Family History

Learn to scan your family photos

Event Date: December 8, 2021, at 10:00 AM

In this session, we learned how to take pictures (of your pictures) with a digital camera, the pros and cons of fee-based digitizing services, and flat-bed scanners.

Family History: Engaging Family Members with Their Ancestors' Stories

Event Date: October 19, 2021, at 11:00 AM

Vicki Gaylord's engaging presentation on strategies she has used to engage family members with their family history.

Family History Interest Group 2021–22 schedule

UMRA member Vicki Gaylord will share ways she has found to engage family members in the family history work she has done when the Family History Interest Group meets in October.

Civil War Ancestors

Event Date: June 16, 2021, at 10:00 AM

In June 2021 I talked to the UMRA Family History Interest Group about how I documented the story of my great grandfather, George Swift, who joined the 3rd Minnesota Regiment at the start of the Civil War in 1861and returned to Minnesota four years later after serving as the drummer boy of the Ohio 69th Regiment.

Will Craig

Starting with a short family story from my Grandmother, I traced and documented the Civil War experiences of my great grandfather, George Swift.

Lynn Anderson

My paternal grandfather Hildum Anselm Anderson was in France during the WWI and in France, Luxembourg, and Germany after WWI...

John Anderson

Using information gathered from family members I have put together a document about my paternal grandfather's family consisting of names, spouse names, progeny and birth dates that includes more than a hundred persons.

Family History—preserving letters

Event Date: April 28, 2021, at 11:00 AM

The UMRA Family History Interest Group meeting on April 28, 2021 focused on Family Letters.

Ron Matross

I wanted to share with my descendants my memories of growing up on the edge of Yellowstone Park.

Jim Lewis

My husband and I helped my mother write her autobiography.

Karen LaBat

I have letters my father wrote to his parents during World War II. He served in the Cannon Company, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.

Gary Engstrand

My parents’ albums, dating from the early 1900s to the 1960s, were falling apart and the pages were yellowing. I put everything on acid-free paper/plastic so I could at least preserve the photos.

Will Craig

…how I've organized photos for my family.

Your Family History

This meeting will be a time for a broad range of questions, answers and discussion. We welcome suggestions for future meetings and would love to hear about what individuals have done/ are doing regarding their family history. 

Organizing Family Photos

Event Date: January 13, 2021, at 10:00 AM

The Family History webinars continued with a third presentation. Craig Swan and Lynn C. Anderson shared some ideas about gaining an overview of your photos and suggestions for labeling, organizing, and preserving both original and digital copies