Family History Review Blog

Welcome to The Family History News, Tips & Product Review Blog.

This blog covers the topics of preserving family stories through journaling, family photo sharing, home video, writing autobiographies etc!

Apr 29, 2008, Digital Photo Book

My top recommendation for digital photo book software is.....

Mar 25, 2008, Preserving Memories

How others are preserving memories of their lives, families and communities. A walk down memory lane!

Mar 13, 2008, Nostalgia and Memories

Nostalgia and Memories: A Nostalgic Trip Back in Time

Mar 6, 2008, To a Child Love is Spelled....TIME!

A beautifully put together short clip about the importance of many things, including spending time with our children, grandchildren and journaling too!

An older gentleman reminisces as he looks back over old photo albums and journal entries!

Take the time to watch this gem....and try your best to keep a dry eye!

Feb 25, 2008, Blank Pedigree Chart

Download blank pedigree chart - Fill out printable pedigree charts using FoxIt

Feb 19, 2008, New NBC Show "Amnesia" Airs Friday February 22nd

Amnesia asks...How well do you know the events and details of your own life?

Feb 17, 2008, Product Review: Tribbit - Celebrate, Honor and Preserve Memories

Free service to celebrate someone, events or things that you love - Tribbit

Feb 14, 2008, An Autobiography in Six Words or Less?

Found this on a blog so I added it to my Quotes on Memories page. On one hand it isa bit funny...on the other it is kind of a sad statement. What do you think?

Jan 31, 2008, Journal Writing Ideas

Use old hand written letters for journaling fun | Letter writing journaling

Jan 30, 2008, Personal Journaling - Journaling Life

Personal Journaling is Just One of Three Things We Leave our Kids

Dec 31, 2007, Journaling and Writing

Monkeys Don't Write - Journaling and Writing

Nov 25, 2007, Our Silver Christmas Tree

One of my earliest Christmas recollections is that of our aluminum Christmas tree. It looked very close to the picture included here. It came

Nov 25, 2007, Christmas Tradition and Songs for Christmas

What role does Christmas Music Play in Your Christmas Tradition ?

Nov 11, 2007, Quotes on Memories

Collection of my favorite quotes on memories - Poems about the past

Nov 11, 2007, Family Tradition Ideas

Discover new family tradition ideas (even non-traditional) and share your own tradition ideas

Nov 3, 2007, Digital Scrapbooking Day

Digital Scrapbooking Day celebrates all that today's technology can do to help preserve your precious memories

Oct 30, 2007, New! Family Picture Calendar Movie

I just added a short new flash video that demonstrates some very cool things that Family Picture Calendar will do.

I think you will be impressed!

Also, Family Picture Calendar has been completely updated.

If you haven't tried Family Picture Calendar yet, I encourage you to download the free trial version.

Oct 28, 2007, Personal Journaling Ideas

Personal Journaling with a forensics twist

Oct 26, 2007, Easy Journaling Tips

Simple and Easy Journaling Tips for Lifestory Writers

Oct 26, 2007, Catching Birds With Grandpa

One of my earliest memories that I have of my grandpa was catching birds in his cattle barn. There is no moral to the story, but it is special because

Oct 23, 2007, Examples of Family Stories

Examples of Family Stories and Why They are Important

Oct 20, 2007, The Family Post - Cool New Family Website Creator

If your family doesn't yet have a website of it's own, you are going to want to look at what I discovered about a week ago.

It is called The Family Post. I signed up for the two week free trial and I am having a great time playing with it.

We live over 3000 miles from our nearest relative, so I see this as a great way to keep the rest of the family up to date on our family's latest happenings, photos, video etc.

I'll be writing a more in depth review of The Family Post soon as I am done playing! :)

Oct 14, 2007, Tips for Oral History Interviewing

16 Tips for Family Oral History Interviewing

Sep 17, 2007, Grandparent Stories

Contribute Your Grandparent Stories

Jun 15, 2007, Fathers Day Poem, Fathers Day 2007, Story for Fathers Day

A Fathers Day story entitled "A Father's Hands" that reads almost like a Fathers Day Poem, Fathers Day 2007

May 31, 2007, Preschool-Memories

children's autobiographical memories and preschool memories

Apr 13, 2007, Newsletter 13 Apr 07 - - Family History Help & Product Review

Another exciting issue!

New Articles:

"Crying at a Stranger's Funeral"
"Old Family Stories"

Just Released!

New eBook by Michael Boyter
Title "Life List Writing Magic"

New Free Service You'll Love

"OurStorys'" drag and drop, visual timeline easily records any milestone, event, moment or memory. You enter stories in any order and the timeline sequences them chronologically...and it's free.

Apr 11, 2007, Create an Outline For Writing an Autobiography with OurStory

Review: OurStory's Timeline Feature Perfect Outline for Writing an Autobiography - - Collects and organizes your favorite stories, photos, videos, quick notes

Apr 6, 2007, Journal Prompts - Life List Magic! eBook for Journal Writers and Autobiography

Discover a better way to get Journal Prompts and Autobiography Questions through Life List Writing, Journal Starters

Mar 13, 2007, Make Time Line with Progeny Software, Create Time Line

Make Time Line Charts, Create Time Lines to Understand Your Family History Better

Feb 25, 2007, Journal Writing Prompts for Life Story Writers

Eye-Opening Journal Writing Prompts and Topics to Inspire Writing Your Life Story

Feb 14, 2007, Multimedia Archive for Written Memories, Photos and Video

I've been playing around with a new service call Our Story. It let's you create a time-line based lifestory, journal, diary etc.

Family and friends can contribute as well.

It's kind of like MySpace for preserving family memories. Then once you are finished, you can easily publish it into book form!

I'll be writing more on it soon, but in the meantime, see what you think.

Feb 8, 2007, Genealogy & Family History Radio

The following announcement was written by Family Roots Radio:

ProGenealogists, Inc. and Genealogy Today announced the launch "Family Roots Radio," a weekly hour-long radio show will begin airing each Thursday at 1pm Pacific (4pm Eastern) beginning February 8, 2007.

Hosted by well-known genealogical author, speaker and researcher, Kory L. Meyerink, the show will feature a wide range of "how-to" elements designed to assist all people interested in family history, from the novice to the professional. In addition to answering general questions from listeners, spotlighting important family history news and providing research tips from professionals, the show will include guests from among the most prominent genealogists today. The show will also explore effective ways to use software and the Internet in the pursuit of family history, including spotlighting data-rich websites. In addition, an "interactive" feature will walk listeners through the use of important sites, while they are listening to the broadcast.

"Family Roots Radio" will be broadcast on the popular VoiceAmerica Channel, accessible by anyone having an Internet connection with audio capabilities. The addition of an interactive website and downloadable archives of past shows will provide many more listener options than available via traditional radio broadcasts.

Feb 2, 2007, How to Create a Time Capsule

A time capsule is a way to communicate the present day to the future.

While some time capsules may be elaborate metal cylinders embedded in the cornerstones of buildings, they do not need to be so fancy.

A time capsule can be as simple as a shoebox full of items reserved (or even forgotten) on a high closet shelf until a later date.

Feb 1, 2007, Affiliate Resources with Videos

How I Built FamilyHistoryProducts.com - Watch the Video

Jan 30, 2007, Short Video: "Can You Remember..." Inspiring All to Preserve Family Memories

Short Video: "Can You Remember..." Inspiring All to Preserve Family Memories

Jan 23, 2007, Yahoo Authentication

Nov 4, 2006, Passage Express, Family Multimedia Presentation Software

Multimedia Presentation Software, organize photos or pictures, genealogy research or most any other file type

Nov 4, 2006, Free Slide Show Maker Software, Slide show program for preserving family photos

Create a family photo slide show - - Best free slide show maker software

Nov 1, 2006, Memories - June Roses in December?

I came across this poem while reading. I loved it. Hope you enjoy it as well.

"God gave us memories so that we'll have June roses in the December of our lives"

James Berrie, Scottish Poet

Oct 26, 2006, Memories of Childhood Toys - Do you Remember?

Hello to All,

I was in the store today and a 200 piece box of Tinker Toys caught my eye!

A memory of my grandpa and I playing Tinker Toys on a Christmas Day back in the late 60s sprang front and center in my mind.

Wow, we had fun with those Tinker Toys!

Grandpa went out to his shop and brought in a small plug-in motor. He hooked it to a ferris wheel, that we had built, ... giving it motion.

I still have that motor out in my garage today. Now I remember why I've kept it all of these years.

I was surprised to see Tinker Toys to still be available for sale. Hadn't seen them in years.

Funny how simple things can bring back loads of memories.

I've included a link to the "Classic Toy Museum" for your enjoyment.

See what comes to your mind?

Oct 16, 2006, Send Grandma and Grandpa to Outer Space...

Yes, that is right! Yahoo is offering a one-time offer to "send grandma and grandpa to outerspace", well at least his/her picture, voice recording or stories from his/her life, in the form of a digital time capsule contribution.

Just underway, the Yahoo Time Capsule project is in full swing. But you'll need to hurry...!

Jun 24, 2006, Traditional Family Mealtimes are Declining!

The following is an excellent article written by Joel Davidson, a reporter for the Alaskan Frontiersman Newspaper

...meals allow time and space for human interaction. Where else can people regularly gather together without television, Internet, video games or other distractions vying for attention?

Meals don't take long, but over the years they add up, gradually transmitting traditions and stories that bind people together. Families can't afford to simply live under the same roof. In order to create strong identities and a sense of belonging, we must make time to weave our lives together.

Jun 24, 2006, Memory-Sparker Activity

Hello to All,

I was talking with a nice lady, that I met today, about her elderly mother and passing on family memories in general.

I mentioned to her a technique that I like to use...Memory List Building. Feel free to use this one and write down the resulting triggered memories.

1. List all of the vehicles that you and your parents have ever owned. The important thing here is not the vehicles themselves, but rather the memories that you associate with each of them.

The lady today at work instantly began telling me at least two stories that quickly came to her mind. She was pleasantly surprised at how this simple exercise could work so well!

I challenge you to make your list and begin to write down the memories that come to you.

Michael Boyter

May 29, 2006, How to Write a Biography, Write Personal Biography

Resources on How to Write a Biography or Record a Biography

May 26, 2006, Tell The Story Behind The Photos

Tell The Story Behind The Photos. If you don't know who is in the pictures, what good are the photos?

May 14, 2006, Something a Little Different for Mom on Mother's Day

May 11, 2006, 9 May 2006 Issue -- Family History News & Product Review Ezine

Highlights all that's new at the FamilyHistoryProducts.com website!

May 7, 2006, Web Biographies - A Legacy Not to Be Forgotten

A new Web site has launched in beta which offers free space (currently up to 10MB) for writing your own autobiography, posting photos and videos, and even a section for "Last Words" to be posted only upon confirmation of your passing.

You can create biographies for your ancestors too, and biographies can be connected to form a family tree.

Chapters in each biography can be public or private, and include sections for family, growing up, work, life and friends, hobbies, health, romance, education, travel and adventures, recipes, entertainment and holidays. You can also create your own chapter topics, and add sub-topics as well. There's even space to start your own blog!

WebBiographies.com is the brainchild of Scott Purcell, who grew up thinking he wanted to be famous, but finally realized he just wanted to "be remembered." The first 10MB of space are free - enough to accommodate "your average novel." If you plan to add a lot of photos or videos, you can upgrade to 100MB for $24.99 a year or 2 gigabytes for $84.99 annually. Scott Purcell's own autobiography is very large, with over 700 photos, pages of text, and some video - over 400MB worth! It's a good example of the flexibility of this Web site. Some entries are open to the public, while certain sub-chapters within a chapter may be password protected to family members or invited guests only due to the sensitivity of the information or private details that really don't need to be open to everyone.

In the "Last Words" section at Web Biographies you can write a final chapter, to be posted only upon confirmation of your passing - such as when a family member sends in a newspaper copy of your obituary. You can also choose to have password-protected sections of your biography opened to the public after your death. "Essentially, you can write your own epitaph," says Purcell.

History has to start somewhere, so why not start with yourself? In addition to WebBiographies.com, there are also other online options geared toward helping you write your autobiography or life story. It's not only a great way to leave your own legacy, but also to collect stories from far-flung family members for a family reunion or family history book.

May 6, 2006, New! Quickly Record Your Biography -- Publish It on CD

For Immediate Release -- Most of us grew up hearing the stories from our parents lives and we still wish that they would write those stories down for posterity sake.

But, writing is time consuming and most parents just won't do it. That's not a problem any longer.

Mark Kohls of Document History has created a one-of-a-kind product that allows you to finally get those precious family stories published to CD, almost effortlessly.

No more waiting!

Now is the time to get those stories recorded...before it is too late.

Mark is offering 10% off every interview package. Simply type in the special code 7789, on the order page!