixbook has somewhat fewer options but also different options, including the ability to quickly and conveniently line up text or photos at top across two-page spreads. It took me less time to learn Mixbook's more intuitive customizing features because of my prior experience with Shutterfly, so the book came together fairly quickly. The pages are slightly thinner and glossier, adding to the polished look. NOTE: Be aware that if you change a Mixbook project within 30 min of ordering, that change will be in your book! 

My preferences

I'm going to go with Mixbook in the future when I make more of these small square books, because its book has a definite size edge over Shutterfly. 

On the other hand, I'm going to stay with Shutterfly for my longer family history books, because I know its customizable features so well.

Which is right for you?

Both are excellent choices for any photo book project, not just a family history project. Both have apps if you prefer to work that way--I use my desktop Mac so I can see every detail without squinting. Really, I like both Mixbook and Shutterfly for photo-heavy family history.

If you've never made a photo book before, I think Mixbook seems a little easier to pick up on your own, with awesome opportunities to customize your project. If you want nearly endless possibilities for colors of page backgrounds, covers, fonts, embellishments, I suggest you consider Shutterfly. Remember that extras cost extra on either site.

Let me encourage you to check out both sites on your own, note the prices of different sizes/types of photo books, and try a book about a favorite ancestor or some other particular element of your family tree--military ancestors, musical ancestors, a black sheep, an extra-special grandma. 

No matter which site you choose, I think you'll be impressed with the quality of the photo book. Just remember to wait for a sale or coupon before you press the "buy" button ;)

Connecting Family History with History

Yesterday, I pushed the button to order one copy of my latest bite-sized family history project. It's a 6" x 6" photo book about my husband's ancestral connections to five Mayflower passengers. 

Not expensive, not an in-depth project, just a brief take on an important movement in history that had a major impact on Wood family history. I'm forever grateful to a 2c1r who did a deep-dive to follow the Wood lineage back to these Mayflower ancestors.

Before I order multiple copies of the book, I want to be sure it looks the way I envisioned it. Once I have the actual book in my hands, I can examine it carefully, decide on any edits, and then order another single copy to check how the second version looks. Ordering with discount codes, of course ;)

At top, the front cover and spine of my book, the first I've made with Mixbook.com. For the covers, I selected a glossy background with a look of linen texture. Inside pages are light tan background with brown title text and black body text, blue for captions. I found it easy to align headlines and body text on facing pages. Also I learned how to shift pages or photos or spreads when rearranging the order of some content. There are more features to learn, but this was a fun intro to a site I've never used but heard good things about. 

In addition to bite-sized bios of Isaac Allerton, Mary Norris Allerton, Mary Allerton, Francis Cooke, and Degory Priest, I wrote about the social and historical context of the Mayflower voyage. Above, the two-page spread I created to briefly explain the Mayflower Compact, written and signed in November, 1620 as the ship was anchored off present-day Cape Cod. I added the inkwell for visual interest, and used a shadow effect to set off the atmospheric image of the handwritten Compact (not an original, but a later copy).

My book notes that the Compact was signed by three of the five Mayflower passengers in the Wood family tree. (The other two were female and not eligible to sign.) Every schoolchild in America is taught about the Mayflower Compact--now my grandchildren will be able to feel a more personal family-history link to this pivotal event in history. Just as important, this part of family history is less likely to be forgotten in the future.

I can't wait to turn the pages of my book, in about two weeks!

Big Focus on LOCKSS Online

Back in 2018, which was the 20th year of my genealogy journey, I began using RootsMagic. First, I really wanted to be able to sync with Ancestry and have my family trees handy on my own computer. Second, I wanted Mac software, with a roster of robust features that wasn't too complicated to learn. RM7 worked well for me for several years.

When I upgraded to RootsMagic 8, I liked the colorful new interface, but the software didn't always sync properly. I admit I didn't want to invest a lot of time trying to learn the bells and whistles, because to my mind, that took precious time away from my research and documentation. Plus this software is only on my computer, and my heirs are very unlikely to be excited about learning specialized software just to access the family tree. 

Dear readers, I recognize that some folks are very much into genealogy software. They know all the ins and outs and they appreciate the convenience. I just didn't have the ooomph to make it up the learning curve. Turns out, genealogy software just isn't my thing. 

Lots of copies keep stuff safe

As I enter the 26th year of my genealogy journey, I am more determined than ever that my family history will live on, for relatives and for researchers interested in my ancestors. Booklets and photo books are great for my immediate family, but I'm thinking longer-term.

That's why I've been expanding my trees on Ancestry, MyHeritage, and WikiTree, as well as posting bite-sized ancestor bios on those sites plus FamilySearch, Find a Grave, Fold3, and elsewhere. Of course, I continue to tell family stories and explore genealogy questions on this blog, which is in its 16th year. 

I'm putting my faith in LOCKSS--lots of copies, spread across many online genealogy sites, should keep stuff safe for the future, in 2024 and well beyond.

Looking Ahead to 2024 Genealogy Priorities

Well, 2024 is nearly here! It will be my 26th year of genealogy obsession, I'm happy to say. Also, 2024 will be my 16th year of genealogy blogging.

In the coming year, my priorities will be:

• Create a family history photo book about my husband's paternal grandparents. This is likely to be the longest and most detailed of my photo books, because I have a lot to share (research, photos, stories) about James Edgar Wood and Mary Slatter Wood, and their siblings. I'll blog as I work on it.
• Continue writing and posting bite-sized bios of ancestors. Some bios I've already written form the basis of content in my photo books...and vice versa. Over time, I'm posting brief ancestor bios on WikiTree, Find a Grave, Fold3, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and more.
• Switch old photos from archival sleeves to safe, convenient photo albums, a project that fell to the back burner in 2023. I love working on old photos when there's a big snow storm outside. So if January in New England turns out to be snowy, my photo project (including captioning) will gain momentum.
• Continue redoing research on focus ancestors, as new info becomes available and as I try different sites. In 2023, I learned how my husband's maternal grandparents met, by researching the social columns in newspapers that only recently were digitized. More of that in 2024. Also, I love learning more about in-law ancestors. Sometimes researching them gives me a clue about a direct ancestor OR gives me context for understanding family dynamics of the past.
• Slim down and reorganize surname file folders. I'm slowly pawing through my surname file folders, consolidating/digitizing research notes, tossing unneeded paper (like printed-out census pages). This is another wonderful snowy-day activity that usually sends me down a rabbit hole as I follow up on something I forgot about or didn't understand the first time I saw it.
• Genealogy programs, education, connections. I'm still making presentations, still taking webinars, and will be attending some local genealogy meetings in 2024. Most important to me, I'm keeping alive the cousin connections I've made in my years of researching family history. 
• Saving family history in institutions. I still have a few items from family history that I'll be donating to institutions in 2024. More about that in upcoming posts. 

Dear readers, I wish you a new year of peace and a tree full of genealogy fun!

Looking Back at 2023 Genealogy Results

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 actual genealogy priorities in 2023

Family-history photo books (a variation on bite-sized ancestor bios) turned out to be my absolutely top priority this past year, something that wasn't on my list at all. Why? Because in February, relatives asked questions about what our ancestors did during World War II. I wanted to provide answers that could be saved and reviewed again and again.

In response to the questions, I created my first-ever family-history photo book about ancestors in WWII. It was only 6 inches by 6 inches, with colorful front and back covers (see image above, from back cover) and 20 pages of info about my Dad (US Army), my uncles (US Army), my aunt (WAC), and my parents' cousins who served in the war (in the US Army, US Army Air Corps, US Marines, US Navy, and National Guard units). 

This tiny book was a big hit with the next generation! So I went "all in" on family-history photo books during the year, creating one about my maternal grandparents, one about my paternal grandparents, and one about my Mom and her twin sister. All were well received. Just last month, I completed a photo book about my husband's maternal grandparents, and last week I reordered copies for other relatives after previewing and editing one copy. In all, a very worthwhile priority that will continue into 2024.

In addition, I wrote many bite-sized bios of ancestors to post on WikiTree, Fold3, Find a Grave, and other sites, as I originally planned for 2023, and will continue into 2024. 

I began cleaning out handwritten notes from my surname files, saving the info as comments on my trees or otherwise consolidating for less paper clutter. This is something I usually do on the fly while looking for other info in those files. 

What slipped to 2024

When those photo books jumped onto the front burner, other priorities had to wait. Now on the back burner is my photo album project, which will show up on the "to do" list for 2024 (more on that in another blog post). 

Also slipping to 2024 was some (not all) of my in-depth research on particular focus ancestors, particularly those from Eastern Europe. I'm pursuing a couple of leads and may yet have an interesting breakthrough before the end of 2023. 

Genealogy presentations and education

I gave more than a dozen virtual presentations live in 2023, and already have dates lined up for 2024. Continuing my own genealogy education, I watched dozens of excellent webinars (both live and recorded) from a variety of sources: Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Virtual Genealogy Association, WikiTree Symposium, Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, Center for Jewish History, Jewish Genealogy Society of CT, Kentucky Genealogical Society, and other genealogy groups around the country. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from experts.

Tip: Always download the handouts when available! Maybe I can't use all of the info or instructions right away, but I might want to consult the handout in the future. I have one digital file where I store handouts and conference syllabi from the past decade. Thank you to the many speakers who put so much detail into their handouts! 

Previewing and Editing Family History Books

 

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.

Preview copy for my edits and recipients' comments

The preview allowed me to see what the cover and pages look like, in print, as a final check. Sure enough, I noticed little things to improve AND little things to add.

In addition, I showed recipients the preview book and they took time to look at each page, offering comments about what they like and don't like (feedback I appreciated). My audience has repeatedly told me that "black and white is boring" so every page has some color, such as a color title at top and a colorful border around each photo, and some pages have a small saying. Also, I colorized two old photos and noted that they were colorized to avoid misleading future generations.

Pencil edits on preview copy

At top, the title page. In real life, it's NOT this yellow looking. I made a pencil note to move the left-hand photo further left to balance out the page. Also, I made a tiny pencil note under the page number, so I could quickly spot which pages had changes. 

After reading and rereading the timeline in the book, I discovered I'd inadvertently omitted two key deaths in the lives of these ancestors. In pencil, I reminded myself to add one death in 1880 and one in 1887--both are described in the narrative, but not included in the timeline until my revision.

Reorder with changes

Now I've reordered multiple copies with these and other edits, ready to give as holiday gifts to relatives who are actually excited about learning more. This is not my final family history photo book--I have one more to go, about my husband's paternal grandparents, Wood and Slatter. I'm currently gathering old photos for that project, which I'll begin in January. 

Previewing a Family History Project

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 (1878-1948) 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 might even introduce tiny errors or omissions, right? Not to mention typos, missing words, inconsistent dates or spellings, and other mistakes that can creep in and get overlooked at the finish line. Also, the color of the background on each page might appear slightly different on the screen compared with how it appears in print. 

That's why I'm ordering a single copy at first. I want to be sure the book looks as it should, as I envisioned it. If I like the first copy, I can reorder multiple copies for relatives. If not, I'll make any necessary corrections and then buy multiple copies. The first copy will stay in my collection, with any changes noted by hand. This is only my personal approach, of course, and it might not work for you, but it's working out well for me.

Above, a sample page from this book, showing an ancestor's marriage cert and a handwritten listing of Floyda and her siblings. The story begins with Floyda's grandparents, briefly telling the highlights and low points of their lives. In the sample, Floyda's father was embroiled in legal trouble when his brother was arrested for burglarizing a storehouse. (Spoiler alert: Floyda's father wasn't actually a culprit but his brother was convicted and went to jail--story here.)

On the sample page, you can see a yellow exclamation point on the handwritten note illustration. This is an indication that the image might not print well, another reason to order a single copy before committing to multiple copies. Usually, I've found that even with the yellow warning exclamation, images tend to print well if I've prepared them carefully, including adjusting contrast. Only very low-resolution images will look terrible, in my experience, but who needs surprises? 

Given how many hours I put into this kind of project, and how enthusiastic I am about sharing ancestral stories/photos with future generations, I'm willing to invest in a single book to do a preview in print, hold the book in my hands, and check carefully before investing more heavily in multiple copies. I've done this in the past, and made tiny corrections that improved later books. I want one copy in my own collection anyway, even if there are a few notes or changes here and there. 

PS I only buy with a discount code or coupon! 

Happy 112th Anniversary to Minnie and Teddy

On this day in 1911, my immigrant maternal grandparents got married on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Hermina "Minnie" Farkas (1886-1964) and Theodore "Teddy" Schwartz (1887-1965) were born in different towns in Hungary, and both arrived at Ellis Island in 1901 when they were just teenagers. The path to their wedding wasn't smooth, since Minnie's parents weren't crazy about Teddy at first. But over time, she won them over. 

That's the lede, and I didn't bury it. In fact, I put it front and center on the cover of my colorful family history photo book, to get readers intrigued by previewing the lives of these ancestors. This is my approach, which fits with my goal of making family history accessible and maybe even fascinating for younger audiences. Your approach might be different, of course, depending on your audience and your goals.

Inside the book, I wrote that my grandparents were married for 52 years, working side by side for much of that time in Teddy's Dairy grocery store in the Bronx, New York. I put in pictures of big family get-togethers (captioned) and mentioned their charitable works. Also, I traced their parents' histories, from birthplaces to marriage to burial places, and summarized what happened to their siblings. Finally, I talked just a bit about their descendants (my readers) and included some contemporary photos. My readers will, I hope, open the book in the decades to come and smile at what will by then be quote old family photos unquote ;)

No matter how you tell your family's story, I think it helps to cater to the interests and preferences of your audience--today and tomorrow. 

Occupation as a Theme in Family History

Home built by James E. Wood on
Lancelot Ave., Cleveland Hts, Ohio

In my husband's family tree, multiple generations of people had the same occupation. Another recurring pattern was younger generations choosing vastly different occupations than the generations who came before. The theme of occupation can be a really good hook for sharing bite-sized family history stories, no matter what your ancestors did for a living.

Slatter: Military men

My husband's three great uncles in the Slatter family were military bandmasters, and their sons also joined the military. I've written a few bite-sized family history bios of these men, and found lots of rich research, in particular, about Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) and Bandmaster Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942). But even without the extra details about how Capt. Slatter popularized the kiltie band, I can organize stories around the multiple generations of Slatters who served their country in wartime and in peacetime. 

Younger relatives in our family were quite interested in the dramatic backstory of how the three Slatter brothers got their military training, starting in their preteen years. They were also fascinated by artifacts such as this WWI handkerchief, passed down in the family for more than a century. The theme of military career has been a hook for me to tell quick stories on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, not just in bite-sized bios, photo books, and on websites.

Wood: Carpenters for generations, then none

My husband's grandfather, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) plus James's brothers and father and earlier generations going back many generations were--as the name Wood implies--carpenters. Earlier Wood ancestors were shipbuilders and general carpenters, later Wood ancestors applied carpentry to build railroad carriages, homes, and other things. 

The family still has several photos of homes built by grandfather Wood in Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during the first three decades of the 1900s. At top, the photo shows a home Wood built on Lancelot Ave, Cleveland Heights, as it looks today--more than a century after it was constructed. The grandchildren were impressed that their ancestor built a home so sturdy that it looks very good even after so many decades.

Then I tell the youngsters that our Wood line no longer has any carpenters. After James, the next generation went into professional careers such as stockbroker, insurance, and company management. That abrupt shift got their attention, sparking conversation about the older careers and the newer careers. 

Lower: Attendance officer and breadwinner

There were women teachers in several branches of my husband's family tree during the first decades of the 1900s, but usually they stopped teaching soon after marriage. Hubby's grand aunt, Lola McClure Lower (1877-1948), wasn't a teacher, though she worked in schools when she became the breadwinner of her family after her husband, a civil engineer, was confined to bed.

Lola built a career as a truant officer in Wabash, Indiana, and became well-respected in the field, giving presentations to regional conferences. How she found time to volunteer for the Red Cross for 25 years, I'll never know. Telling her story is an opportunity to hear what younger relatives think about her choice of occupation! Plus an opportunity to discuss societal and economic changes during the 20th century as more women entered the workforce.

IMHO, any occupation, in any time period, can be an engaging theme for sharing family history stories. Just don't bury the lede. 

Family History as News: Don't Bury the Lede

When I write family history stories and create family history photo books, I put the important stuff close to the beginning. Why? It's an old but still relevant journalism adage: don't bury the lede.  

In other words, don't wait to reveal key information until later in the story...unless there is a really compelling reason to build up to it slowly.

Will our audience pay attention?

For family historians, simply getting the attention of our audience can be a challenge. Encouraging them to keep reading or listening to a story about ancestors is often a challenge as well. Every family history incident has some drama or mystery or fascinating element--it's up to us to shape the narrative and keep the audience engaged.

If we bury the lede, we make the audience wait for the payoff to the story. Um, maybe they won't stick around until the second paragraph or second page to find out what happened to that ancestor.

But if we give them a strong hint or outright reveal the most exciting or important details near the start, our audience will know right away why this story is worth their time. I hope they'll be intrigued enough to continue to find out who, what, when, where, and why. Especially why! 

It's news to them!

For example, when I blogged about my grandpa Isaac last week, my first paragraph didn't hide what was going to happen--it led with the sad fact of his death while visiting relatives. Then I told the story leading up to his unexpected death. No need for suspense, 80 years after the fact, IMHO. 

Family history isn't exactly news coverage but I feel these stories are, in fact, news to our younger relatives. Maybe they've heard the story before, but not with the new discovery I just made. Or maybe they've never heard about what other people did or said about the story and how it rippled through the family in the past. There's always a way to make genealogy fresh and interesting.

That's why, as the family historian conveying ancestral news to the next generation and beyond, I believe it's up to me to put the lede up front. 

Inside My Family History Photo Books

This year I've been making a series of professional photo books as bite-sized family history projects, to be read, spark questions/conversations, and then saved for the future. Above, three from my family...two more are in the works for hubby's family.

Each of my photo books contains 20 pages, plus a glossy front and back cover. The front cover introduces the ancestors and how they are related to our family, plus a sentence or two to intrigue my readers. The covers are colorful and inviting to suggest a lively story inside. 

This is just my approach--yours may be different, depending on your goals and your audience. My goal is to share family history in a conversational way, with affection and an insider's perspective so descendants get to know the people and understand a bit about family dynamics back in the day. 

The interior can be expanded to many more pages but my readers (in the next generation and hopefully generations after that) don't need or want every last detail. If they want, they can take a look at my online trees to get every fact and review every document. 

"Black and white is boring" according to my audience, so every page pops with color, whether it's colorful text, a bright frame surrounding a photo or two-tone hearts or other embellishments. 

Curated content, illustrations and info

I curate the interior content to include basic info, life highlights, family relationships, and interesting stories, liberally illustrated with photos, maps, and snippets of genealogy documents (such as passport photos, ancestor signatures, etc). Inside a typical photo book is:

• Title page: Eye-catching photo(s) with a brief summary of how my readers are related to these people. I use wording such as..."Minnie and Teddy were the grandparents of X, Y, and Z, the great-grandparents of A, B, C, and D, the great-great grandparents of M, N, and O." Also on the title page, I include a quick overview of the arc of these ancestors' lives, like a story.
• Pages 2/3: Backstory of one ancestor, such as my grandma Minnie. Usually I begin with when she was born, who her parents were, birth order and siblings, place of birth and what was happening in that place/that family at that time. Any dramatic events are also included (death of a sibling, for instance). This two-page spread covers birth, childhood, and possibly immigration or education. Illustrations may be a map, a childhood photo(s), diploma, passenger manifest, birth record. Not a dry encyclopedia page, but a story.
• Pages 4/5: Backstory of another ancestor, such as my grandpa Teddy in a two-page spread. If this ancestor's early life intersects with the other ancestor covered in the book, I say where and when. Again, I look for the drama to keep readers turning the pages to find out what happens next. 
• Pages 6/7/8/9:  Following each ancestor's path from old country to new life in the United States. Occupation, helping family get settled, bringing more relatives along, how the ancestors met and their courtship and wedding. My maternal grandma Minnie and her family rode in a horse-drawn carriage to her wedding, which I noted in one book to bring the scene to life for readers. Minnie's parents were far from rich but they marked the day in style once they accepted her choice of husband (she rejected an arranged marriage). Also I included the bride and groom's signatures from their marriage cert. Not all ancestors could write well, but these two had flowing handwriting.
• Pages 10 through 15: Adult life/married life of these ancestors. For grandma Minnie and grandpa Teddy, I showed her with her children, described where they lived and the schools where the children were educated (using yearbook photos, autograph books as illustrations). I showed Teddy in his grocery store and told the story of how he was robbed during the Great Depression. Also I explained how the Farkas Family Tree (grandma's side) was founded and what role Teddy and Minnie and their children played in this organization, which lasted from 1933 to 1965. Large photos of big family events, with identification so the names and faces will be remembered. 
• Pages 16/17: What happened to the siblings/in-laws of these ancestors? In the Minnie/Teddy book, I briefly summarized the lives of their siblings and spouses if any, adding photos with captions so this isn't just a list of names. Each of my books has a couple of pages of "What happened to..." because those folks were part of the family tree, whether they lived close by or far away. 
• Page 18: My generation: I include photos of me and my Sis with some 1st and 2nd cousins as concrete links between family history of the past and relatives of today. I don't want cousins to be forgotten!
• Pages 19/20: Timeline of these ancestors' lives, in chronological order, from birth to immigration to marriage to children to later life to death and burial. I include Census years, saying that so-and-so was enumerated as living at ___ with occupation of ___. I might add that "cousin so-and-so was also living here," such as an immigrant cousin enumerated as a boarder. This is where I can mention many events that are "facts" but with a "story" angle. An address with context helps: "Fox Street in the South Bronx, at the time a good neighborhood for raising children." 

Have fun with your family history projects! 

Hubby's Ancestors Worked on the Railroad

As I create new family history photo books about my husband's maternal and paternal grandparents/great-grandparents, I'm doing a bit of research to provide historical, social, and economic context for their lives.

Wood carpenters worked for a railroad

Two of my husband's Wood ancestors, father and son carpenters, were employed by a giant railroad in Toledo. In the 1880 city directory, paternal great-grandpa Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890) is listed as "coach builder, LS & MS R'y." His son, hubby's great uncle Alfred O. Wood (1855-1895), is listed as "carpenter, LS & MS R'y." Not everyone's occupation was listed with an employer--clearly this employer was important to the economy in Toledo, Ohio.

At top, you can see that Toledo, Ohio was a major center of the Lake Shore & Michigan South Railway (known as the LS&MS). Look at all the railroad lines feeding into it, at the western edge of Lake Erie (red circle). Lots of employment opportunities in a growth industry! This railway system evolved over the years.

McClure ancestors worked for railroads

Other men in hubby's family tree also worked in the railroad industry. According to the 1880 US Census for Wabash, Indiana, my husband's maternal great-grandpa William Madison McClure (1849-1887) worked for a railroad. In the 1900 Census for Wabash, William's son John N. McClure (1840-1919) was enumerated as an engineer for a railroad. 

Another son of William, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970), hubby's maternal grandpa, also worked for a railroad, beginning about 1900. Family lore says he was a master mechanic for the Big Four, formed later than LS & MS and focused on travel in Ohio and the midwest.

Brice and his new bride (Floyda Mabel Steiner, 1878-1948), moved to Cleveland, Ohio in the middle of first decade of the 1900s. For at least a decade, they lived fairly close to the railyards there so he could easily commute to work. As a master mechanic with his own tools, he had his pick of jobs and worked in a variety of industries. In fact, he delayed retirement past the age of 65 to work during World War II, when his expertise was important to the war effort.

In my family history photo books, I'm going to summarize this interesting context in a few sentences plus include a map or two to inform descendants of how and where grandparents and great-grandparents made their living back in the day. 

Putting Names to Faces in Family History Photos

 

As I continue creating family history photo books and printed materials, I'm using different ways of identifying ancestors in old photos:

• Digitally superimpose names on the photo.
• Number the faces, caption using numbers with names.
• Near photo, list names separately with explanation such as "left to right."
• Number or name people on an outline of the photo.

Names on photo

At right, my favorite method is to digitally caption with names directly on the people in each photo.

I use bright colors for the names, which stand out against the black and white or sepia of the scanned photos. The advantage is readers can quickly and easily tell who's who, without looking elsewhere on the page or on another page for names. But in some cases, photos are too crowded to use this method of identification.

On a Mac, I use the preview application to add text to these photos, but I think nearly all photo programs have the capability to do this.

Numbers on photo, names listed separately

Another method is to number the people in the photo, then add a caption listing who's who according to number. I use this method when identifying a large number of people in one photo, because there's simply no room for names.

At left, an excerpt from a family celebration photo where Sis and I are shown (40 and 41) with our mother (33) and our grandparents (23 and 24). 

This photo will appear on the left page, and the identifying names will appear on the right, something like this: 

23) Hermina Farkas Schwartz

24) Theodore Schwartz      . . . and so on.

"Left to right" listing in separate caption

When I originally captioned the photo from my parents' wedding shown at right, I used the traditional method of listing people like this, in a caption below the photo:

At the 1946 wedding of Daisy and Harold, seated in front row, left to right: Abraham Berk, Harold Burk, Daisy Schwartz Burk, Lily Berk Goldberg.

These days, I include birth/death dates and relationships to encapsulate more info in less space. So a revised version of this caption would be:

At the 1946 wedding of Daisy and Harold, seated in front row, left to right: Abraham Berk (1877-1962, groom's uncle), Harold Burk (1909-1978, groom), Daisy Schwartz Burk (1919-1981, bride), Lily Berk Goldberg (1906-1957, groom's first cousin).

This kind of caption can be shown next to, above, or below the photo, maybe even on a facing page. 

Number or name on outline of photo

One more fun idea, suggested during today's #AncestryHour chat on Twitter: turn a copy of the photo into an outline or a pencil sketch, then digitally superimpose numbers or names without obscuring the original. 

Above, my sis and me, in a pencil sketch version of the family celebration photo. Here, I put a number on each person...but if there was room, I could have squeezed in at least a first name, if not a full name. In other words, show the full original photo on one page and then on facing page or directly below, this outline version with numbers or names. Full caption could be below the outline version or opposite, depending on space. 

No matter how I caption, I want the audience to recognize which name goes to which face, and not have to turn the page to puzzle things out! 

Bite-Sized Bios Show Up in Search Results!

 

I've been writing bite-sized bios of ancestors in my family tree and my husband's family tree and posting to multiple websites. Why? Because LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). I don't want these ancestors' names and lives to be forgotten in the future . . . posting brief bios now is part of my plan to keep family history safe for today and tomorrow.

Earlier today, I did an online search for my husband's paternal grandfather, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939), and my bite-sized bios turned up in the first 40 search results. As shown above, this includes both WikiTree profiles and Find a Grave memorial pages!

Not only are bios an excellent way to memorialize ancestors, they also serve as very good cousin bait. Anyone who clicks on these two results will see me as the page manager and be able to send me a note. I've posted bite-sized bios on FamilySearch and other genealogy websites as well.

Little by little, I'm continuing my bite-sized bio project, also memorializing siblings/spouses/in-laws of my ancestors, and making sure to include those who had no descendants. 

Really Brief Bite-Sized Bios From WikiTree Connect-A-Thon

During the weekend of April 21-24, I was one of 749 people who participated in the WikiTree Connect-A-Thon. The goal was to add as many ancestors as possible to WikiTree's free shared family tree, with a minimum of one source and a bit of biographical content. The camaraderie was wonderful and I enjoyed the opportunity to really concentrate on documenting ancestors during a defined time period. This is part of my plan to share family history across multiple platforms.

An amazing 76,995 ancestors total were added to WikiTree during the weekend. I added 107 ancestors, mostly from the paternal side of my family--especially in-laws of in-laws who were not represented at all on WikiTree but now are there.

Given the limited time I could spend on each profile, the bios were brief, more like a teeny nibble than bite-sized ;). It helps that WikiTree automatically weaves together a few facts into a narrative biography, based on what the user inputs on each profile.

The bio in the image above is representative of what I had time to write during a busy weekend of genealogy: This man was born in ___, son of ___ and ___, WWII military service, occupation, name of wife, number of children with her, death. Plus two specific sources, including one with a link to this ancestor's Find a Grave memorial page. WikiTree shows, at a glance, the names of his parents and his wife and sibling.

In the coming weeks, I'll be revisiting the new profiles to flesh them out with better bios and additional sources/links. And of course I'm continuing my bite-sized family history bio projects with posts on other genealogy websites. 

So Many Sites to Memorialize Ancestors

After 25 years of genealogy research, I've learned a lot about my ancestors--and I want to be sure this information isn't lost in the years to come.

For the past few years, I've been writing bite-sized ancestor bios and posting on key genealogy sites. The idea is to share family history more widely, and bios are also possible cousin bait. 

Above, four websites where I've posted the same bio and photo of my paternal grandmother, Henrietta "Yetta" Mahler Burk (1881-1954). 

Clockwise, from top left:

WikiTree is a free collaborative tree site that's growing fast and has the added benefits of sources and (if you wish) DNA connections. I also appreciate the ability to link to profile pages for each parent, each child, each spouse, each sibling. Plus WikiTreers are a friendly bunch!

MyHeritage.com is a subscription site that designates a place on each ancestor profile for a biography. If you want to learn more about how to post a bite-sized bio on MyHeritage, please read my article in the Knowledge Base. Bonus: MyHeritage has many nifty photo tools for enhancing/repairing/colorizing old family photos.

FamilySearch.org came online in 1999 and is the world's largest free collaborative tree site. Grandma Henrietta is well represented with photo, bio, research. A great site, and I'm glad that MyHeritage includes FamilySearch tree results when I research my ancestors.

Find a Grave, now owned by Ancestry, is another free place to post ancestor bios. I especially like that the 226 million+ memorial pages from this site are indexed and appear in search results on Ancestry, Family Search, Fold3, and more. 

Reader Diane asks whether I'm going to use Ancestry's new Storymaker Studio or MyHeritage's DeepStory for telling ancestors' stories. I tried DeepStory, and found it engaging but I do need more experimentation to refine the story and choose the right ancestor photo. It would intrigue the younger generation, but it can't be put on the bookshelf like a photobook, ready at any time for any audience. So far, I haven't yet tried Storymaker Studio but it's on my list to investigate this year.

PLUS: On Ancestry, there is a convenient space under "LifeStory" to type or paste in a full bio! I just did that for Henrietta Mahler Burk, as shown above. Another great way to share family history in narrative form.

Happy 142d birthday, Grandma Yetta, on May 9th. Your name, face, and life story are not forgotten! I'm currently creating a professional photobook about you and Grandpa Isaac, as a keepsake for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Bite-Sized Family History: Upgrading to Professional Photobooks

For the past decade, I've been compiling bite-sized family history booklets to share facts, stories, and photos with my relatives. Choosing a specific focus helps me manage each project so it doesn't become overwhelming for me or my readers.

Now I'm in the process of converting my many paper-based family history booklets into professionally-produced photobooks, one at a time. In the past, I had a local copy shop print my bite-sized booklets in color on heavyweight paper, then I put them into a plastic sleeve or a binder for each recipient. But I've noticed the earlier booklets are becoming worn looking, pages getting creased and torn. Some of the thinner booklets have been lost in the shuffle. 

I'm ready to upgrade, little by little. Why pay more for a professional photobook?

• Professional photobooks are much higher quality, more polished looking. The photos are sharper, the layouts more sophisticated. 
• Professional photobooks will far outlast my previous paper-based booklets. 
• Professional photobooks can be customized so photos are larger or smaller, text areas carry more words, headlines are in different colors, etc. The creative possibilities are endless.
• Professional photobooks impress my readers more than the paper-based booklets. I found this out with my small (6 inch by 6 inch) photobook about ancestors in World War II. Readers responded very enthusiastically!
• Remember: Watch for discounts and sales. Some photobook sites announce discounts for major holidays...others offer free "extra pages" or other specials. Shop around and see which site meets your needs.

At top, the cover of my latest bite-sized project in progress, a photobook (8 x 11 inches) about my Mom and her twin sister. I first created this in paper booklet form two years ago. Transformed into a photobook, it will be a more durable keepsake that readers can page through again and again for years to come.

Plus I finally know the names of all the people in all the photos so my captions will be more complete! An older cousin reached back into her memory to identify the two "mystery children" in the above photo as part of the FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors), not relatives. We also dated the photo after carefully studying the apparent ages of the kids. 

Redoing my family history into a professional photobook offers an opportunity to correct, add, subtract, and focus. Everyone is identified by full name AND I inserted info from the 1950 US Census, among other changes. The paper-based booklets looked quite good, but these look really great.

Without question, photobooks are much more costly than paper booklets. For me, after 25 years of researching my family tree, it's a worthwhile investment in memorializing ancestors for the long term--but let me stress again that I wait for a sale to order. Actually, I'll first order a single copy to see how the book looks. Then I can either tinker or reorder for all my readers (on sale of course). 

--

Bring Family History Alive in Bite-Sized Projects is one of my genealogy presentations--learn more here.

Bite-Sized Ancestor Bios: Ideas from #GenChat

Last night and this morning, the #GenChat topic (on Twitter and Mastodon) was "Bite-Sized Ancestor Bios." To stimulate conversation as guest expert, I created a series of questions that participants answered in tweets or toots. Here's a recap--lots of ideas and food for thought! No right or wrong answers. "Everyone deserves to be remembered" as GenChat host Christine says. 

#GenChat Ice-breaker: Have you written any ancestor biographies, bite-sized or not?

Comments: Most folks have written at least a few ancestor bios. A bite-sized bio, no matter how brief, is more informative than no bio at all. One person said this was a good way to document both genealogy research and family lore (more about "lore" later). Several have been blogging ancestor bios for some time. Someone self-published the detailed bio of an ancestor after years of research. A few pointed to their growing number of bios on WikiTree profiles. 

One participant started with bullet points to get the ball rolling. Sometimes bios can be time-consuming if cross-reference related ancestors, research, etc. Preparing to write a bio, someone noted sources, research plans, timeline. What do you need to know before writing?

There was discussion about how short or long a bite-sized bio might be. Depends on the space available, what you know about an ancestor, the attention span of your audience, how much you want to include or need to include to help others understand that ancestor. 

Q1: What are the pros and cons of bite-sized bios?

Pros: the ability to commemorate an ancestor, preserve something of that person's life, humanize that person. Quick to research/write, quick for audience to absorb without getting overwhelmed. Interesting ancestor anecdote might spark interest among family members. Main facts at least summarize ancestor's life, putting in highlights and context adds dimension. Especially for ancestors without descendants and those who died quite young, a way to keep their memories alive. 

Cons: Difficult to choose what to include/exclude. Room for stories? Or just a teaser to capture interest, build excitement? If it's too brief, is it just a story about one episode in ancestor's life? Only include unproven "family lore" if room for explanation/proof, to avoid having anyone copy unproven info and perpetuate it. (My thought: label it clearly as "family story" or "family legend" so it will be remembered even if not proven, because adds color and personality--mention if any facts contradict or might maybe possibly tend to confirm but not actually prove.) If large family tree, might have a lot of bios to write, so prioritize (see later question). 

Q2: What to include, what to exclude in bite-sized bios?

Starting points to consider including: basic facts (birth, marriage, death); family situation/relationships; occupation; one or more notable highlights (good or bad). Also: migration, religion, military, cause of death.

Consider excluding: full names/data about living people, to protect privacy; info that could be hurtful or otherwise cause problems for living people; disclosing something consequential family doesn't know in an ancestor's bio. Keep info in your files for future if not include now.

Q3: When you know a little about an ancestor, how do you create a bite-sized bio? When you know a lot about an ancestor?

Comments: Harder to write when we know a lot because must decide on focus, such as occupation or an award/honor or whether ancestor was known/close to relatives still alive. What makes that ancestor "newsworthy" for the audience? What do we most want our audience to know? General outline might include: birth, parents, spouse/kids if any, residence, interesting fact, date of death (maybe cause). Focus on a theme if possible, breaking down into bite-sized chunks.

When we know a little: "Elevator pitch," set a goal for a small number of sentences. Mention in bio what you don't know, creates a bit of drama. Choose specific focus to do a deeper dive: occupation (specifically that person or in general type of occ that person had), immigration, schooling (or lack).

If on WikiTree, try the automatic bio generator here. It uses factual data entered by user (birth date, death date, etc) woven into narrative form, bite-sized bio that can be enhanced at later date if you want.

Q4: How can you share bite-sized bios with family and more widely?

Comments: Profiles on WikiTree and other genealogy platforms; in blog posts; in a book or letter or handout; at reunion; in family Facebook group; on family chat thread; on a family or surname or genealogy website; email to relatives; submit to selected libraries/archives/genealogy societies; post as "memory" to FamilySearch; on family calendar, one ancestor per month; posting on social media with visual to attract interest (or ask for help identifying more faces); send in cards on relatives' birthdays; during video calls, audio calls; as captions for photos; on Find a Grave, Fold3, other sites that are searchable; on ornaments, maps, more.

Q5: How do you set priorities for bite-sized ancestor biography projects?

Comments: Create a list (or spreadsheet) of ancestors you want to write about, some with bite-sized bios and some with longer bios. Or prioritize direct ancestors, followed by siblings/spouses of direct ancestors, first cousins of direct ancestors, etc. Or pick one generation to start. Or a single family to profile. Or write about ancestors you never met. Or be spontaneous, depending on which ancestor or line "calls" to you. Try to write regularly, maybe one bio a week or whatever fits your schedule.

Want to participate or follow along during #GenChat on Twitter or Mastodon?

Schedule is 2d and 4th Friday of every month on Twitter, then Saturday morning on Mastodon. For more, see the GenChat website.

#GenChat on Twitter: @_genchat

#GenChat on Mastodon: @genchat@lor.sh

Small Family History Book Brings Wartime Activities to Life

Early this month, a young relative asked about our family in World War II. In response, I created a small (six inch by six inch) photobook focused mainly on the military service of my Dad, my two uncles, and my aunt. Bite-sized family history projects like this don't take a lot of time to prepare and don't overwhelm the audience with details--using images to bring ancestors and stories to life.

The cover (see above) shows the four focus ancestors, with a colorful border around each image. Even a small touch of color is important because the next generation has complained that "black and white is boring." The text is dark green, and the background is light tan, avoiding the dreaded black-and-white that makes eyes roll among my younger audience.

On the back cover, I repeated the two most colorful images from the inside pages. Top left, the unit shoulder patch from Dad's US Army unit. He was in the 3163d US Signal Service Company, and everything on that patch has significance, from the thunderbolts forming a V for victory to the blue star in a white background, which stands for the Army Service Forces, and the broken chains, freeing Europe from the Axis. I explained the significance inside the book.

Lower right on the back cover is the shoulder patch for the 9th US Air Force, to which my aunt's WAC unit was attached. This particular image is from that WAC's unit history, researched and written by my aunt, Sgt. Schwartz.

Inside, I also included a few sentences (with photos) about the military service of Dad and Mom's first cousins, noting that Mom was in the New York City Air Warden Service. 

This attractive bite-sized book has a hard cover and looks professional, with flashes of color throughout. Now the next generation will know that our Schwartz and Burk ancestors were active during World War II in the US Army, US Army Air Force, US Marines, US Navy, US WACs, and on the home front as well.