Family History Fanatics

Have you wanted to take a DNA test? Are you worried the tests are a scam? If the same person tests at with the same company and two different times with two different names, will their results be the same? I love the comments and the questions we receive on our YouTube channel, through social […]

by Andy Lee We receive our DNA from our mother and father and it sticks with us throughout our life. But is there any way that our DNA can change during our lifetime? Lots of people have asked about specific situations where DNA can be changed. Today we are going to talk about them and […]

Genetic genealogy is complicated for some, which is why we curated a list of ten videos to help explain the top ten questions we’re asked about DNA an genealogy. To view the videos, click on the viewer to watch from this page or click on the link below each suggestion to watch the video on […]

    Half relationships can be confusing for some people. I know it was for me and still. I usually have to draw the half-relationships out to understand what I am talking about. So let’s talk about those people we are halfly related to.   Growing up, I had friends who were part of blended […]

  In lots of areas of life, we are told that bigger is better. But when it comes to DNA testing, is more always better? In other words, does the more genetic markers tested mean more accuracy? In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “From a certain point of view.” Y-DNA STR Testing  Before answering this […]

Are you struggling to find records on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, FindMyPast or Ancestry for your ancestor? Here are a few things you can do to attempt to force your ancestor to bubble up to the surface while using online search forms. Expand or contract date ranges Sometimes you need to add +5 or +10 to either […]

Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. Alice: I don’t much care where. The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland This is probably […]

No matter when you begin seeking out your family legacy, you have to be warned about what lies ahead. Sure there will be dead ends, tangents, and records you can’t access. Sure you’ll run into family members who don’t play nicely in the sandbox. Yet, those aren’t the biggest cautions I would put forth as […]

Why on earth would people do family history if it wasn’t fun? For years I have fought with folks who take the fun out of genealogy. Finally, I want to push back online. If family history isn’t fun, you’re doing it wrong. Family History is a huge tent of activities that work together to support […]

To jump-start, kick-start, or restart your genealogy research journey, we’ve compiled a list of 15 videos full of tips to keep you climbing your family tree and having a lot of fun along the way. Be prepared to binge watch with your favorite beverage or snack! Click on the videos to play them in this […]

From mistakes to record sets, from FamilySearch Family Tree management to organization, here are ten videos that can help you in your genealogical research. They are the best videos on the Family History Fanatics channel from 2018. To watch a video, click on the image to play from this browser. Or click on the link […]

Have you ever come across an individual on FamilySearch and thought, “they don’t belong in this family” and then wondered what you should about it? I’m going to share my thoughts not only on the hows of breaking relationships but also the cautions and the encouragement. What do you do when you think a potential […]

  In genealogy, you want to work your way from what is known to what is unknown. In many cases, you will discover an ancestor is a spouse and had children before you find records for when they are children in their parent’s home. The reason is you’ll need the clues records created during from […]

Our ancestors have died, and if we’re lucky they have left records of their death. Those records can provide clues for our genealogy questions. One principle in genealogy is that a record is more reliable when it is an original document created at the time of the event by individuals who witnessed said event. Errors can […]

Did you find an ancestor who appears in multiple records with an initial? Is it possible to determine what the initial standards for? In a previous post, I shared how I began mapping out the problem of, “Who are G. Winfield Underwood’s parents?” I ran into the question of what does G initial stands for? If […]

Reader Question: Where should I put the photos in my writing? Should I put the images next to the paragraph I wrote? Should I put them at the end of a chapter? Or should I put all the photos in a photo section?  ~ Robert Murphy, PA Thanks, Robert. Great question. Having written over 120 […]

Tall, dark and handsome. Is there any other character description more cliche than that, even if it’s true? Your ancestor might have been marked on military draft cards or passports as Stout and Medium for this build and height. What can you do with these descriptions, combined with photos, to describe your ancestors to your […]

How would you describe someone to another person who has never met them? Sure you can define their character and positive traits. It would be better to describe their facial features so the second person can locate the first person in a crowd. When it comes to describing our ancestors, we need to use words […]

In previous posts, we’ve discussed the importance of writing about your ancestor’s physical appearance and how to find details about their physique, if you don’t have photos to aid your writing. Today, let’s give you a quick list of adjectives that can help you describe your ancestor’s hair color and style if perhaps you have […]

Descriptions of our ancestor’s physical appearance can help us see them in our mind’s eye. But how can we discover what they looked like if we don’t have videos or photos to provide evidence? Discover some of the best resources for physical descriptions. Then use these clues to improve your family history writing projects as […]

Fiction novels are compelling not because of the world building, but instead, they have engaging, fully-fleshed out characters. In short, good stories are about people. So why is it that family histories are usually about facts rather than the people behind the facts? What’s more, how can we change that? One quick trick is to […]

Photoshop Elements is my favorite platform to use to create scrapbooks because of the ability I have to customize layouts to accommodate the pictures and text that I want to share to tell a great story about my ancestors or my family’s daily life. Let’s walk through a few basics of the program so you […]

Every year, you take photos by the thousands and rarely do anything more than storing them on the computer. For decades, scrapbooking has been the solution to the picture accumulation problem, but it has also been a curse. Scrapbooking is too crafty or too time-consuming. It doesn’t have to be that way. During the Power […]

ea In 2009, I jumped on the digital scrapbook crazy, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve made thousands of scrapbook pages during that time, and there are three designers that I use in nearly every family scrapbook that I make, and a few of the heritage scrapbooks as well. If you’re just starting out in […]