Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Genea-fiction recommendation: Ellie McClellan Genealogy Mysteries

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I just finished reading the fourth Ellie McClellan Genealogy Mystery, Family Crimes, by Beth Farrar. Way back in 2014, I wrote a post about how I had just discovered genea-fiction and requested recommendations. I’ve read many since and I’m especially enjoying this series. Ellie McClellan is a professional genealogist living in Canada who leads a weekly group of senior citizens in learning how to tell their family stories. It’s sweet and cozy and the characters are so likeable. I love that so many of the characters are older. I love the attention to detail. And I love that author Beth Farrar sneaks in lots of genealogy tips!

I learned about the Ellie McClellan Genealogy Mysteries in the Genealogical Crime Mystery Book Club Facebook group, of which Beth Farrar is a member. I subscribe to Kindle Unlimited (it has an $11.99 a month fee) and I can read the Kindle version of these books at no additional charge. They’re also available for purchase in hardback or paperback versions.

If you like genea-fiction and you’re not a member of the Genealogy Crime Mystery Book Club, I encourage you to join if you’re on Facebook. And if  you’re a genea-fiction fan and you haven’t read this series yet, I encourage you to give it a try. I can’t wait for the next one to come out!

And the giveaway winner is….

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I was so pleased at the enthusiastic response to the giveaway for Drew Smith’s book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy! I did the drawing for the winner and it is:

Carole Ashbridge

I’ll be sending the book to Carole on Monday.

For the 42 of you who entered but didn’t win, I urge to consider purchasing this terrific resource. Thank you so much for entering!

A little help for reading censuses

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Recently, I’ve been republishing popular blog posts from the past to expose them to new people. Today, I wanted to share this post from June 2013 which provides a little table to make it easier to tell one US Census from another. I’ve updated it to include the 1950 census!

If you’re accustomed to looking at census documents for genealogy research, you know that the the number of the census (Thirteenth, for example) is clearly visible, while the actual year takes a little squinting to see. I created a simple table so that I can tell at a glance which census I’m looking at. I hope you find it as handy as I do. If you’d like to print a version, just click on the image and it will open in a new browser tab. Then you can right- or control-click it to save it to your computer (or email the image to yourself).

 

Time for a September 30 x 30 challenge (finally!)

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As I’ve mentioned here, I’ve been easing up on my genealogy research, mostly to make time in my schedule for YNAB budget coaching practice. But reader Jerry Hereford asked this week if I was going to do another 30 x 30 challenge and I remembered that I hadn’t done one! Usually I do one when I personally need it. But this time, I’m doing it for you.

Please comment below if you’d like to commit to 30 minutes of genealogy research every day for 30 days. You can change that goal if you’d like. Since I’m doing less research in general, I’m going to change my goal to doing something (anything) in service to my genealogy research each day, now matter how much (or little) it takes. We’ll do mid-month and end-of-month check-ins. Daily research can be so beneficial and the accountability of a 30 x 30 challenge can keep it top of mind.

So please let everyone know in the comments if you’re in!

P.S. If you missed Wednesday’s post, I’m doing a giveaway of Drew Smith’s new book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy. It’s not too late to enter by commenting on that post!

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When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.