Family newsletters are a great way to involve relatives in family history.

Such publications can be as simple or as detailed as the author desires. They are another way to stay in touch and keep relatives informed of what's going on.

While in Australia, I attended an informative session by Bubbles Segall, who addressed the essentials of family newsletters.

CONSIDERING A FAMILY NEWSLETTER?

According to famed author Eli Wiesel,

"Your family is only the bare framework of your family history. Without the stories, legends, tales and episodes of your cousins and ancestors, all you will have is a dry collection of names and dates."

Your newsletter can be another part of the "keeping connected" plan. In addition to a family site (such as MyHeritage.com), a publication may likely reach relatives in different ways. Of course, if you have a family website, the newsletter can also be placed online at the site for invited members to read.

In any case, there are numerous reasons to create one. A family newsletter:

-- Helps everyone keep in touch.
-- Preserve stories and data which might be lost.
-- Shares information with relatives.
-- Shares, preserves photographs of lifecycle events.
-- Serves as a central family information location and points to other family resources.
-- Leaves a paper trail for future generations.
-- Records your family's history, customs, origins and culture.

COSTS

How often you publish a family newsletter is up to you. Factors impacting this includes whether you will be emailing the newsletter or printing and snail-mailing copies. Although many researchers I know choose a quarterly newsletter, others prefer a larger semi-annual or annual edition, and still others send out short monthly updates. It is up to you and depends on your available time. It will take time to produce a good one.

Depending on your family's unique demographics, you may need to use both emaill and postage as older relatives may not have computers. However, their children and grandchildren are likely Internet users; email them the newsletter and ask them to print a copy for their older relative.

Mailing copies? Who will pay for the postage? It can be expensive, especially if you're considering a large semi-annual or annual publication.

Will you be including photos? Everyone wants to see photos, but it can make a Word document very "heavy." Consider converting Word documents to PDF files via readily available software.

SEND IT TO WHOM?

Before you write your first issue, think about who will receive it. Do you have a family address list already? Will you need to create one?

Consider the fact that many people will want it, but others simply won't care.

You could try sending the newsletter to everyone in the family and ask them to respond if they'd like to continue receiving it.

INCLUDE WHAT?

-- Life cycle events (births, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, deaths) are all important to each family. If possible, include photos of the individuals and make sure to identify them in the photo. An important idea is to include the relationship of each individual to the first person on your tree, e.g. great-grandchild of X, great-grandson of X's brother Y, etc.
-- Family traditions, customs, hoildays, recipes.
-- Stories about the ancestors.
-- Family history projects completed by relatives
-- Origin of the family's surname
-- Updates on recent research success

Other items:

-- Old letters (remember to identify the writer and recipient)
-- Old and recent photos
-- Diary or journal entries
-- Obituaries
-- Newspaper articles mentioning family members

NAME YOUR NEWSLETTER!

Unusual original names are good. Easy to remember should be another quality. When I was considering a TALALAY newsletter, we used "Tales of the Talalay." Use the following - a thesaurus will come in handy as well - as a jumping-off point:

Tie your surname's first letter to any of these: Connections, Beat, Family, Chronicles, News, Words, Capers, Tales. Links, etc.

WHAT SHOULD IT LOOK LIKE?

There are many free newsletter templates available. Check Microsoft Publisher and other desktop publishing programs, or simply compose it as a Word document. If you plan to use many photos, consider converting the newsletter to PDF.

Continue reading "Family Newsletters: Spotlight on your family" »

One of the best parts about my current trip was the opportunity to meet new cousins in person.

Genealogists and family history researchers agree that this is one of the most exciting experiences we can ever have.

Have you ever met someone new and felt that you've always known them?

That's exactly the way I felt when I met my Melbourne cousins, Alexander and Jenny Katsnelson, their daughters Nelly (with a journalism degree, married with two beautiful children) and Fleur (an attorney), the grandchildren and Alex's brother Leon.

Alex and Leon's mother was a Talalay from Mogilev, Belarus. Although her branch moved to nearby Bobruisk, she always told them about the Mogilev family. Alex and Jenny left Belarus 30 years ago aiming for a better life for their family and settling in Australia. Leon and their father arrived later.

Below (from left), Leon, Schelly, Alex.

I had located them in Australia, thanks to genealogy friends in Melbourne, and we made contact about seven years ago. Unfortunately, I experienced a computer disaster, losing much data along with contact information for the cousins down under.

My advice for computer users: ALWAYS back up your data. Our family has lost seven years during which we could have been in contact.

When I arrived in Melbourne, we checked the online phone directory and found Leon. On Wednesday, Alex and Jenny came to get me from my friend's home - they live only a few blocks away! - and the whole family spent the day together.

We looked at old photos, Alex and Leon recounted what they knew of their mother's family, and I showed them what I had found on their family from records discovered in the Minsk National Archives.

Jenny is interested in finding more information about her own Heiman family, which moved from Bobruisk to Riga, Latvia. We spent some time online as I showed Nelly and Jenny some of the major genealogy research websites, and demonstrated MyHeritage.com, of course.

We will spend another day together.

This time, we won't lose contact!

Have you found long lost cousins?

Where? When? How?

What was your experience like? Share your family reunion.

Traveling to a new destination is always interesting.

There's so much to take in, unusual sights and sounds, culture and cuisine.

Above see the city on a harbor tour.

My week in Hong Kong wasn't enough and I'm glad I will be back there for a few more days at the end of March.

In addition to two two-well attended talks - on DNA and genetic genealogy, and getting started in family history research - I met many fascinating individuals, saw some of the sights, and enjoyed delicious cuisine.

On a visit to the markets, here were some of the sights:

On the left (above), see a stall featuring dried snacks, and a vegetable stand on the right.

Continue reading "Hong Kong, Australia: A busy trip! " »

I'm in Hong Kong this week presenting genealogy talks and workshops. Tomorrow I travel to Melbourne, Australia for a genealogy conference and will return here for two more programs in a few weeks.

Chinese traditional genealogy features a document known as Jia Pu or Zu Pu - genealogy record. It is a record of the history and lineage of a clan, as it documents the surname origins, migration patterns, family lines, biography and much more.

PHOTO: Jia Pu genealogical record

Jia Pu have been dated as early as 1523-1028 BC.
Before writing was invented, early clan family trees were written on turtle shells, cow bones and bronze, or as a system of knots interlaced with miniature objects signifying generations, numbers, gender and more. The elders also transmitted this information orally to the younger generations.

The record begins with the first ancestor who settled in a place and ends with the descendant drawing up the genealogical record. One one form, the original ancestor's sons and descendants are the first six generations. That line is listed vertically on the right side with the sons and grandsons of the first son. The first born son's brothers are listed horizontally on the left. Information may include an individual's name, alias, birth and death dates and rank.

Women are not featured prominently as they become part of their husband's family after marriage, although their names are mentioned in the Jia Pu of their family and their husband's family.

Researchers now study these genealogies to learn about social and economic history, geography, law, demographics, religion and culture.

A now-defunct site called ChineseRoots.com, which was based in Singapore, claimed a database featuring 12,000 volumes of Jia Pu and a list of more than 1,300 surnames. It was working on English language immigration records to help researchers. Unfortunately, the site is no longer in existence.

Continue reading "Hong Kong: Family history resources" »

Does your family have an age-old coat of arms?

Would you like to create a contemporary one and have some fun with your family tree?

When MyHeritage.com acquired OSN, we also acquired their popular Family Crest Builder.

It's easy to start creating your family's coat of arms. Go to your MyHeritage family site, click Family Tree, and click Family Crest in the tabs. The new tab is only visible if you have already added people to your tree.

Even if your family isn't descended from a European noble family with a prestigious coat of arms dating to the Middle Ages, you can now design your own and even use it as a background for your tree.

See (below left) some of the Crest Builder elements. At right, see the elements of a traditional coat of arms.

Coats of arms, family crests? What are they? What do those symbols, colors and elements mean?

A traditional coat of arms may include the following elements:

Scroll: A banner or ribbon on which the surname is written.

Crest: A crest is the topmost element of the design.

Helmet: Worn by knights during battles.

Mantle: Placed over the knights' helmet; the colors were important.

Crown: Kept the mantle in place. Some show a wreath instead.

Coat of Arms: The shield with small design elements called charges.

Motto: Some families have a family motto.

Think about various symbols indicating professions. What's in your background? Are there doctors, farmers, shipbuilders, teachers, writers?

First, choose a shield shape with numerous layout possibilities, including a single field or two or more sections.

Select colors (left) for the internal fields - if you click on the bottom square in the color list you can choose from more colors and shades.

In the Middle Ages, a distinct terminology was developed for describing coats of arms, allowing these historic visual designs to be accurately described and reproduced.

Continue reading "Create your family's coat of arms" »

As we enlarge our own company tree, MyHeritage.com has made it even easier for people around the world to track their family history, connect with relatives and build their unique family trees.

We've just welcomed - through acquisition - the Hamburg, Germany-based OSN (Online Social Networking) Group and its sites, verwandt.de (Germany), moikrewni.pl (Poland) and dynastree.com (USA).

We will be sharing new technologies, tools and features, contributing to a an easier and better experience for all family historians and roots seekers.

With the new addition of OSN's 10 family sites, MyHeritage now has 13 million family trees, 47 million members and 530 million profiles. The increased possibilities mean that, for example, it will be easier for North Americans to track their European roots and for Europeans to find family branches that migrated to North America.

MyHeritage.com now covers more of the world to help more people research their families, stay connected and build their family trees with security and privacy.

Covering more of the world

Continue reading "We've expanded our own family tree!" »

How many people are in your family tree? Two hundred, 500, 1,000, 5,000?

Nissim Moses has some 15,000 people in the project for his Bene Israel community of India (see below for the history of this community).

Most importantly, now there's a way to make it easier for Bene Israel families around the world to stay connected through MyHeritage.com and his community website.

This story should be an inspiration to others who wish to create a secure community or family site at MyHeritage.com.

"People have left India and gone to many other countries," he said on a recent visit to the MyHeritage.com office, where he met with genealogy and translation manager Daniel Horowitz and with me (see photo).

"They are away from their families and have lost some of this information. So many people have moved away and lost contact. They haven't heard their detailed family history."

From left, Schelly, Daniel, Nissim

Nissim, 68, also helps out with his expert knowledge in other ways.

He recently received an email from an American girl planning a wedding to her Bene Israel fiance. She wanted to incorporate Bene Israel ceremonies into their celebration. Nissim sent all the details on the special Malida ceremony, which is only performed among the Bene Israel.

Along with the family trees, he has posted thousands of photos to his community site at MyHeritage.com, and informed his contacts about the new website. Over the past few weeks, people have responded with updates, new names and additional photos.

MyHeritage already had some small trees from other community members, and 23 matches were found for 17 people in other trees in the database.

"This project is for the future of the Bene Israel community," Nissim stresses. "Our community has produced so many individuals who have contributed so much to Indian society."

"I wanted to know how I could help my people," he said. "I'm happy to have done this so far and to continue this project into the future."

Nissim's goal is to include 25,000 individuals in the community tree and to preserve this information for future generations. One problem, he says, is that "men were often chauvinistic and did not include the names of their sisters and wives in the genealogy records." His own family tree dates to the 1600s and fills 132 pages.

Continue reading "India: A remarkable community project" »

Our family has experienced two recent events in the circle of life.

When family historians and genealogists speak about sharing family history at life cycle events, we generally mean life's happy occasions: births, engagements, marriages, graduations, birthdays and anniversaries.

We don't often think about the sad events, which occur just as frequently, such as the deaths of family members.

As I have often shared, in addition to a traditional gift for a happy occasion, I also add a printout of the family history, a chart and a list of ancestors to a young couple getting married (with their names already entered), for the birth of a baby (with the baby's name already entered), anniversaries and at other occasions.

At the recent wedding of a cousin from Switzerland, the family history envelope handed to the bride's mother elicited immediate conversation with the guests surrounding her. I answered many questions and met several new and interesting distant relatives who had traveled for the wedding. Everyone was interested in the material and wondered how I had gathered it.

Happy occasions are very simple. Funerals are something else.

Continue reading "Happy, Sad: sharing family history" »

Genealogists love resources. Even better, are resources that list even more resources!

One such site is ResearchBuzz.com, established in1998. It covers the world of search engines, databases and other online information collections.

Tara Calishain is, in her own words, "crazy about search engines and Internet searching for years." She writes and edits nearly daily updates on search engines, new data managing software, browser technology, large compendiums of information, Web directories whatever.

The bottom line for this site is whether a reference librarian would find it useful. Yes? Then Tara will write about it. She really makes an effort to build tools relevant to researchers and make them available on the site.

She's authored several books: Official Netscape Guide to Internet Research (1996,1968); Information Trapping (2006); Web Search Garage (2004), etc.

Among her most recent posts:

Thousands of Vintage Ads

Want to see more about the times your ancestors experienced? What they wore (like these great hats from the Paris 1900 Exposition Universalle)?

In the clothing and fashion category (from 1790-1900), find early text ads, drawings of items from the 1870s forward, fabrics, shoes, women's wear, custom shirts, wet weather footwear and sales, mens' clothing, cosmetics, hats, bathing suits, and much more - all organized by decade of publication.

There's a similar range for furniture.

Under transportation, see huge bicycles of the 1860s and the grand opening of an arena especially for bicycle riders! Bikes, motorcycles, trains, steam ships, early cars, cruises and trucks feature in some elegant advertisements.

Check out the food: bakeries, butchers, soups, kitchen appliances, chocolate, ketchup, cereal and other products, such as cleansers and maple syrup.

The ads come from various sources such as the Library of Congress, university collections, Flickr, and other sites.

Continue reading "ResearchBuzz: A resource for resources" »

In some communities, the past is inscribed on copper plates that have lasted for a thousand years or more. Other records are kept in huge handwritten registers by Hindu priests in the holy city of Haridwar.

For those of Indian ancestry who have migrated around the world, the handwritten registers may be the most valuable records for their families.

Read on for more information on both types of records, with photos of both.

There's a set of 31 copper plates, joined by a round copper seal bearing a royal dynasty emblem, dating from the reign of Emperor Rajendra Chola (1012-1044 CE). The first 10 plates provide information about the Chola genealogy, written in Sanskrit. The other plates include the history of the Emperor donating a village to a temple, as well as the village's boundaries at the time.

This story in The Hindu covered the experience of Dr. R. Nagaswamy, the former director of the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department (TNAD), as he saw the plates for the first time in 50 years.

Here's a photo of what this set look like.

The earliest known plate, in both Sanskrit and Tamil, dates from the 6th century CE, when the Pallava King Simhavishnuvarman (who reigned c550-580 CE) gave a gift to the Jaina temple. According to the story, the Sanskrit plate gave details of the queen's village grant to a priest. From the 6th century CE, the copper plates were bilingual, in both Sanskrit and Tamil.

The article offered two theories of why man chose to write on metal. According to Nagaswamy, one was man's belief that if he inscribed mystical figures on metal, he would acquire spiritual powers. The other reason was to prepare documents. The copper plates offer historical facts and genealogies that have benefited historians and archaelogists.

Nearly all the royal dynasties produced such plates, which have been found by chance during history, while farmers ploughed fields, kept in abandoned houses or in locked rooms.

The plates begin with verses of praise to the gods, in Sanskrit, and then offer the genealogy of the king who issued the plate, describe the land grant in detail, name of the donor and details about the person's family. The plates offer many details about villages, taxes, irrigation, administration and other issues.

Hindu Genealogy

In Hindi, the word "gotra" means family tree, representing a clan, group of families or a lineage back to a common ancestor. It is very important and Hindu ceremonies require a statement of the tree. At weddings, the wedding couple's gotra are read establish that they are not from the same family, which is forbidden (for genetic reasons).

There are 49 official Hindu gotras. Members of each supposedly have certain common traits (personal or occupation). Each gotra descends from a famous sage.

Here's what the registers look like:

Genealogy registers of Hindu families are maintained by priests (Brahim Pandits, also called Pandas) - who are genealogists - in the holy city of Haridwar. Called Vahi or Bahi, they have been used to settle legal cases and to trace ancestry for more than 20 generations.

The city of Haridwar is a site for death rites (cremation) and pilgrimage. It became the custom for families making these trips to visit family priests to record the visit and update the family tree (with marriages, births and deaths). The visiting relative must personally sign the register after the update is written. Others accompanying the reporting family member may be asked to sign as witnesses.

Records are organized by original districts and villages, and special priestly families are in charge of those district registers. This is still true even for those geographical locations today in Pakistan.

Continue reading "India: Inscribing the past" »