How did you first get interested in family history? A few Treelines storytellers have already shared their stories:
- Tammy’s family was found by distant relative researching her father’s forebears
- Marla wondered about the grandfather she had never met
- Taneya saw the family plot for the first time after her aunt died
Now it’s your turn! However you caught the bug, we at Treelines want to hear the story. Take a break from telling the stories of your ancestors and tell us about yourself and how you started on this amazing genealogical journey!
Maureen might examine your mystery photographs!
- Share your story publicly on the Treelines site through
July 19July 21
- Entries will be judged by Tammy Hepps, the founder of Treelines, and Maureen Taylor, the internationally recognized photo identification and family history expert
- Three winners will each win personal consultations with Maureen! Maureen believes every photo tells a story. She’s discovered how a single photo can unlock a family mystery, break down a research brick wall, or reveal a lost family story. Now’s your chance to find out more about your photos!
We’re looking for the stories that best capture the fun, wonder, self-discovery, and, well, increasing obsessiveness of our beloved hobby. We’re also looking for stories that are well-written, illustrated with captivating photographs, and take full advantage of the Treelines storybuilder’s capabilities.*
If you’re new to Treelines, you should read our basic user guide and our family tree guide to get familiar with all the different capabilities of the tool. Make sure your story incorporates lots of pictures and is accompanied by great Treelines with the relevant people and dates from your family tree.
To enter:
- Become a registered user of Treelines
- Write your story using the Treelines storybuilder. One way to launch the storybuilder is to click the green “Enter now” button on the “Getting Started Stories” page.
- When you publish the story, mark it as public and select the “Getting Started Stories” contest as shown below:
- Confirm your entry has been received by making sure it appears on the “Getting Started Stories” page
We can’t wait to read all your fabulous stories! Have fun, and good luck!
* Full rules available here. Please contact us with any questions.
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My cousin, Sister Angela Feeney, PBVM. a life-long history teacher, produced a draft of her history of our Feeney forebears in 1972, the year I graduated from school. Her stories made me realize that I knew next to nothing about my Coleman ancestors. Coincidentally, I now had a lot more free time than I knew what to do with. Furthermore, we were living in Washington, DC, with its National Archives. That combination of interest, time, and archives access proved fruitful. I soon learned why stories were never told about the Coleman family, and I learned even more stories about the Feeney family. Being a scientist, I listened to the stories with a skeptical ear, but my research these past 40 years has shown that each story has validated truth in it, not all truth, but enough to open up new doors to contact more descendants of our immigrant ancestors. Sister Angela printed her family history for the American Bicentennial in 1976, and I reprinted it in 1999 augmented with numerous 19th century photos and many more stories and details of the early years of the Feeneys in America as well as stories of a trip Sister Angela and I took to visit our ancestors’ parish in Dysart, Co. Roscommon, Ireland. And the story goes on, even after 45 years of research there is so much more to discover, even 14 years after the book as we now have connections with branches that never left Ireland to DNA data to satisfy the skeptic’s mind.
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