Ah, the holidays are coming! And with them, family get togethers, which offer unique opportunites to gather more information about your family and to disperse it too. A little bit of preparation will be of enormous help.
First of all, unearth the family photos and label the people you know. Take note of the ones of people you don’t know. Put those photos in a special pile ready to show to your relatives in the hopes that someone will recognize who they are.
Ask your relatives to bring photos of the family with them to share. Pictures can be wonderful icebreakers. Most people enjoy seeing them and it can spark discussions about relatives, supplying you with more information, genealogy leads and family stories about your ancestors.
If you have the equipment, why not scan the pictures of your ancestors and burn copies of them to cds for relatives? It is a priceless gift. Also be ready to scan any photos that you do not have or ask if you can take them to a local copy store where they can be scanned or copied. Family pictures that are shared have less of a chance of being lost or accidentally destroyed.
Be sure to bring your camera to family get togethers. Not only will you be able to take pictures of the family and ancestral homes but you can use your camera to take pictures of their pictures of ancestors and unique documents, too. A good digital camera is quite handy to have along.
Enjoy the coming holidays!