How can you write the story of someone’s life when you are dealing with boxes of pictures and memorabilia? How to even start? It’s a bit like the old adage of how to you eat an elephant. A bite at a time. Let’s look at some ideas to help us organize and get busy writing. Here are some thoughts.

​Do you remember the days of genealogy when we entered our data on Family Group Sheet and Family Tree Charts? All by hand unless you were a gifted typist and could manage not to botch entering your data. Now we have wonderful software programs where we can track and analyze our data. Do the paper forms still have value? Let’s look.

​I know we’ve talked about the importance of making digital copies of our photos as well as backups. I’ve been thinking more about family albums that I’ve created related to my family history. I thought I’d share some thoughts.

​Happy 4th of July! Hopefully, you took some time to spend with family and friends. And if you’re like many you might have taken additional time to take advantage of summer weather. Genealogy Gems is a newsletter from the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne, Indiana. Curt B. Witcher authored an excellent article called “Mud and Memories, Celebrations and Conversations, Files and the Future.”  He talks about recent natural disasters and the importance of scanning and saving our genealogy. And most importantly to start writing those stories about our family. While we think that all that data we genealogist collect is amazing (I am guilty of this too.), the reality is it isn’t until we write down our family history that it begins to have meaning to the rest of our family.
 
As you enjoy the summer holidays and vacation, think about how you can begin (or continue) to write down your family story to share with others. And enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends.
Happy 4th!
 
p.s. if you want to be on the Genealogy Gems newsletter, you can sign up here: :  www.GenealogyCenter.org. Scroll to the bottom, click on E-zine, and fill out the form. You will be notified with a confirmation email.