Discover, Preserve,
and Share Your Family
Stories and History
Join us in celebrating family narratives and heritage.
What is Family Story Tree?
“This website encourages you to find, listen to, read, and write your family stories and histories. Learn different methods to keep them alive and pass them on. Stories connect generations. Your contributions and efforts now can have a positive impact on current and future generations.”
Linda Jewell, Founder
Discover the past, cherish the present,
shape the future.
Start your journey of discovering your family history with us!
Blogs are written and posted below regularly. We encourage our community to comment with their ideas that have worked (and NOT worked!) as they discover, preserve, and share their precious and unique family stories and history.
Don’t Believe…
I believe we family story collectors and historians need to double check what we believe. This can include what we believe about what we see, what we hear, and what we think. Don’t Believe Everything You See My first leap…
Helping Our Reader Sort Same and Similar Names
Researching family members with same and similar names is a challenge. So is identifying and setting aside records and identities of individuals NOT related to us, but whose names are confused with our kinfolk. It can be tricky writing about…
The Blessings of Red Ink in Critique Group
In a critique group—where writers submit their writing projects, read, and give comments on each other’s work—ask for what you need. During a critique group meeting I facilitated, a new writer held her paper draft close to her chest and…
Weighing in on Costs and Benefits
When you consider the cost of researching, writing, and sharing family stories and histories, do you also consider the larger benefits? Yes, it will cost our time. Frustration negotiating learning curves. Payments for software, hardware, training, research tools, certified copies…