Genealogy & Online Thrift = Family Projects, Unique Home Decor

Building your family tree is a very personal way to tie together several fun hobbies and get the whole family on board with the project, even extended family.

Here are the basic steps to getting started:

• Begin by jotting down what you already know about your family members (and be sure to use forms to keep things organized – I’ve linked to plenty of free ones for you here). Pay special attention to localities, as these can serve you well in creating something interesting.
• Ask your relatives about other family members, this is the quickest route, saving time and effort searching for records with no solid leads.
• If all you have is a name and general geographic area, begin with the census records – it can give you the age of the person and leads for finding birth records which in turn lead to more family details.
• Staying organized will be a large factor. This project starts small and snowballs very quickly.
• You can create your family tree and store information manually using note books, index cards and files but most people today use computers.  You will get a lot of information by sharing your data online
• Do a little research on the meanings of the surnames that you discover in your family lines.  This will be useful for creative displays outlined below.

Weaving this into more hands-on family project involves coming up with projects that might bring your family history to life.  One of the things I like to do is build scrapbooks based on a geographic location.   Creative displays of modern photos of scenery and historic places can be alternated with bits of information, old family photos, etc. to make something fun and interesting.  These are also fantastic gifts for older relatives who are getting tough to buy for – something very personal and unique that they will treasure.

Online thrift stores, brick and mortar ones, garage sales and yard sales can offer lots of materials to use in your projects.  I sometimes find old books, old documents and photos, bits of history – preferably hyper-local history to the location in my research, all associated with a specific time period for when my ancestor was alive and make creative displays with it.  You can build shadow boxes, collages and other interesting display pieces.  They make nice, personal touches to your home decor and they stimulate conversation.  You can even decide whether you want to create something with a modern design or a more traditional vintage look according to your decorating tastes.  I’ve seen a lot of black and white contemporary looking rooms featuring creatively framed vintage pieces of history.  Why not apply this technique to something a little more meaningful for your family.  Be sure to browse the online thrift options here, I might just have something that will fit right into a family memory or two.

If you have some clever handiwork, share your photos and ideas on the White Oak Attic Facebook page. I would love to see them and am sure many other people will too!