When I took the ancestry.com DNA test a few years back, I was expecting to be quite a bit German. All of my paternal grandmother’s grandparents were born in Germany. I also have many other lines where Germans appear. When I opened my results, German wasn’t even an option, it was lumped in with all of Western […]
The winter of 2019 has been ridiculous. The snowiest February on record, temperatures that make freezing feel tropical, and dreary gray skies. School has been cancelled more days in one month than my entire school career. Recently there was a discussion on a Facebook group for my graduating class asking if kids today are less hardy than […]
Not surprisingly one of my favorite shows is Finding Your Roots on PBS. On a recent episode, Henry Lewis Gates Jr handed Marisa Tomei a family tree filled with relatives she never knew she had and declared, “They will never be lost again”. It was a meaningful moment, but is it true? Will the future generations of […]
Over the holidays my neighbor Christina came over for coffee. She lives two doors down in our old St. Paul neighborhood, both our homes were built in 1941. As she was walking over she thought about the women who lived here over 70 years ago and wondered if they ever walked this same path to have […]
The holidays are a wonderful time to learn more about your family history. We have included 10 questions to help start your holiday table conversations. 1. Ask your parents/grandparents how they met? 2. Ask about the history of the china or other item used on your table. 3. Ask each person for their favorite holiday memory? 4. […]
Janice loved to travel and spending time with her granddaughter. When Amanda got into genealogy, Janice did not believe she had Irish roots, Amanda took her to Ireland to prove it. They enjoyed the trip so much that they decided to go to one location their ancestors came from every year. They traveled across […]
Julie is a real estate agent who specializes in seniors. She wanted a website video to share WHY she is passionate about working with seniors and how she helps meet their unique needs. Amanda walked her through concisely sharing her story and branded the video with her logo and colors.
For Bob and Pat’s 58th anniversary, their children gifted them a video interview with Amanda. They preserved the story of how they met, Pat moving from England to the US after their marriage, their favorite moments, and their advice from the lessons of 58 years. Their family cherishes the short video.
After losing their father, Don, these three brothers were comforted by wonderful stories from friends and family. They thought about writing a book but a year later it was still only a rough list. Amanda took the list of stories and used them as the basis for a filmed interview. Along with digitized and restored […]
Agnes loved being the family historian. But didn’t know how to share all of the amazing stories she had found. Amanda helped her organize and digitize her photos and documents, and share her stories on camera. The stories are more meaningful than just a tree of names and dates.