 DIY Family Tree Charts and Templates! Genealogy Resources: DIY Family Tree Charts and Templates! While organizing my personal family history and business digital file folders last week, mentioned in Help, I Can’t Find My Family History/Genealogy Stuff!, I came across some of the different family trees I had created on sites that offered pre-generated family trees based on my family tree research; free, fillable templates that different sites offered; and some that I had created in Family Tree Maker over a decade ago; along with others. This got me sidetracked to where I decided to try to create my own, easy, DIY templates for family trees, using various resources. What I Used to Create My Easy, DIY Family Tree Templates:
How I Designed My Simple, DIY Family Tree Charts:
Use Your Family Tree Chart Creations for:
Examples: My Family Tree Chart Heirloom ExamplesMy Other Family Tree Chart ExamplesEven though it is hard to tell on some, each one is different either with a different backround, a change in transparency, saturation, tone, or color or both.
There are many sites out there where you can get a pre-generated family tree heirloom printed out (blog coming soon), that offer fillable templates, and more, some free and some not. There are also many sites where you can create family tree templates to use for visual reference, presentations, and more (blog coming soon). But you can always DIY your own family history heirlooms to pass down through the generations or give as a gift, by creating your own family tree charts and templates! *Note: ©Diane Henriks (Copyright protected, and all rights are reserved. No portion of these images may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; whether electronic, mechanical, etc., such as through copying, screenshotting, downloading, or other without prior written notice from me)
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 Genealogy/Family History/Family Tree Organization Help, I Can’t Find My Family History/Genealogy Stuff!Does this hit a chord? The past 2 weeks, I have spent my spare time renaming and organizing all my hard drive folders, including my business stuff and family history/genealogy stuff because I couldn’t find a thing when I needed it! Sound familiar? 😉 I am now in the process of backing everything up to new SSD drives, as my old portable HDD drives are too slow when it comes to backing up a whole hard drive and/or cloud backup, even the one I just bought last year. My HDD drives could take hours to even a whole day! So far, I have backed up just my business folder and family history folder, with the former taking about 15 minutes to back up, and the latter taking about 20. I’m not one for reading up on genealogy/family history/family tree digital organization, as I believe everyone needs to organize things the way that feels right for them, and everyone has their own method for doing things. I pretty much have this belief system for anything and everything, but I do like to learn new tips, just not follow someone else’s method for doing something. What I Did To Organize:
I am still not 100% happy with the way I organized everything, but it is WAY better than the mess it was! 😉 I must have renamed and reorganized folders over 10 times, each, before I was somewhat happy with them, especially my family history! Why did I feel the need to have to spend the last 2 weeks doing it all at once? It was time to back it up again! I’ve learned my lesson about renaming and moving folders, and then trying to back them up on the same portable hard drive! It takes LONGER, much longer, and it will stop repeatedly, asking you to confirm almost each and every thing, so you can’t just walk away, come back, and expect it to be done! Not only that, but it will miss copying many items. Like I said, lesson learned. Examples: Overall Documents Folder My Documents Folder Organization Example  A Documents Subfolder Organization Example: Lifestyle Business Folder My Business Subfolder Organization Example  My Business Subfolder Organization Example, Continued Family History/Genealogy Folder My Family History/Genealogy Subfolder Organization Example  A Family History/Genealogy Subfolder Organization, Level 2 Example  A Family History/Genealogy Subfolder Organization, Level 3 Example  A Family History/Genealogy Subfolder Organization, Level 4 Example Things to keep in mind:No matter how messy or hard it is to find something, you can always search for something in the search bar, but keep in mind that you would have to remember what you named something, at least ballpark, to find it. 😉
Back in the day, well over a decade ago, I had just saved my downloaded, scanned, etc. family tree stuff as named into just my general family tree folder, and sometimes to a surname folder, so searching for things is extremely difficult, for the old stuff that is. I do not want, nor do I have the time, to go back and rename ALL the thousands of old family tree files, so renaming and reorganizing the folders was the best I could do, for now.  Publishing Your Family History: Stressless Ancestor Story/LifeStory Books Publishing Your Family History: Stressless LifeStory BooksAs mentioned in Publishing Your Family History: Stress-Free Timeline Books, you don't have to be a writer to publish your family history! Take the stress out of the daunting task of sharing all of your hard work, and publish your family history the easy way! One of the easiest ways to publish your family history, if you’re not much of a writer, is with a pregenerated ancestor story, which can also include a timeline! Print out your family history stories using ancestor profiles with facts and tidbits of info! Pregenerated Ancestor profile stories are a fantastic and easy option to share all your hard work with your family or the public! They are also an easy to view and absorb option, which makes them a great way to get others involved! I usually use a family tree/genealogy program, such as Family Tree Maker, to print out various reports, trees, timelines, stories, etc., but if you don't have a genealogy program, Ancestry has their LifeStory printouts! Check out what you can do with an Ancestry LifeStory, below! Ancestry LifeStory/Ancestor Profile Printout Example:*Tips:
Remember…ANYONE can publish their family history! *Note: ©Diane Henriks (Copyright protected, and all rights are reserved. No portion of these images may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; whether electronic, mechanical, etc., such as through copying, screenshotting, downloading, or other without prior written notice from me)  African American Genealogy Research Tips African American Genealogy: Research TipsSearching for your African American ancestors can be quite challenging, to say the least. Here are some basic tips to get you started on your African American genealogy research journey, so you can start climbing your family tree! Steps to researching your African American Ancestors:
African American Genealogy Research Tips:
More Genealogy Resources: Learn about more family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.  Publishing Your Family History: Stress-Free Timeline BooksNot much of a writer? You can still publish your family history, the easy way! I have spent the last few days working on my own genealogy, which hasn’t happened much in the last 7 years, as I am pressed with a full-time job, client work, speaking events, and more, but I took a few days for myself, while trying to forget all the things that I have to do. 😉 One of the things I worked on was trying to clean up some of my ancestor profiles a bit, on Ancestry, while adding more details to their timelines. Then I remembered that this is one of the easiest ways to publish your family history, if you’re not much of a writer, that I preach in my long-given presentation, “Publishing Your Family History”. Print out your family history stories in timelines with facts and tidbits of info! Ancestor timelines are a fantastic and easy option to share all your hard work with your family or the public! They are also an easy to view and absorb option, which makes timelines a great way to get others involved! I usually use a family tree/genealogy program, such as Family Tree Maker, to print out various reports, trees, timelines, stories, etc., but if you don't have a genealogy program, Ancestry has great printouts, as well as MyHeritage! Ancestry Timeline/Ancestor Profile Printout Example:
Remember…ANYONE can publish their family history!
*Note: ©Diane Henriks (Copyright protected, and all rights are reserved. No portion of these images may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means; whether electronic, mechanical, etc., such as through copying, screenshotting, downloading, or other without prior written notice from me)  MyHeritage Updates: New Reimagine Family Photo App! MyHeritage Updates: New Reimagine Family Photo App! MyHeritage has done it once again; there is just no stopping them! They have just come out with another groundbreaking photo tool to help enhance your family history experience! Reimagine, their new state-of-the-art, all-in-one, mobile, photo app where MyHeritage, once again, uses top-of-the-line AI technology! It’s the perfect photo app, not only for genealogists, but for anyone and everyone! For family photos old and new, bring those family memories to life, then share them to get others interested and involved in their family history! Scan, colorize, restore, enhance, repair, animate, preserve, and share your family photos! Reimagine Photo App:
Cost of Reimagine:
Download Reimagine App:Stay tuned for exciting features and improvements already coming to Reimagine! More Genealogy Resources: Learn about more MyHeritage features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.  MyHeritage Updates: New Theory of Family Relativity UpdateMyHeritage has been working behind the scenes and around the clock to bring you tons of state-of-the-art new updates, tools, and features! One of these is the newly updated Theory of Family Relativity, that just added millions of new theories to help you discover how you’re related to your DNA Matches! Theory of Family Relativity can save you painstaking hours of trying to figure out how you’re connected to your DNA matches, using their large database of their family trees and historical records that provide you with probable theories about how you and your DNA matches are related! This feature sets DNA tools at a whole new level! And, as an extra bonus, they’ve made improvements to their DNA section! New Theory of Family Relativity Update:
How to get to Theory of Family Relativity:Right now it is super easy to get to the MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity! Since they have an all new update for it, they have it advertised right in plain view under your DNA matches!  How to get to MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity-1 It won't be advertised as new forever, so the standard way to get to your Theory of Family Relativity theories is from your DNA match list filters, under the "Tree details" labeled filter. Your "Tree details" is already set by default; just go ahead and choose "Has Theory of Family Relativity".  How to get to MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity-2 How to View New Theories:MyHeritage makes it super simple to view any theories that are new and not yet viewed! Just look for the "NEW" button right next to the Theory of Family Relativity symbol, under your match's info.  How to View the MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity New Theories How to View ALL Theories:To view ALL of your theories, whether new or previously viewed, just click on the highlighted "View theory" at the end of the theory summary next to the Theory of Family Relativity symbol.  How to View All MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity Theories Theory of Family Relativity Example:There may be just one or multiple paths that were taken to come up with your theories. The more paths you have, the stronger the reliability of the proposed relationship. The example below is a confirmed, by me, theory, which has 5 paths that were used to come up with the theory. You can toggle between the paths, to see the details of each.  Theory of Family Relativity Example Path 1  Theory of Family Relativity Example-Path 1 Path 2  Theory of Family Relativity Example-Path 2 Path 3  Theory of Family Relativity Example-Path 3 Path 4  Theory of Family Relativity Example-Path 4 Path 5  Theory of Family Relativity Example-Path 5 Confirming or Rejecting Your Theory:It is very important to confirm or reject your theory. By doing so, it will not only keep you organized, but it will also help to fine tune the algorithm. Don't worry if you've made a mistake confirming it; you can always undo it. 😉  Confirming or Rejecting Your MyHeritage DNA Theory-1  Confirming or Rejecting Your MyHeritage DNA Theory-2 My Personal Experience with Theory of Family Relativity:I've got to say, after checking out many of my known matches, they are ALL on point, which gives me hope for my unknown mathces! 😉 Something to think about:
MyHeritage is hard at work and constantly bringing you tons of new records. Want even better state-of-the-art tools and features, spread the word about MyHeritage, their DNA kits, and their FREE DNA transfers, which all add to improving the tools! A larger database = Improved tools and technology! 😉 Go into MyHeritage now, and try it out! More Genealogy Resources:Learn about more MyHeritage features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 Ancestry Updates: New Info Request Feature! Ancestry Updates: New Info Request Feature!Ancestry has a new, much anticipated feature that was mentioned at RootsTech! This feature sets collaborating at a whole new level! As mentioned in Ancestry 2023 Updates: New Genealogy and DNA Tools and Features, they have tons of new tools and features coming out as part of their new updates for this year. As of yesterday, May 25th, they released their new Info Request feature (well, at least I have it), with it’s own icon, where you can request info on a family member! You can get help by asking family, by messaging an Ancestry member, or from the Ancestry Community! This makes collaborating with others so much easier, while getting any info you may need even from outside the Ancestry community! How to Get to Info Request:
 Get to Ancestry's New Info Request in Quick Profile View from Pedigree"/"Horizontal" View  Get to Ancestry's New Info Request from the Ancestor/Relative Profile page  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature Ask Family for Help: Ask family for help with a particular ancestor or relative, by emailing them a link to that person that includes fields to suggest name, birth, and death info!
*Note: I have tested it out multiple times, but I cannot figure out where you can find the suggestions that are made; I have checked anywhere and everywhere so far. Since this just came out yesterday, they may be working out any kinks in it or still working on that part. When they were talking about this, they were thinking it would go straight into your tree, but I am not sure that is the case. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll update this post when they have figured that portion out. 😉 *Update 5/28/23: This morning I was able to find the emailed suggestions under my notifications. Hopefully they will come up with alternate ways to find them, to make it easier, maybe with a notification icon for those suggestions on the person's profile page or quick view profile in Family Tree View.  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ask Family for Help Option  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Family Suggestion Input Email  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Family Suggestions Under Notifications  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Family Suggestion Review Message an Ancestry Member: Takes you straight to your Ancestry messaging center, where you can search your contact list or message them on their profile, etc.  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Message an Ancestry Member Option Get Help from the Ancestry Community:
 Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ancestry Community Option  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ancestry Community, Public Member Trees  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ancestry Community, Member Directory-1  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ancestry Community, Member Directory-2  Ancestry's New Info Request Feature: Ancestry Community, Message Boards Thoughts about the New Info Request Feature: I’m still not sure about using a question mark icon for this feature yet; maybe they’ll come up with a better one for it, while they are working out the kinks. 😉 This seems like a great way to collaborate and even get help from outside Ancestry! Maybe one day they’ll even ramp it up so that you can have others see an entire ancestor’s or relative’s profile page without having to make your whole tree public or share your whole tree, to request info. If so, that would be an extremely fantastic feature that is much needed! More Genealogy Resources: Learn about more Ancestry features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.
 FamilySearch Updates: New Home Page with New Tools and Features! FamilySearch Updates, Tools, and Features: New Home Page! FamilySearch has made a lot of new changes recently with new tools and features to make it easier for you to not only discover and learn about your family history but to be able to connect with living relatives as well! One of these recent changes, that came out a few months ago, is an all new home page with a modern look, ease of access to tools and features, and some brand-new tools and features! This is only one of the recent updates they have made, of many already, this year! This is just the beginning; there will be many more new tools and features still to come! FamilySearch is always bringing you innovative ways to discover and connect with family, whether it be past, present, or future! New FamilySearch Home Page Tools and Features:
New FamilySearch Home page Feature:Toggle the switch to try out the new home page features, with new tools and quick access to friends, hints, and recently viewed people! Not ready to navigate the new yet? Then you can toggle the switch back off.  Family Search New Home Page Features New FamilySearch Post Feature:Create and share a post, such as photos, stories, and memories to either the public, just yourself, or to your friends in your created friends list!  FamilySearch New Create and Share a Post (Photos, stories, and memories) Feature New FamilySearch Discovery Search Feature:If you're not yet an experienced researcher, FamilySearch's new Discovery Search feature has a new, easier way to research your family history!  FamilySearch New Discovery Search Feature FamilySearch Friends Feature:You can access the "Friends" feature directly from the new "Home" page navigation bar! Create a friends list by adding friends on FamilySearch to share posts with, such as photos, stories, memories, or comments! FamilySearch makes it super easy to invite friends! You can invite them through Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, email, FamilySearch, or by copying a sharable link!  FamilySearch Friends Feature and Tools FamilySearch Hints Feature:FamilySearch is making it as easy as possible to see all your hints; you can access them right from the new "Home" page navigation bar, under "Hints" or the "Record Hints" category on the "Home" page!  FamilySearch Hints Feature and Tools FamilySearch Recent People Viewed Feature:They are also making it quick and easy to see all your recently viewed, or contributed to, people so that you can quickly see what you were last working on get back to it easily! You can either access it from the "Home" page navigation bar, under "Recents" or the "Recent People" category on the "Home" page.  FamilySearch Recently Viewed People Feaure and Tools FamilySearch To-Do List Feature and Tool:Access a "To-Do List" right from your home page to plan your next research steps, ideas, or questions! From here you can also check off items that have been completed, sending it to a "Completed Items list". You can also include links to web pages or people in your family tree for shortcuts!  FamilySearch To-Do List Feature and Tool FamilySearch Memories Found Feature:Right on your "Home" page, you have the ability to see any newly found memories on FamilySearch for your family, whether it be photos, stories, records, memories, or more. You can also easily see who it was added by, including their family search I.D., so that you can easily invite them to your friends list! You can also quickly see how you are related to the person that is tagged for that memory, by clicking on the icon right next to it! You are also able to easily share the memory and/or comment on it right there from your "Home" page!  FamilySearch Memories Found Feature FamilySearch Volunteer Oppotunities:Have you ever thought about volunteering to help out in record searches, etc? Well, right from your "Home" page, FamilySearch makes it super simple to volunteer just a little bit of your time to help make a huge difference in the world of genealogy, with a chance to make a difference with a quick, new, non overwhelming volunteer opportunity! For example, you could just spend a few minutes improving the accuracy of a family tree by reviewing just 10 places to associate a user entered place with a standard place found on a map.  Stay tuned for more updates!
More FamilySearch and Genealogy Resources: Learn about more FamilySearch updates, tools, features, and events, along with other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.  Ancestry Updates: New Comments Activity and Icon Feature! Ancestry Updates: New Comments Activity and Icon Feature!Ancestry has just made it a whole lot easier to collaborate! As mentioned in Ancestry’s New Tree Edit History Feature and Tool Icons and Ancestry Updates: BETA Family Tree Views and Toolbox Icons, Ancestry has been testing their family tree views and toolbox icons, along with the placement of icons, as part of their new updates for this year. You can learn more about some of their new and upcoming features and tools in Ancestry 2023 Updates: New Genealogy and DNA Tools and Features. They are trying to make it as easy as possible to find everything you need and to be able to collaborate! As of 2 days ago, on May 12th, they released their new comments activity icon that you can now find (or choose to show) in your family tree views! This makes collaborating with others so much easier! Guests, whether for a public or private family tree, and Contributors and editors to a private tree, can now make or see a comment on someone in a tree quickly, while in family tree view! You can also share important comments for public view as well. Comments Activity and Icon:
Where to Find the New Ancestry Comments Activity Icon:
 Ancestry's New Comments Activity Icon in "Pedigree"/"Horizontal" View  Ancestry's New Comments Activity Icon in "Family"/"Vertical" View  Ancestry's New Comments Activity Icon on "Profile Page" How to Get to Ancestry Updated Comments Activity:
 How to Get to Ancestry Updated Comments Activity-1  How to Get to Ancestry Updated Comments Activity-2&3 How to Turn Off the Ancestry Comments Activity Icon:You can toggle your “Family Tree View” icon either off, if you find it annoying or an eyesore, or on if you find it useful to see new comments right away from your tree as a whole.  How to Turn Off the Ancestry Comments Activity Icon in "Pedigree"/"Horizontal" or "Family"/"Vertical" Views More Genealogy Resources:
Learn about more Ancestry features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Genealogy Resources category and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page. |
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BlogI hope my family history and genealogy blog on genealogy research tips, resources, events, and more, along with my own genealogy journeys, will help you in your research and in building your family tree to learn more about your ancestors and family history to preserve for future generations to come! 
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