FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH, WRITING & BLOGGING by Katie Gauger

Front Page of Booklet Back Page of Booklet

Helpful Online Genealogical Resourceshttp://visitingteachingsurprisedocuments.blogspot.com/2009/09/family-history-research-writing.html
 All of the resources listed in this document can also be found at: A blog, short for Web log, is basically a very easy-to-use Web site. No need to worry too much about creativity or code. Instead a blog is basically an online journal -- you just open it up and start to write -- which makes it a great medium for documenting your family history search and sharing it with the world.

A genealogy or family history blog can be used for many reasons -- to tell family stories, to document your research steps, to share your findings, to collaborate with family members or to display photos. Some genealogists have even created a blog to share daily entries from an ancestor's diary, or to post family recipes.
• Blogging: The act of writing a post for a blog
• Blogger: A person who writes content for a blog
• Blogosphere: The online community of blogs and bloggers
The earliest blogs started in the late 1990s as online diaries. As the Internet has become more social, blogs have gained in popularity. Today, there are over 100 million blogs with more entering the blogosphere everyday. Blogs have become more than online diaries. In fact, blogging has become an important part of the online and offline worlds with popular bloggers impacting the worlds of politics, business and society with their words. Anyone can start a blog thanks to the simple (and often free) tools readily available online.

What To Include on your Family History Blog
Every family is different and every family history is different. That's why you should include some information about your family and it's history on your site. If you have pictures of your family and/or your ancestors, include these too. Tell a little bit about each family member so people coming to your site will know more than just their names. If you have created a family tree, add this to your site. Then tell what kinds of information you are looking for, if any. Are you looking for more information about your family's history? Other people who are related to your ancestors? Or, maybe you want to create a family directory. Either way, you need to tell people what your site is and what you need to make it better.

1. FAMILY HISTORY BLOGGING: Blog your family history (become a Geneablogger) If you haven't created your own family history blog, now is the time. It's free and easy! There is even have a companion video series for you that will show you how - literally - at the Genealogy Gems TV Channel at YouTube. There are 3 videos currently in the series with the 4th soon to come.
• Video Part 1 Creating a Family History Blog - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE1oXYRLMlY
• Video Part 2 “Tuning up your blog” 11:49 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGhTir3iaFQ • Video Part 3 Continuing to set up your Family History Blog 17:56 minuets http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nE1oXYRLMlY&pop_ads=0#t=347
• Video Part 4: Should be out this week.

2. BLOGGER.COM: Since the above Video Series are incomplete, if you want to learn more of how to maneuver around your blog, go to the tutorial at https://www.blogger.com/start You can:
• Take a quick tour
• Watch a video tutorial
• Discover more features
When you create a blog, you can share your thoughts, photos and more with anyone you wish all around the world. It is easy to use and to post text, photos, and videos from the web or your mobile phone. You can personalize your blog with themes, gadgets, premade backgrounds & headers, and much, much more. go to http://blogger.com

3. KATIE’S BLOGGING 101 GUIDE This is a quick tutorial on how to create a blog. You can go to the following link on one of my blogs, and print it off for yourself. This also lists some of my all time favorite blogs on subjects that interest me. Go to:
http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogging-101.html

4. USING YOUR IPOD..GENEALOGY PODCASTS & GENEAOLGY TOOLSIf you go to the following link, you can learn how to turn your Ipod into a Genealogy and Family History Tool.
• http://genealogygemspodcast.blogspot.com/2009/09/part-2-how-to-blog-your-family-history.html
• Genealogy Podcasts: http://genealogygemspodcast.com/index.php?post_id=244529
• http://www.familytreemagazine.com/podcast
• http://personallifemedia.com/podcasts/415-family-history
• http://familyhistory.podbean.com/
• http://podcasts.dearmyrtle.com/
• http://www.genealogygemspodcast.com/
• http://radio.lds.org/eng/podcasts
• http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/
• http://www.cyndislist.com/podcasts.htm

5. GENEALOGY BOOKS ONLINE (EBOOKS)
Genealogy Online by Patricia Crowe
• http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=jthoNqd8It4C&oi=fnd&pg=PT18&dq=blogs+for+genealogy&ots=BC7SPiXHnV&sig=y7N6Us4_jy87daaeSTfFzSEsRXI#v=onepage&q=blogs%20for%20genealogy&f=false• An Itiots Guide to Online Genealogy http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vNMb_dZSOjEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=genealogy+books+online&ots=457fwBkDB8&sig=78gVS3YVTtQzX891Mj-_kKSdPV0#v=onepage&q=genealogy%20books%20online&f=false
• Turning Memories into Memoirs – Dennis Ledouix ( a handbook for writing life stories) http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QDUoXUx1UfIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA11&dq=related:auwx1u4nSMwJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=gvTZ_zREN_&sig=7ZROaNnYFAKtJNobf9kjEKeTd4Y#v=onepage&q=&f=false
• They Came in Ships ( a guide to fining your Imigrant ancestors arrival record) http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=thortsX3HVoC&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&dq=related:auwx1u4nSMwJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=6K8mKp48w7&sig=uoVe1fwJY-szE4XApnRq8ISX4e8#v=onepage&q=&f=false
• Unlocking Secrets of Old Photographs – Karen Frisck Ripley http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Tdk4eVF0nbIC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=related:auwx1u4nSMwJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=F210aiKJlF&sig=V8I0kPUScu6KzS0WwbJa1tI1Hi4#v=onepage&q=&f=false

7. RADIO BROADCASTING - Genealogy topics
• http://www.familyrootsradio.com/
• http://radio.lds.org/eng/

8. WRITNG YOUR OWN FAMILY HISTORY
• http://www.cyndislist.com/writing.htm
• http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp%3FwhichResourcePage=fhlessonseries
• http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp%3FwhichResourcePage=fhlessonseries (writing a personal Family History)

9. EXCELLENT GENEALOGY SITES FOR RESEARCHERS
• http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
• http://www.cyndislist.com/
• http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=home/welcome/site_resources.asp%3FwhichResourcePage=fhlessonseries (how to use the internet for Family History research)
• http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/websites/frameset_websites.asp?PAGE=browsekeysites.asp ( a bunch of family history sites on the web)
• http://www.familytreemagazine.com/101for2009/ (101 best genealogy websites for 2009)

10. BUILD A FAMILY TREE & HISTORY (Interactive & printable)
Build your own family tree and history and be able to email it to those you want to share it with when you are done. Go to http://www.pbs.org/americanfamily/tree/
• Printable Family Trees http://www.wikitree.com/printable/family-tree-diagram.html
• Printable family Trees http://www.familytreetemplates.net/
• Great site!!! http://www.earl.org.uk/family-tree-printable-pages.html
• http://www.uftree.com/family_tree_template.asp

11. FORMS & RECORD SHEETS (printable & downloadable)
• Oral History Record http://www.familytreemagazine.com/upload/images/pdf/oralhistory.pdf• Family Traditions form http://www.familytreemagazine.com/upload/images/pdf/traditions.pdf• Time Capsules http://www.familytreemagazine.com/upload/images/pdf/timecapsule.pdf
• Free downloadable & Printable forms needed to organize family history http://www.familytreemagazine.com/freeforms/

12. GETTING KIDS INVOLVED IN GENEALOGY
• Kids turn centeral Genealogy http://www.kidsturncentral.com/topics/hobbies/genforms.htm
• Kids Family tree printables & projects http://www.familytreetemplates.net/category/kids
• Cyndis List provides a comprehensive list of sites for children http://www.cyndislist.com/kids.htm

13. FUN & HELPFUL VIDEOS FAMILY - HISTORY RELATED
• Family Hairstyles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRN1zn0AcxU
• Get Original Genealogy and Family History Records with FamilySearch New Record Search Pilot site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb6amn_4frQ&feature=related
• Searching on Google Scholar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWz_jBrxnBE
• What is Genealogy Research? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEhnGff-HzM
• The Genealogy Guy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5osAppwAGFk
• Part 1 of Online Genealogy Information Gathering Method http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qO_RI4QnX4• Part 2 of Online Genealogy Information Gathering Method http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ynoQX-djFw
• Part 3 of Online Genealogy Information Gathering method http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38ev9Kl0kk
14. GENEALOBY CLIP ART & GRAPHICS SOUCE http://genealogy.about.com/od/clipart/Genealogy_Clipart_Graphics_Family_Tree_Art.htm
15. FAMILY HISTORY BLOGSPOT - The following are blogs that are Katie’s or someone elses in her family. These are just samples of what people have done to create blogs for family history purposes, online family scrapbooking pages
• It All Started with Adelbert & Della Smith blog http://adelbertanddellasmithfamily.blogspot.com/
• Paul & Marcelene Gauger Family history blog http://paulmarcelenegaugerfamily.blogspot.com

HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BLOG INTO A BOOKType in the search engine box “How to make your blog into a book” The following and more will come up on the page. Go into each and see the differences between the options each site offers, and then choose one and make your book. One thing to consider is the cost and each site has different costs to print your blog.
• http://blog2print.sharedbook.com
• www.blogbinders.com/
• http://emma-bagladee.blogspot.com
• http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook
• http://blog2print.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/cutestblog/index.html
• http://www.lulu.com
• http://www.creativecontinuum.com/