Want to Involve the Grandkids in Family History? Tip #3

With families gathering for the Holidays, you’ll be able to spend time with the grandkids. Want to get them interested in family history? Make it fun!

front page of the Rockford Register Star newspaper 1 December 2005
Rockford Register Star (Rockford, Illinois), 1 December 2005, page 1

Try this.

Show them the front page of a newspaper from the day they were born.

That’s easy – GenealogyBank’s archive goes back 325 years. They’ll be amazed to see what the news was on the day they were born.

Then go through the newspaper page by page and see what the prices were like, and see what was playing at the movies. Get a feel for life on that day.

Then challenge them to find the front page of the newspapers on the days that their ancestors were born.

montage of the front pages of various newspapers
Source: GenealogyBank.com

Why not save each newspaper and make an album of these pages? You could label them with the name of each ancestor and save them in a scrapbook.

Add a photograph of your ancestor – and a copy of their birth or marriage certificate.

If you found one or two front pages each time your grandkids visit, before you know it you’d have a terrific family history album – which they helped to create – that effectively tells your family’s story and the times in which your ancestors lived.

Genealogy Tip: Want to involve the Grandkids in family history? Tip #3: Make it fun!

Create a family history that will make your history come alive for your grandchildren.

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2 thoughts on “Want to Involve the Grandkids in Family History? Tip #3

  1. Thank you Thomas Kemp for your research on the St. John’s Lutheran Church in Greenwich Village. My ancestors worshiped there when it was St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church.
    Do you have any ideas about a website for the church records of
    St. Matthews Episcopal Church. I am looking for a marriage between 1844-1849. My ancestors lived on Cornelia St and Downing St in Greenwich Village. I have so far been unable to find the depository for the St Matthew Episcopal Church records.
    Loved the pictures-thanks.
    Ann Duncan

  2. Ann – I contacted the Church and they said they would look for you – suggesting that you contact:

    Reverend Carla E. Roland Guzmán
    Rector
    Church of Saint Matthew and Saint Timothy
    26 West 84th Street
    New York, New York 10024
    212-362-6750, x310
    http://www.smstchurch.org

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