Good Ancestor – Juneteenth Resources
Juneteenth celebrates the liberation of enslaved people in the United States. Started in Texas in 1865 (2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed) when finally enough Union soldiers were able to enter Texas and overthrow those who had resisted the executive order to free those they had enslaved. It is an incredibly important holiday […]
Roots Tech 2020 Highlights
My first year at RootsTech was fantastic! It’s so fun to be in a place full of thousands of people who all share the same passion for discovery, history, stories, healing and connection. Hands down, the best part was reconnecting with friends, meeting Instagram friends in real life for the first time, and meeting new […]
Family History & Racial Literacy
“By searching for our roots we come closer together as a human family.” -Orrin Hatch Family History is a gift that connects us. Not only to our ancestors but to our living family and ALL people – our brothers and sisters in our human family. Today I am sharing some thoughts and resources in my […]
Shame, Trauma & Family History
I’ve been reading the book “It Didn’t Start With You” by Mark Wolynn which talks about the cycles of inherited family trauma. In it he describes a study that found that trauma changes our DNA and can be carried through our ancestral lines for up to 14 generations. And the thing that breaks these cycles […]
How can we honor our ancestors when our history is complicated?
It’s likely that most of us who have dug into our pasts in any way have found some type of skeletons in the proverbial closet. Trauma, racism, oppression, addiction, abuse, and neglect and painful and traumatic issues. They are also very human issues that pervade everyone’s history. Not one of us is immune. So what […]
Gathering Strength – Krista
My grandma was an entertainer, a poet, a writer and a cook. And so, so much more. She passed away when I was only 14. I think of her often, especially when I think about knowing her in my adult years. How fun it might have been to know her on a higher level, to […]
Gathering Strength – Jessie
My grandma worked extra hard to instill in each of her children & grandchildren a knowledge of our ancestors. She would gather us together (putting up with many complaints & eye-rolls) to tell the stories of the people who came before us. I’m sure it wasn’t the easiest thing on the planet for her to […]
Always Near
When I was a teenager, I faced a hard and painful trial. A long and traumatic trial that left me with some deep emotional wounds. It took over a decade of hurt, confusion, and fear before I was able to get the help I needed to heal those wounds. One of the deepest wounds (and […]
Gathering Strength – Jamie
Family History has given my life so much meaning. People often ask me what got me into Family History. It is such a loaded question. Where do I possibly start? How can you condense something that has set your soul on fire into one simple answer? How about this: I was once a lost and […]
Gathering Strength – Dani
When I started doing family history it was by accident. I was working on a story about my grandparents. (I know, I know. I’ll get there) I wrote about how they met, dated, the devastation they felt when my grandfather was drafted into World War II. I wrote his return four years later, and that […]