Crestleaf.com’s Guess My Family Heritage Blogathon Contest

Time for some fun! Crestleaf is having a contest and I'm entering it. Can you guess my ancestral heritage from this photo of my ancestors? I'm not giving you any clues as to whether this is my dad's side or my mom's.

 

Your part in this is just for fun. I'm descended from the older couple in this photo and one of their children. Can you guess which child? Can you guess the heritage? I am curious who can correctly guess my heritage but I have no prize for correct answers. 

See the contest announcement on the Crestleaf blog. If you have a blog you can enter too.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told WINNERS

1917. Mother in my grandmother's arms. Godfrey my future step-father is standing in front of the family

Very cool!! My story about my mother and step-father won in The Greatest Love Story Ever Told contest. Read about it here and also read the other stories of #2 and #3

Thank you Crestleaf for a fun contest!

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

Crestleaf is looking for the "Greatest Love Story Ever Told" for Valentine's Day. Details are on their blog at http://crestleaf.com/blog/call-submissions-greatest-love-story-ever-told/

Here's what they had to say about this fun event:

In the lead up to Valentine's Day, we thought it would be fun to hear some inspiring love stories from your family, relatives or even friends you know. Just a great way to warm up the cold winter months with some inspiring and heart-warming stories.

1916. Mother in Grandma's arms and Godfrey standing in front of them

I submitted the story of my mother and her second husband Godfrey. They met in 1916 when mother was a few months old and were often together as children. As a teenager Godfrey lived with my mother's parents and fell in love with her. He left town without telling her because he wanted to find work, save his  money and come back and propose. When he came back my mother was engaged to my father so once again Godfrey left without saying a word. They lost touch after that.

50 years later in 1985 they accidentally ended up in the same town in Florida for the winter and after Godfrey's wife died, he confessed his love for my mother. She then confessed that she too had loved him way back in 1934.  

They were together from that date until Godfrey's death in 1995. Do you have a story to tell? Why not submit it to Crestleaf? It's a fun activity!

Helpful Relationship Chart on Crestleaf

Do the terms "Second cousin twice removed" or "grand-aunt" confuse the heck out of you? 

Image courtesy of Crestleaf.com

Crestleaf has released a helpful chart and infographic to help people see how they're related to other family members and their relationship to them in their family tree. 

It's easy to use - check it out at 

http://crestleaf.com/blog/relative-family-relationship-chart/P

Crestleaf is having a Scavenger Hunt

Crestleaf, a leading provider of free genealogy information and a free online collaboration tool for families to document their family history, is giving away a $250 Amazon gift card to one blogger who creates the most creative surname post this holiday season.

See the contest rules at http://crestleaf.com/blog/join-crestleaf-surname-scavenger-hunt/ 

It sounds like fun! 

Telling Your Family Story on Crestleaf

Telling Your Family Story on Crestleaf

If you're looking for a place to create an online family tree with photos, the website Crestleaf might just suit your needs.

 The company states that 

Crestleaf is a free online family tree builder that has been used by tens of thousands of people to document their family history.  Along with the family tree tool, we provide free access to 90 Million+ historical records. 

 

So I checked Crestleaf out and it looks intriguing.

When you go to the website you have the option of using your Facebook login or signing up with an email account. 

Once logged in you can search for records of ancestors but be forewarned that Crestleaf is in beta mode and only has the S.S.D.I. death records at present. I decided to create a family tree.

Crestleaf walks you through this process and when you have completed a few names, you see a note that you are being given free space for 250 photos. You also have the option to purchase more space.

Here is what a Crestleaf representative told me about this option:

Users can upload up to 1 GB of photos (about 250 old photos).  In the future,  users will be able to get more storage in one of two ways:

1) Invite your relatives to collaborate with you on your tree - we'll give you more free storage for each relative that joins.
2) Upgrade to a paid account for a nominal fee (this fee amount has not yet been finalized)

My readers know that I am a huge fan of telling and preserving family stories and Crestleaf indicated that they are focusing on that same goal

We're building a place where users can add all of that information into one place where they can tell their family's story.  So, our future focus will be less on adding more historic records and more on improving the ability to tell your story via the family tree and through historic photos 

I suggest you give Crestleaf a try. They also have a blog with some interesting articles.