5 Ten-Minute Family History Projects

5 Ten-Minute Family History Projects
By Juliana Smith 27 May 2010

Lately I’ve been hard-pressed to squeeze in time for my family history. Seems like every weekend is taken up by some event, and those that aren’t booked are filled home improvement tasks that have been begging my attention. Are you in the same boat? Here are ten projects that can be knocked out quickly and give us a quick family history fix.

1.) Create a Military PageWhile we’re celebrating Memorial Day, it’s appropriate that we take a few minutes to honor the veterans in our family tree. You can create a page in less than ten minutes through your Ancestry.com online tree. Here are the steps.
>> Go to that person in your online tree.
>> Click on the link for that person to “View Profile.” (If you hover over that person, you should see a box pop up with that link.)
>> Click on the link for “More Options.” That will open a menu that includes a link to “Create military page.”
>> Add photos, stories, audio, and edit details you’ve learned about their military service.
>> Share the page with your family easily using the links to Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.

2.) Back Up Your DataWhen was the last time you backed up your family history files? If it's been a while, take a few minutes to do it now. If something happens to your computer files down the road, it may well be the best-spent ten minutes of your genealogical life.

3.) Create a Reading StashSummer activities sometimes afford time for reading--at the beach, in the car on road trips (preferably not while driving though), lounging in the yard or on the porch (or on hot days curled up in front of the air conditioner), etc. Assemble a tote bag with reading materials so that when the opportunity presents itself, you just have to grab your bag and go.

4.) Record Heirloom Origins As the family historian, you may have been fortunate enough to have inherited heirlooms from all branches of your family. Will your family members know where all those precious items came from and the stories behind them? Not if you don't record the history of the items now. Take a digital photograph of the item and insert it into an electronic document and record the history that way. Once you get started, it's really kind of fun and can lead to memories that can help you in your research.

5.) Build up Some Genealogical KarmaWe've all accumulated records that may be helpful to other researchers who are working on the same or similar family lines. Why not throw out a couple of posts on the message boards and mailing lists with some of these records. You may make some other researcher(s) very happy, and as a reward, you may inspire them to post some of the records for your ancestor that you've been seeking.

Source:
Ancestry.com Weekly Discovery
May 31, 2010
http://learn.ancestry.com/LearnMore/Article.aspx?id=15546&o_iid=23560&o_lid=23560

New URL for Runnels County

Runnels County has moved. The new URL is:

http://sites.google.com/site/runnelscountytxgenweb

Neighboring counties are Coleman, Coke, Concho, Nolan, Tom Green, and Taylor
counties.

New URL's for Jasper, Newton, & Tyler Counties

Jasper, Newton, and Tyler counties
have moved. The new URL's and neighboring counties are:

Jasper County
http://txgenweb4.org/txjasper Neighboring counties are Angelina,
Hardin, Newton, Orange, Sabine, San Augustine and Tyler

Newton County
http://www.countygenweb.com/txnewton/
Neighboring counties are Jasper, Orange, and Sabine

Tyler County

http://txgenweb4.org/txtyler

Neighboring counties are Angelina, Hardin, Jasper and Polk

June Dedicated CC Award

Kimm Antell is the CC for Kanes Co. and just took on Hardeman Co. Kimm has been with the TXGenWeb Project for 13 years. She has been a very valuable asset to the project. Whenever someone needs techinical help she is always there to help. Thank you for the help that you provide to us and the researchers.

Tom Graham started as the CC in Feb. 2006 with three counties: Dimmit, La Salle, and Zavala. He has worked diligently to find something to post on each of the counties he maintains. From the Early Photographs of Dimmit County to the World War 1 Discharge List of La Salle County. Many thanks to you for your hard work.

May County of the Month

The Surfing Committee is pleased to announce HASKELL COUNTY as the
MAY County of the Month. Congratulations to the County Coordinator
Shirley Webb!

Shirley has a great wealth of information for her patrons and
researchers with easy to find information and links.
Some of the items of interest on the site are the many photos of
families, farms, football and even a prize goat.

Please visit with Shirley and the friendly folks of Haskell County
here: http://haskellco.vibobgen.com/haskell.htm

Honorable Mention counties are: Armstrong, Bexar, Fayette, Lavaca,
Refugio,Throckmorton, and Ward. Congratulations to those CC's as
well. Lots of hard work and dedication to these.

Dedicated CC Award

This award was implemented May 2010 so that we could begin recognizing CCs that have given so much of their time & efforts with the TXGenWeb.

They have worked countless hours to create productive websites that will benefit
the patrons in their research. We appreciate all of our CCs and want them to realize how much of a valuable part they are of the TXGenWeb Project. Without the CCs efforts, we are nothing. Thank you for all you are doing!

May recipients:

Wanda Qualls joined the TXGenWeb in 1998 starting with Comal, and Gillespie, counties, then
in 2002 she added Guadalupe, County, in 2003 she added Blanco, county and in 2004 Kimble, and Mason County. Most of the counties she maintains are small counties with little information and she has managed to find interesting subjects to post online for her patrons. Wanda has been a tireless volunteer for TXGenWeb, and for this we thank her.

Darren McCathern has been a CC for 13 years and maintains Hall, Potter and Randall counties. Darren has a lot of information and history on his websites and keeps them updated very well. The TXGenWeb and his patrons are very lucky to have his assistance. Thank you Darren for volunteering.