Why do you think genealogy and family history are so popular? My guest today is Janine Adams and her answer is that it’s so much FUN, plus it connects us to past history in general and it invites you to play detective! Yes to all of that. Janine is a professional organizer, family historian and podcaster and we’re talking today about how to get started and stay organized when it comes to discovering and documenting family stories!

Here are my BIG take aways from our conversation. I can’t wait to hear what you learn …

1. Talk to your oldest living relatives. Ask them anything and press record on your smart phone.

2. Use FamilySearch.org or other online resources to verify the dates and information they share with you.

3. When you find verifying documents, download a copy to your computer. Name these file in a way that YOU can easily find it again.

4. Consider purchasing genealogy software designed for your computer’s operating system, so that you can keep, collect and organize all that you are learning and gathering. Janine uses Reunion, which is designed for use on a Mac.

5. Mine the documents you find for stories—there are MORE stories available than you might think and their lurking in all sorts of documents!

The important thing—even if you just dabble in this effort—is to be accurate. After our conversation, Janine wrote a blog post, called Sharing with Confidence.

Track and record your sources and then generously share what you find, as often as you can! But don’t just share, share with confidence 🌳❤️

Resources:

FamilySearch.org

Ancestry.com

Reunion for Mac

You’ll want to learn more about Janine. You can do that on her family history website, Organize Your Family History and on her Peace of Mind Organizing site too. Janine also produces the Getting to Good Enough podcast with friend and life coach, Shannon Wilkinson.

Podcast listeners are invited to experience 30 days of my membership, Live Your Story for FREE. Use code LISTEN and let me help you do something with some of your photos—and tell your story!