Tree of Life by lilipilyspirit.deviantart.com Not All Stories Need Words Art can speak to us in photos, plays, poems, skits, dioramas, quilts, songs, photographs, even maps and diagrams.  Family trees are stories, too . When you view a timeline of an ancestor's life, does a story spring to mind? Those who think they can't write, can record their story on their phones, or computers. Both Word and Google Docs have voice transcription power.   Tell Your Own Story The magic moment is when a person realizes that they have a story to tell. Is it one of walking hand in hand down a dusty road with great-grandmother? Whether or nit she told her story, your memory is yours; tell it! Sometimes it is the little moments, such as after the ghost story is told around the campfire, when all the kids suddenly feel the urge to get back to the cabin and out of the dark night. Or the feeling after catching your first fish, proudly walking past the crowd to clean it so you can eat your catch. S

  Thanks to Twisted Twigs on Gnarled Branches via Facebook Organizing is a bunch of four letter words--sort, list, file, scan, copy, move. . .and a few others not to be uttered in polite society. Of those words, "List" should be one of your first actions.  Take an inventory of what you have and at least mentally remember where it is located now.  You might be surprised what you have in your file boxes and bookshelves.  Recently I spotted a book on my bookshelf that I could have used a few times myself and could have shared with others. A few years ago I prepared a presentation about the rectangular land survey system by which federal lands were allocated under various land grant acts including the Homestead Act of 1862. In the course of the presentation and several times in my own research I have encountered reference to Military Bounty Warrants. While I roughly know what they are, I have felt I needed to learn more about them but have never made the time to do so. What'

Why?  Google Drive is free, and available on all of your devices. And you probably already have a Drive and don't know it! I use mine constantly. Why should you use it? For saving from anywhere, and sharing with anyone. Share source images you've found with cousins, share your own documents with others for feedback, and share things with yourself on other devices. You can do this no matter where images or documents come from or what software created them. If you prefer Word to Google Docs but want to be able to get inline comments, just import them to your Drive. Do the same for Excel, or any other software. You can even save to and share from your Drive from your phone or tablet. Don't worry, you can edit and then download in Word or Excel format. Where's My Google Drive? First, how do you find your Drive? Go to Google.com and look up to the right. If you are logged in and have uploaded an image you will see it right next to the matrix of stacked dots. Top right of th

From the Stowe/Williams Family Collection As the weather warms up and Covid restrictions ease, people are traveling more and seeing friends and family members they have missed for too long.  Some are even meeting distant relatives they may never have met before. One of the joys of meeting after a long period of time is sharing photographs.  Hopefully everyone in the photos is identified and the date and place are well documented.  The photo is telling you a story and all the details are evident. But, unfortunately, that is rarely the case.  Some photos may have been identified such as the ones my Aunt Bea did--a man fishing from the shore of a body of water was identified as, "Dad at the lake".  Great!  Whose Dad?  at what lake?  at what occasion?  At least she tried.  That isn't always the case. Don't be steered wrong Sometimes the information given is not correct.  This photo had been identified as a three generation group and as 2nd great-, great- and grandmother o

 Collaboration is magic! Your own work, experience and inspiration combined with others who share an interest, create more than seems possible. See  The Magic of Collaboration (and Wikitree)  for more about that. But how to begin?  First, collaborate with relatives Pick up the phone! Set up an interview Write a letter Send images, information and questions, through the mail or email, or shared documents such as Google Drive Ask them to share images and questions too Invite them to your Ancestry or MyHeritage tree Share a timeline for your family Next, collaborate with DNA matches Start with the closest and largest matches, and put them into your tree Use the site tools to figure out who they are (shared matches, dots) Use the site messaging system; give them your email and some information • As you learn one site, upload to another, 1, 2, 3! • Sometimes you will need to build their trees for them; invite them to the tree • Keep sharing as you find more information • Remember to use sha