Patience Please

We've made it through January with our regular posting schedule, but some external complications are frustrating February's posts.

Until things get sorted out, The Family Yarn will be on hiatus. We'll see you all soon.

I encourage you all to check out The Family History Writing Challenge being facilitated by Lynn Palermo. I'm planning to participate, if I can find the time!

Thanks for understanding!

First Things

Whether we realize it or not, our lives revolve around stories. "How was school today?" "What did you do over the holidays?" "Did you see that play in the fourth quarter?" We watch the news and read the paper to find out who did what where when, how, and (if we're lucky) why.

In a different time and a different culture, the stories of a people passed down through the generations orally. Here in twenty-first century America, the written word reigns supreme, whether on paper on in pixels. Much of our family history, however, exists only in memory, tradition, and speculation.

Watch This Space

I am currently working on developing this blog, with the objective of teaching you how to compose a Narrative Genealogy. Family history should be a readable story, more universally interesting than just names, dates, and places.

Please come back and visit us in November 2014 for our "soft launch". In the meantime, start gathering your pedigree charts and double-checking your citations. And don't forget to go talk to the older generations in your family - their knowledge is slipping away much too quickly!

 

Suggested Resources for Family History Research

• FamilySearch - free access to lots and lots of records archived by the LDS church
• Ancestry - arguably the leader in genealogy records online, but for a fee
• Find A Grave - pretty much what it sounds like: search for recorded gravesites of your ancestors
• Legacy Family Tree - my software of choice for managing my information. The free version is quite robust, and the paid version offers even more. Be sure to check our their weekly webinar series for in-depth education on a wide range of topics.