TRAVEL OPENS YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD! TRY A ‘TRAVEL IDEA’ TO INSPIRE CHILDREN TO LOVE FAMILY HISTORY!

Family history trips are among the best and most rewarding and make vacations fun and meaningful. While traveling, you can learn about and experience the culture of the area. Potential places to visit include churches, cemeteries, places ancestors lived or worked, historical societies and fun local spots. A generations project can be done on such a trip. The trip can be within the same country where you live or in a different country. Going to places where ancestors lived connects children to them. Returning to your family’s homeland is a feeling unlike any other. If you have created maps associated with ancestors, use them to find places to go. Traveling to an ancestor’s homeland can create a unique experience and a feeling of returning home. Children can be involved in choosing the location and planning the trip, which will deepen their appreciation for the experience.

Historically, many important life events took place in churches. Depending on the years your ancestors were alive and the countries they lived in, it may be possible to find a church listed on a birth, christening, marriage or burial record. The church may still be standing and in use. Many churches have websites and can be contacted by phone or email for church service times or visiting hours. If your travel schedule does not coincide with the hours the church is open, it may be possible to make an appointment to meet someone and see the church. Some old churches have brochures or books of their history available for free or purchase. This would be a great addition to your family history library.

*VISIT A FAMILY HISTORY CENTER OR LIBRARY*

Search online for a genealogical society that specializes in the state or country that your ancestors are from. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has family history centers at many of their church buildings. There are family history consultants at these locations who are happy to help anyone who is looking for help with research for free. The Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah has an enormous collection of resources from all over the world.

Visiting living relatives can help you strengthen relationships with them as well as help you to learn more about those who are deceased. You may have the opportunity to hear stories, do a generations project, go through old boxes and uncover family treasures, or interview them. Everyone, even siblings, have different perspectives and different memories. The more relatives’ you can meet, ask questions or interview, the more you will learn.

Historical societies and museums have great information about the history of the places where ancestors lived and are located in many cities or towns throughout the United States and internationally. In some locations there are living museums in which people act as if they were from that area during a specific time period. If any of your ancestors were well-known or influential in the area, it may be possible to find information or pictures of them. Check the hours before visiting since some are only open on a few days of the week. If it is not possible to visit in person, many historical societies and museums can be contacted by phone or email to see if they have information you need.

Before the visit:

Plan what you will do there.

Will you do a grave rubbing? Bring crayons and paper.
Will you leave flowers or something special on the grave? Get what you need.
Will you read or talk about memories or stories about your ancestor? Bring the stories on your device or a paper copy.
Will you take pictures? Make sure your phone is charged and you have space.

Find the plot.

Do as much research ahead of your trip as you can. Here are 5 ways to find the plot location. 1. Ask a relative. 2. Find a death or burial record. 3. Search billiongraves.com. If your ancestors gravestone has been photographed by someone with the BillionGraves app then that photo was automatically tagged with GPS coordinates and plotted on a satellite map. Simply open the BillionGraves app on your smartphone, select “Find Headstones”, type in the name of the person you are looking for, and if that cemetery has been documented with the BillionGraves app, that particular gravestone will be marked on a map with an orange dot. You can walk straight to the plot! 4. Find a map of the graveyard online, posted at the cemetery or in a church next to the cemetery and look for the gravestone. 5. Call the cemetery ahead of time for help finding the location. There may be cemeteries that you will need to contact well in advance.

When you arrive:

Go over etiquette.

Review how to behave at a cemetery. There are ways to show respect that are not always known and understood. If rules are posted at the cemetery, read and follow them.
Here are some other things to remember: do not touch gravestones if they are not your family’s; drive slowly; respect other mourners you may see; do not remove anything from a grave that is not your relatives’, even if they are dead flowers; do not leave any trash; treat the graves of non-family members as you would want the graves of your family members treated.

*TAKE PHOTOS OF GRAVESTONES FOR BILLIONGRAVES*

Idea from BIllionGraves.com

If headstones could talk, they would have a lot of stories to tell. But they can't, so BillionGraves is the next best thing. As gravestones deteriorate, those stories are quickly fading away. We need to capture them before it's too late.

BillionGraves' goal is to preserve cemetery data and make it readily available for genealogical research to honor our ancestors and loved ones. Then, even if a loved one's gravestone is damaged or worn by time, the invaluable information recorded at their final resting place will still be available.

BillionGraves is the world's largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource. As you take photos with the BillionGraves app, each gravestone is automatically marked with a GPS location. The data is then made readily available at BillionGraves.com for free for millions of families around the globe for generations to come.

Getting Started:

1. Download the BillionGraves app to your smartphone by clicking for iPhone/iPad or Android here. 2. Create a free account on the app or at BillionGraves.com. 3. In the app, click on "take pictures" to begin taking photos in your local cemetery. The GPS location will automatically be recorded. 4. Beginners can usually take about 250 photos per hour. That is about 1 photo every 15 seconds. Please try to move along at that pace to help this project reach its goal! :) 5. When finished, connect to Wi-Fi and upload cemetery photos. 6. Repeat! :)

Linking Photos with the BillionGraves App

If a gravestone has data on more than one side (for example, parents on one side and children on the other side) there is a way to link them together. Just click on the chain icon in the corner of your screen between each photo that you would like to link (front side, chain icon, back side).

You can use this linking feature for obelisks that have data on four sides. You can also use it to link a large gravestone with a family surname on it to nearby smaller gravestones with the family member's first names on them.

Here are some ideas to make cemetery documentation fun:

Partners

Divide into pairs. One person photographs a row and then leapfrogs over the other person's row to start a new row. That makes it easy to talk to one another while you are working.
Have each person choose a partner. Race each other down the row, taking photos (they still need to be good quality though). The first person to get to the end of the row gets a piece of candy and helps the other person finish their row. Then they move to two new rows.

Children

To include young children or those without smartphones, give them a towel or brush to remove grass clippings and dirt from gravestones as they work in front of someone else who is taking photos.

Teams, Large Groups, or Family Reunions

Divide into two teams. Whichever team takes the most photos at the cemetery by the end of the event wins. The losers prepare dinner for the winners the following week. Or the losers sing a song or do a dance for the winners.
Make a weekend of it! Hold a meeting on a Friday evening to help your group download the app and show them how to use it. On Saturday morning, take photos at the cemetery. Have lunch. On Saturday afternoon, take more photos or transcribe the data. On Sunday afternoon, hold a meeting to share your experiences with one another.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE BELOW!