Category: Uncategorized

One of the challenges of writing your own history is figuring out what to put in and what to leave out. When we read someone else’s history, it is very easy to pick out the things that are interesting to us. When we are looking at our own life experiences it is much harder choosing those things that will be of interest to others. Usually, we just think of the unusual or spectacular things in our life. But the regular, day to day activities at different stages of your life will be very interesting to others. Then when you share something unusual it will stand out. For instance, when you are sharing about your youth you could write about the time that you got a ride to school because you broke your foot. But it would be better to first explain that you normally walked to school each day and what it was like and then share the one week that you got a ride and the next three weeks that you walked on crutches. This will make the experience stand out more, but it also gives the reader a better understanding of what your life was really like each day. Paint a clear picture of what life was like in a normal day and do this for each of the stages in your life. It may not seem to interesting to you (because it was normal for you) but it really will be interesting to your readers and help them to know the real you. Keep writing!

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com   www.sgenealogy.com

Here is a short reminder of how important it is to publish family histories. Think back to all the things that you learned from your family growing up. They passed on to you many great (and some not so great) habits, information, and attitudes that have made you who you are today. This was a huge investment of time and love from your parents and other family members who helped raise you. Now, you are in a position to pass on to future generations the important events, stories, and feelings from your family before they are lost forever. It is well worth all of the time and effort to write and share your family history. I strongly encourage you to keep going until it is finished. You’ll be very glad that you did.

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

Summer is traditionally vacation time and so my thoughts are on getting away with my family. I thought that I would make a post about the adventures that can happen on vacations. I think that it would be great to include some of these in your family histories. Often when we talk about our vacations we mention the fun and normal parts of the vacation. But I think that the most interesting parts are when there are problems that we face and overcome.  I can think of the time when our family went camping at Bear Lake (a place that we love to go every year). We enjoy the beauty of the lake and playing on the great beaches. But the story that I think is the most interesting (and the one that my kids love to repeat) is the time when a neighbor told us of a different way to get there and we got lost. I was driving and everyone else was asleep in the van when I missed the sign that told me when to turn. I kept going, not knowing that I had missed the turn. It took us twice as long to get there because we ended up going all the way around the lake. It was quite an adventure.

The point of this story is to include problems, challenges and hardships in your histories. You will be glad that you included the real adventures in your family’s lives.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

Many family history books contain a great deal of genealogy data (names, dates, and places). There are a few different ways to display that information in your book. The first way is to use a family group sheet. This method is convenient for the reader to find the information that they are looking for, but it takes up a lot of room in the book. If you have just a few pages of family group sheets, then you could go ahead and use this method. But if you have more than just a few pages then this could add quite a few pages to you book making it more expensive than it needs to be. Another way to display the data is to put all the information into columns. This works but is difficult to fit all of the columns  onto each line and can be hard to follow on the page. The method that I like best is called “modified register.” Many genealogy programs can organize and print the data in this format. This is especially useful for descendents and families. It is very easy to read the information and yet it is compact and fits on the page very well. Here is a sample of what it looks like.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

I have found that I can do some computer processes much faster by using keyboard short cuts. These work with almost any windows programs. Here are my favorites.

CTRL + C will copy text after it has been highlighted.

CTRL + V will paste text that you have copied.

CTRL + A will highlight all of the document for copying.

CTRL + X will cut text after it has been highlighted.

CRTL + Z will undo any change that you have done.

CTRL + ESC will bring up the Start Menu.

SHIFT + F3 will turn all capitalized text into lowercase.

SHIFT + DELETE will delete an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin.

ALT + TAB will bring up a Window with a list of icons representing programs which are currently running on your computer. While holding the ALT key, press and depress the TAB button to cycle between each icon task.

ALT + ESC will switch to the next task running on your computer. Hold down the ALT before pressing and depressing the ESC key to cycle to the next task.

CTRL + ALT + DELETE will bring up Task Manager and allow you to end a process (terminate a program) if it has crashed or has stopped responding. Select the process which has stopped responding, and then press "END PROCESS”.

SHIFT + INSERT will paste any text that is in your clipboard. Your cursor must also be placed in an area that will accept keyboard input for this to work.

Try these out and see which short cuts will help you. I hope these help you to not only produce your book faster but make all of your computer interactions easier. If you have another short cut that you like, add it in a comment.

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com