.CREATE YOUR LEGACY Archives – Organized for Life and Beyond

How NOT to save your photos or donate books

By Hazel Thornton on March 26, 2023 16 Comments

Photos found in donated books (click to enlarge)

Have you ever hidden anything in a book? Maybe used a photo as a bookmark? I don’t recommend it as a way to save your photos! Here’s why:

I volunteer weekly for my local Friends of the Library. We price and sort donated books for our monthly used book sales (at which I also run a cash register), and we have a lovely used book shop in the Main library downtown which is open six days a week. We raise around $200K every year for library programs such as the Summer Reading Program for children.

Don’t forget to check your books before donating them!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Photos & Memorabilia

Tags : keepsakes, memorabilia, photos

The holidays are for sharing family photos and stories

By Hazel Thornton on November 21, 2022 5 Comments

Not a holiday, but a family (mine) enjoying a photo album together. This is a newspaper clipping from the Idaho Statesman, in 1965, when the new minister and his family came to town.

When do “the holidays” begin and end for you? For me, they start with Thanksgiving and end on January 1^st. Halloween serves as a heads-up: The holidays are coming!

No matter what holidays you celebrate, if you are lucky enough to have a family that enjoys getting together (in person or virtually), it’s the perfect time for sharing family photos and stories. It’s also a great opportunity to learn from your elders, share your genealogy discoveries, and create new memories.

What holidays do you celebrate with family? Do you share photos and stories?

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Genealogy, Photos & Memorabilia

About the Photomyne scanning app

By Hazel Thornton on September 12, 2022 17 Comments

Let’s start with the fact that I am an emeritus (retired) member of The Photo Managers who never specialized in photo scanning. But the more popular it becomes, the more confused I see people getting. So, I’m hoping to clear things up a bit.

Instead of becoming a crackerjack photo manager like some of my colleagues, I combined my general professional organizing and genealogy experience into a book called What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy. It includes chapters on how to organize, preserve, and share your family photos. So I do have a vested interest — not so much in HOW people do it, but more THAT they do it, and making it seem do-able to them.

The Photomyne photo scanning app is everywhere these days. Here’s when I DO and when I DON’T recommend using it.

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Photos & Memorabilia

How and when to find a common ancestor

By Hazel Thornton on August 28, 2022 11 Comments

Photo of Henry Clay by Mathew Benjamin Brady, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

I finally did it!

Did what?

I figured out my relationship to Henry Clay, the 19^th century American statesman.

How?

By finding our common ancestor.

I solved a family mystery and determined my relationship to a historical figure by finding our common ancestor. And you can too!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Genealogy, Hazel's Family Stories

Tags : common ancestor; genealogy; FamilySearch; slavery;

DNA tests: The gift that keeps on giving

By Hazel Thornton on May 23, 2022 6 Comments

DNA Helix

Have you had your DNA tested?

How often do you revisit your results?

(This post is for people who have tested, or who want to test, their DNA for genealogy purposes. It’s not for those who don’t want to, or who are more interested in DNA for health purposes or traits.)

If you haven’t revisited your Ancestry DNA test results lately, you may be surprised at how they’ve changed and what new fun tools are now available to you.

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Genealogy, Uncategorized

Gifts I Got from Mom

By Hazel Thornton on May 7, 2022 11 Comments

From Mom’s album: “Stopped in Albuq. 7-1959” There’s more to this story in my new book!

I grew up in a family of six, with my parents, three younger brothers, and few relatives. Certainly none who lived nearby.

My parents did not share family stories or photos. Not really. We enjoyed slide shows of our own family vacations, but nothing historical. I guess they were too busy working and raising us up.

What “gifts” did you get from your mom? Here are a few I got from mine.

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Hazel's Family Stories

Tags : family tree, famiy history, genealogy, keepsakes, legacy, mom

Genealogy Volunteering Opportunities

By Hazel Thornton on March 28, 2022 7 Comments

Did you know that April is National Volunteer Month?

This is very convenient for the genealogy community since the 1950 U.S. census is being released on April 1, 2022. (That’s when the mandatory 72-year privacy waiting period ends.)

Here is a list of genealogy volunteer opportunities, and some of the benefits of participating.

I’ll bet there are more ways to volunteer in the world of genealogy than you expected there to be. Here are just a few. Enjoy!

Click To Tweet

(more…)

Categories : Genealogy

RootsTech is (still) for Everyone!

By Hazel Thornton on March 7, 2022 9 Comments

Do you regret missing RootsTech 2022?

It’s not too late!

Yes, a few features are no longer available, but many of them — including 1500+ recorded sessions, on 185 topics, in 30+ languages —will be available all year long!

Even if you’re not the family historian, there’s something at RootsTech for everyone. And it’s not too late to join in the fun!

Click To Tweet