Genealogy Hack: Document Using Your Phone

I love genealogy! I love researching my ancestors as far back as I can go. It’s very satisfying when I find that elusive 1700s or 1600s record that I’ve been researching for years. However, I also love preserving my family’s memories and our lives today. So today I’m sharing some genealogy hacks that have helped me to document my family.

Genealogy Hack: Photos

I love photos! They add so much life to our ancestors. So I wanted to keep up a family yearbook over the years, but I haven’t always done it. When I’ve done a family yearbook in the past I used the Costco Photo center. It was awesome! But now I’ve found an easier way to do my family yearbooks and that is with Becky Higgin’s Project Life App. The Project Life App is an app that takes your photos on your phone and put them into a scrapbook page that you design right on your phone. It’s amazingly easy! Then when you’re done you can order from your phone and receive a printed family yearbook in the mail. It’s the only way I do yearbooks these days. It makes my life easier and it’s fun as well.

I’m also starting a family cookbook this year. I take pictures with my phone of our family favorites, then turn them into a scrapbook page. My yearbooks I print in book form and it looks so professional. But I will print these in individual pages and put them in a binder for us to use. If you want to learn more about it then check out my post 3 Steps I took to Create My Family Yearbook. And here is an example of one of my yearbook pages.

Genealogy Hack: Document Your Family Stories

My favorite way right now to gather those stories is again to use my phone. Now I know there are a lot of apps out there that make it easy to gather and organize audio files, but I don’t have one I like yet. Instead, I use my simple voice recorder on my phone and it does the job nicely! Once I’m done recording the story, I can share it with my family or save it on the cloud. For right now, though, I’m still gathering the stories so I keep all of them on my phone in a folder. This is a simple way to get those stories in the moment!

That’s my habit right now when getting stories. I never remember to set up the scene, get rid of the background noise, and have a formal setting for interviews. My style is if I get the feeling that this would be a story to remember, then I grab my phone and hit record. I personally love the informal tone of these recordings because it feels like I’m there in the story instead of an observer. It’s a simple and great way to document your stories. Now if you have a different way to gather those stories then let me know in the comments below. I’m always looking for ideas!

Conclusion

Documenting your family doesn’t have to be time consuming or fancy if you don’t want it to be. If your genealogy journey is stuck because it feels too hard or you don’t have the right tech, then these hacks are for you. Genealogy can be easy and simple with the right tools. Try these and see if it’s right for you. The point is to have fun while you’re doing genealogy!

In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

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