But it doesn’t have to be so hard.

The Internet has made it so easy to collaborate family tree information and share that information.

Now, there are tools that can help to automatically expand links in your family tree, saving you tons of time searching, and the headache of running into roadblocks.

OneGreatFamily is a genealogy site that helps expand what you know of your family tree.

Of course there are lots of resources out there that can help with that, but what makes OneGreatFamily different is that it can automatically add thousands of matches into your tree with a few simple clicks.

In other words, it searches for matches while you sleep and lets you know if there are matches.

You have the option to review the matches for accuracy, and if it’s a fit, you might be able to add literally thousands of names to your family tree (that’s if there’s a good match).

Famous Folks have used it

Advertising for the site mentions that, “See how Donny Osmond added 38 generations to his family tree using OneGreatFamily!”

That’s pretty amazing. Maybe Donny didn’t have any genealogy work done, but I kind of doubt it.

There are other success stories that you can read on their site:

“We have had fabulous experiences with OneGreatFamily.com. We went from a few hundred people in our PAF program to over 10,000 each in OneGreatFamily.com.”
—Mark & Betty Stilwell

Are making the automatic connections easy?

They have millions of names in their database. The strength comes from their unique approach to organizing that information and the algorithms they use to plug it all together so that when a match is made, it’s easy to connect the dots and import the information in just a few clicks of the mouse.

How much does the site cost?

Of course there is a subscription fee to use the site, but there is a Free Trial that they offer.

You can try out the service, and if it doesn’t work out, you can cancel within the trial period without a problem.

Check out the site for more details and if they’re running any promotions.

To make the most of the service…

1. Collect your family history records (dates, names, etc.)
2. Start with the free trial and enter your dates and names to see if there’s a match at OneGreatFamily)
3. Record what you find.

Pretty easy!

Use this site in conjunction with other resources you have. You never know what might turn up!

The site has a relationship calculator that can be used to find famous connections as well which is pretty neat.

You can visit the site and read more about it here: OneGreatFamily

Hopefully, the quick review below will help you decide if giving Ancestry.com a try can help you in your research.

Free Services at Ancestry.com

First, lets get started with the free services provided by Ancestry.com.

Ancestry offers a membership through subscription to access much of it’s mult-billion genealogy records database. However, the site provides some awesome tools for free. They do hope that you’ll eventually sign up for a membership, but it’s not required to use the free tools.

The greatest free resource available through ancestry.com is the Online Family Tree Program. You can use this portion of their website to create your family tree record from scratch or to upload a Gedcom file with the information you’ve already collected.

Creating your family tree with the Ancestry service keeps your information private asking you to create a username and password to keep your information safe.

Returning to the site later, you can pick up where you left off.

What’s neat about the family tree tool:

• Collaborate with other family members – Share family history information with only those whom you want to see it. You can give free accounts to your family members across the world, and they’ll be able to upload information that they have about the ancestors in your tree. No more losing information in the mail or having to send lots of email attachments with records. Now, you can share all your research with the whole family. Leave a legacy of research that won’t be lost in a box in the attic!
• Easy to use – Export a Gedcom file from your computer and upload it to populate your tree. You can also enter information by hand as you go.
• Looks great compared to other programs – The tree has a very professional look to it and the colors used are easy on the eyes (compared to others out there I’ve used).
• You can upload rich multi-media content – Don’t be satisfied with just looking at dates and names on your tree, upload pictures, records, and stories. You can add oral histories over the phone. It couldn’t be easier.
• Researches your genealogy for you while you sleep – The family tree makes record searches in the background for each individual. That means that you can take a break while the system researches if your ancestors are included in certain censuses in the US or England, if they’re included in war records or old newspapers. A little green leaf will appear next to the persons in your family tree for whom the site has found possible records matches (to view/download many of the records, you’ll need a subscription to the site).
• Ability to make gifts – For a fee, you can have your tree and the stories you uploaded organized into a very classy looking book that you can give to family or friends.

The ad form below can get you started with the free Pedigree Chart portion of the Ancestry site.

Searching for records

If you’re ready to jump right in searching for records, then you’ll want to consider a trial membership of the Ancestry site.

The site generally offers two main memberships: US Deluxe and Worldwide Deluxe.

The US plan gives you access to US records while the Worldwide plan gives you access to US AND records from other countries such as the UK, Canada, Ireland and many other countries.

If you sign up for their annual plan, you’ll save $$ as opposed to going with the monthly plan.

The great thing about the site is that new information is added each week. Ancestry is obsessed with adding new databases to its collection on a weekly basis, so the chances of finding more matches to your family tree and ancestors increase each week.

Scope of records at Ancestry.com

Ancestry has over 5 billion records that you can search through (that’s a lot of records). You’ll find:

• Census records
• Newspaper articles
• Birth records
• Death records & obituaries
• Marriage records
• Immigration records
• Military records
• Criminal records
• Written histories

What’s great is that in most cases, you’ll be able to see a scan of the original record and download it for your own records. Information found in the censuses is extremely interesting. Depending on the census, you’ll see if your ancestors could read/write, what their occupation was, and the people living in their households.

Ancestry also offers services such as DNA testing to discover where your ancestral heritage hails from (different DNA experts may interpret the same results in different ways, but it is interesting stuff).

You can get a taste by searching some of their records by clicking the ad below:

Is Ancestry.com right for you?

I’ve personally found Ancestry helpful in finding valuable census records for family members, and the family tree program online has proved very valuable. You can always try it to see if it works for you or use it for a defined time.

For a specific ancestor search, fill in the information into the ad below and click the search button. You never know what might turn up!

A familiar question, one that is usually asked when you’re in trouble. However, this time, it takes a different meaning. Seven celebrities embark on a quest to answer the question, “Who do you think you are?” in a new television series on NBC. Of course, Ancestry.com on of the largest Genealogy Websites is helping out.

The celebrities featured in the new show include:

• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Susan Sarandon
• Spike Lee
• Mathew Broderick
• Brooke Shields
• Emmitt Smith
• Lisa Kudrow

The premise for the show might appear boring if the celebs were merely sitting at a computer looking at family tree info; you’ll have to watch below to see if that’s the case:

From NBC (after the ad):

From Hulu:

The show starts Friday Evening, March 5th and continues each Friday.

Resources through Ancestry.com help make the series possible. Ancestry.com offers a Free Trial to new signups.

Fortunately, there are a couple services that will let blog owners print a book from the material and pictures hosted on blogs.

Blog2Print

One site is called Blog2Print which uses your blog login information to access your blog posts and pictures.  You can then organize the blog posts, pictures, etc. and create your book.

I’m not a fan of letting other websites have access to login information from different accounts, so my suggestion is to change your blog password before and then after you use the service.

Pricing for Blog2Print is about what you’d expect for self-created picture book.  If your blog has hundreds and hundreds of posts that you think will probably fill up a number of printed books at large cost, you could try their feature of priting to a PDF.  You could then take the PDF and have it printed somewhere else.

Blog2Print Website

Blurb BookSmart

With BookSmart by Blurb you download software to your computer that helps you organize the information from you blog.  You can then create your book.  Pricing is pretty good with this option, but you will need to install the software on your computer.

If you have a lot of posts which would equate to a lot of pages which in turn would mean more costly a book, try creating your book with the Black and White option.  The prices are much lower compared to the color books.  Save color for your printed photos if you’re planning to use your blog and print it as a journal.

BookSmart really does provide a rather wonderful selection of book types and pricing options which makes their service quite competitive.

Blurb Website

Other Book Printing Websites

There are other websites that you can use to print books but that don’t have the integration to pull information from your blog in an integrated and easy way (that we could find at least):

Lulu (a great service)

Lulu is a major printer/publisher.  If you have your book ready, Lulu can print your book, allow you to sell it from their or your own website.  Another great thing about Lulu is that you can start by purchasing just one copy of your book, but if you want more copies later, they can print it up.  It’s print on demand.

Lulu Website

MyPublisher

MyPublisher is used often for photo books.  You can receive discounts for MyPublisher by searching for MyPublisher Coupons on the Internet.  If you have a Costco membership, you might be able to get a discount as well (at least you could in the past from the Costco website).

MyPublisher Website

BookSurge by Amazon

BookSurge is similar to Lulu but integrates very well with Amazon.com if you are looking to sell your book/journal online (maybe you’re a movie star and lots of people want to read it or something).

BookSurge Website

No matter which option you choose, be selective of the types of posts you put into your book.  If your blog features more pictures of your cat than it does of you or your family, your family might not get as big of a kick out of reading the book.  So, keep the content interesting and original, and you’ll have a great book!

Below are a few ideas on how to keep going and to find what you’re looking for

1. Take a break - Believe it or not, but taking a break can be one of the best things to keep you moving forward.  Returning back after a break can help you with new insight and approach your research in new ways.
2. Enlist help – Getting the help of others when you’ve come to a dead end can be a crucial step to finding what you’re looking for.  Obviously, the easiest people to get help from are your immediate family; however, it’s possible that their information is similar to you own.  Go to the oldest living relative in the line and see what they know.  They may have old records in the home that they forgot about.  You can also go to your local family history library and ask for help.  Another method is to try to get help from people across the Internet.  There are plenty of sites such as genealogy.com and ancestry.com where you can connect with other researchers. 
3. Use online tools and databases – You’ve probably already done this in your search, but it doesn’t hurt to mention it.  If you cant find your records at ancestry.com or familysearch.org, try doing Google searches.  Search for the name of the person, put quotes around the first and last name as an option to find records on the Internet with an exact match.  Try including any dates or approximate dates you may have.  Many individuals have posted their family records online; they may have posted something about a common ancestor that you share too.
4. Go wide - It’s possible that the record you have isn’t the name that the person used or it is spelled differently.  Try widening your research to include a wider date range and various spellings of the name.
5. Visit the location where the records may be – Lots of towns have records but are not posted online.  If you’re up for a trip, try locating cemeteries, churches, and state buildings in the city where you think your ancestor lived.  Ask all over for places to get records.  Find the family history library in the vicinity (helps to do this in advance) and ask for help there.

Whether you’re a veteran researcher or a newbie, taking different and unique approaches can sometimes pay off big.  Good luck, and happy searching.

First, you’ll need to upload or enter some of your family history information into the Ancestry Family Tree Program (on the web). After entering or uploading information for a few relatives (you’ll need locations in what you enter), you’ll be able to see information for a relative on a map.

This is not only helpful for understanding the areas where your ancestors may have lived, but you’ll also be able to see if a certain event took place near a cemetery, school, church, etc. where you might be able to search and find new records.

To get started with your family tree: Start Your Family Tree

To get started with Ancestry’s other features: Free Trial – Ancestry.com World Deluxe Membership

Remember the wall that Sirius Black had in the Harry Potter book Order of the Phoenix?  We’re talking about something like that, just a little more compact to fit 510 names of ancestors.

I came across The FamilyRoots Circle Pedigree a while back and started filling out the chart as a personal challenge.  I have to admit that I have one quarter of the chart that I haven’t gotten to, but I’ve been able to fill out about 280 names so far.  

It’s interesting to see how far back you can trace one line while perhaps another, only a few generations back, has no records you can find.  It seems like if a bunch can be traced back nine generations, then the few that stop only 3 or 4 generation in shouldn’t be that hard to track down.

Filling out a chart like this also helps you to see the commonality of names in your family tree.  We had an exorbitant number (okay I’m exaggerating, but we do have a lot) of ancestors named Elizabeth in my family tree.  So, when our first daughter was born, what did we do?  We carried on the tradition, so that someday nine generations into the future, someone can look back and name their child Elizabeth as well (or maybe not).

The chart allows for room to put dates and locations.  If you have any Puritan roots, it’s fun to see names such as “Thankful” and “Content” in the family tree.

If you feel up to the challenge, you can purchase the FamilyRoots poster (it’s 37″ by 37″) and start filling out your family line (see http://familyrootsorganizer.com/lessons/charts.htm or http://www.123genealogy.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=3)

To get started, there are a couple places where you can find information on your family line (with any luck, one of your distant cousins, may have done a lot of the hard work for you.  Don’t you wish you were nicer to them at the family reunions?  Oh never mind).

- Great Family Tree Research Tools -

FamilySearch.org – FamilySearch.org has millions and millions and millions of names, and you can browse the names in a pedigree or “Family Tree” format.  Access to the data is free; however, you may need to start a few generations back in your search results to an ancestor that you know of that has already passed away.  I used FamilySearch to get a lot of the info I needed for my chart.  We downloaded the information in the the Personal Ancestral File program (PAF) which is made freely available as well.

Ancestry.com – Ancestry.com is another great resource.  It requires a subscription, but if you’re looking to find more than just names (such as digital copies of newspaper articles, birth certificates, war records, etc.) you’ve come to the right, and perhaps the best place.

So take the challenge, see if you can get 510 ancestors on your wall (well, at least their names).

Multiple people can add notes to a picture. For example, say you have a scanned photo of an old family photo but don’t know who’s in it. Upload your picture, and ask Grandma to identify who the people are in the picture by clicking on the people in the picture and adding a short description.

When you put your mouse cursor over the updated picture, the comments appear.

There’s not cost to uploading the pictures, and you can upload an unlimited quantity.

Vietnam Memorial Project

The site also has recently launched the Vietnam Memorial project in which visitors to the Footnote website can search for names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall and see details about the names, places and battles.

Search the wall by name, home town, enlistment type, or service branch.

Visit Footnote.com

Al Caholic, Anita Bath, Sloth Washington, Mayor Bland, and Gamble Moore are just a sampling of the names some poor folk had to endure during their lives.

From the database at Ancestry.com,
comes a book that reveals bad baby names throughout the century. The names have been taken from census and other records. Some are pretty hard to believe.

You may find some strange names in your family genealogy. If you have puritan roots you may find “Thankful” or “Content” but hopefully, you won’t find any as bad as “Doctor Love”, “Seymour Butz”, or some of the other wacky names parents have actually used.

Read the feature on the Today show or watch the Today Show video about the names/book below:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23631411

Take the book on a road trip and enjoy the fun. The book is available at Amazon.com: Bad Baby Names: The Worst True Names Parents Saddled Their Kids With, and You Can Too!

There are a few simple tips when taking pictures of family members to keep in a family history book or file.

Photo Tip #1: Zoom In

Your pictures will look ten times better if you zoom in or get closer to the person you are photographing. By taking a picture that encapsulates your subject head-to-toe, you lose a lot of facial detail and expression. If your subject is not a body builder or super model, they’ll probably appreciate a facial portrait rather than a full body shot.

Full shots are great, and you’ll definitely want some in your collection, but for family history purposes, you’ll probably want to capture more the essence and expression of your family member/subject.

For instance, the photo below is a great artistic photo. It makes good use of “depth of field” and is a fun composition with the flowers and the family holding hands.

It’s a great photo, no doubt about it. However, if you take a look at the picture below, you’ll see why zooming in or moving in closer to your subject greatly enhances the picture. There’s no fancy foreground or background in the picture (there’s actually no background), but you can really get a sense for the people in the picture.

Your pictures will instantly look better if you just move in a little closer. You’ll also avoid the “I-feel-uncomfortable-standing-in-front-of-the-camera-and-I -don’t-know-what-to-do-with-my-arms-syndrome.” How many times have you posed for a picture and just felt uncomfortable the way you were standing? You just didn’t feel natural and didn’t know what to do with your arms…at the side, folded, hands in pockets, etc. (One way to avoid this is to put weight on one foot and not equally on both.)

Photo Tip #2: Get Good Light

Too bright, and your pictures will be washed out, too dark, and you won’t be able to see anything–lighting is key to taking a good picture. Taking pictures outside in the morning and evening hours provides good natural light. Taking pictures at noon and early afternoon makes lots of unhappy squinters. Go for soft, natural light. If you have to take pictures during the day, try placing your subject in the shade.

Try different angles. The light can come from the side. If you have a removable or adjustable flash, try bouncing the flash off the ceiling or from the side. This will help eliminate harsh shadows behind the subject.

Photo Tip #3: Compose In 3rds

You don’t always have to place your subject smack-dab in the center of the picture. Put them to the right or left side of the frame. It will ad variety and a different dynamic into the picture.

Photo Tip #4: Small Group Shots

If you’re taking pictures of a group, you normally have to scoot way back to fit everyone into the frame. That’s fine for a single shot, but try taking pictures in smaller groups and zooming in on the faces of the individuals (see tip #1). If it’s a family picture, take the group shot, and then split the group up by taking a picture of the parents with each child. You’ll also want a picture of just the parents alone and each child alone. It’s great to have sister, uncle, brother, cousin, etc. in the pictures, but a few generations down the road, descendants will be mostly interested in the individual they are most closely related to.

Since digital pictures really don’t cost anything (unless you print them), go ahead and take a bunch. Your posterity will thank you.

That should be enough to get you started, but once you have your pictures, remember to organize them and name them.