Climbing Your Family Tree

FAMILY-HISTORY ACTIVITIES

Creative Offline Projects for Ancestor Detectors

These projects and activities are perfect for you to do alone, or with members of your family.

Get a notebook or folder to organize your research, and decorate it. Some families may have a special seal, insignia, or even a coat of arms that goes back centuries. Did yours? If not, create one of your own. Draw or use collage materials to show the members of your family and what is important to them.

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Design a personal family tree. You'll find some ideas on this website (and in the book) about different types of family trees. But here again, why not make up your own? Experiment with inventive shapes, unique materials or a 3-D design—and come up with something unique for your family.

Take out old family photo albums and look through them with your relatives. Talk about what you see: Who do you resemble—Physically? Personality-wise? Ask for other's opinions. You may be surprised at how much you look—or think, or act— like a distant relative or one who passed away years ago.

Take a "family heritage tour." If you live close to where your parents or grandparents grew up, ask them to take you on a tour of the "old neighborhood." Maybe you'll get to see where they went to school, played baseball, went ice skating, or had a part-time job.

Start your own personal scrapbook—or box of memories—to keep track of important events in your life. Include photographs, drawings, award certificates, report cards, notes you've written (or received), and other souvenirs of significant moments. By doing this, you'll make the work of your family's future genealogists a bit easier!

Which of your own life stories and personal experiences would you like discovered by people researching your family years from now? Keep track of these in a journal or separate computer file.

Visit an immigrant site. If you live nearby or plan on visiting the New York area, take a trip to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. As you approach the island by boat, you'll get a little feel for what many immigrants must have felt like when they arrived in America. If you don't live near New York, find out if there are other places nearer your home where immigrants entered the United States.

Read first-person stories about immigrant life. Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen is the story of young girl who is the child of an immigrant; the story is well-loved for the way it shows Thanksgiving from the immigrant's point of view. The "Dear America" series includes a number of fictional "diaries" by immigrant girls, including an Irish mill worker in the 1840s (So Far from Home), a Pilgrim girl (A Journey to the New World) and a Jewish immigrant girl (Dreams in the Golden Country). Ask your parents if these stories are similar to your Immigrant ancestors' experiences.

Rent a fiilm about immigration to America. One animated favorite is "An American Tail" (1986) about a young immigrant named Fievel Mousekewitz. Fievel is a mouse—but otherwise, his story resembles that of many people who came to this country in the early 20th century. Seeking freedom from persecution in Russia, Fievel and his family arrive in New York City. They've heard that "There are no cats in America and the streets are paved with cheese." Yet Fievel gets separated from the rest of the Mousekewitzes soon after their arrival. The movie follows their mutual quest to find each other. "Molly's Pilgrim" and some of the "Dear America" books have also been made into TV movies, which you can rent.

Do a gravestone rubbing. It may sound a little weird, but it's actually a great project. At many old cemeteries, the best way to get information from a hard-to-read gravestone is to rub over it with a piece of paper and rubbing wax or a fat, dark crayon. This process is not legal in all states, and in other states you need a permit to do it. So be sure to call the office of the cemetery and ask before you plan on doing it. If you do get permission, please rub gently and respectfully—and clean up everything before you leave. Many web sites have information on how to properly and safely do a rubbing. One good how-to with pictures is at http://amberskyline.com/treasuremaps/t_stn1.html

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