August can be a funny month. Summer is still here, but it is beginning to wind down. The children and grandchildren are getting ready to return to school, vacations are coming to an end, and some of the hottest afternoons are still ahead of us.
That makes August a good month to work on family history.
Some genealogy projects are perfect for a quiet afternoon indoors. Others give us a reason to visit relatives, take a short trip, or spend time sharing family stories with younger generations.
You do not need to finish everything on this list. Choose one or two projects that fit where you are in your research. A few hours spent on a part of your family history that has been neglected can make a real difference.
You can also listen to the Ancestral Findings Podcast while you organize photographs, sort records, or work on your family tree.
1. Organize Your Family Photographs
Most families have photographs waiting to be sorted. They may be in old albums, shoeboxes, envelopes, desk drawers, or folders on a computer or phone.
The hardest part is usually getting started.
Begin with a small group instead of trying to organize every photograph your family owns. Choose one album, one family branch, or one period of time.
As you work, write down everything you know:
- The names of the people in the photograph
- Where it was taken
- The approximate date
- The occasion
- Who owned the original
- How the people were related
Do not assume that future generations will recognize everyone. A face that seems familiar today may be unknown to the family twenty years from now.
This is also a good time to scan older photographs. Save a high-quality copy and keep a second copy somewhere other than your main computer. Give each file a useful name, such as “John-and-Mary-Smith-Ohio-about-1942,” instead of leaving it with a number assigned by the scanner or phone.
Ask older relatives about unidentified photographs while you still have the opportunity. One name written down today may keep a treasured photograph from becoming a group of unknown faces.
2. Make a Family Tree With the Children
Children may be looking for something different to do during the final weeks of summer vacation. A simple family tree project can give them a personal connection to history.
Keep it appropriate for their ages. Younger children can draw a tree and add the names or photographs of parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Older children can help find ancestral hometowns on a map, read census records, or arrange family events in order.
You could also let each child choose one ancestor to learn about. Help them find out where that person lived, what kind of work he or she did, and what family life may have been like.
The goal is not to give children a long list of names and dates to memorize. Help them understand that their ancestors were real people.
Tell them about the grandmother who made biscuits every Sunday morning, the uncle who served in the military, or the family that packed everything they owned and moved to another state. Those are often the details children remember.
A family tree made during one summer afternoon may become something they keep for years.
3. Visit and Interview an Older Relative
Family stories can disappear much faster than records.
August may be a good time to visit an older parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, or longtime family friend. Bring a few photographs or family names to help get the conversation started.
Try not to make the visit feel like a formal interview. Sit down, talk, and allow one memory to lead to another.
You might ask:
- What was your childhood home like?
- What did your parents do for work?
- What meals did your family eat?
- How did your family celebrate birthdays and holidays?
- Who were the relatives you saw most often?
- What stories did your grandparents tell?
- What do you remember about school?
- How did you meet your husband or wife?
- Which family traditions mattered most to you?
Record the conversation with the person’s permission. A phone can preserve the voice, laughter, pauses, and expressions that cannot be captured in written notes.
Listen for names, places, churches, schools, businesses, and events that may help with later research. Do not stop the person every time a date seems uncertain. Let the story finish, then return to the details afterward.
Memories may not always be exact, but they can provide clues that never appear in official records.
4. Take a Genealogy Day Trip
A genealogy trip does not have to be a long vacation. You may have an ancestral town or county within an hour or two of your home.
Spend a day visiting places connected to your family. Depending on the area, you might stop at:
- A cemetery
- A courthouse
- A public library
- A local historical or genealogical society
- A family church
- An old neighborhood
- A former workplace
- A school attended by relatives
- A farm or piece of family property
Do some planning before leaving. Check business hours, courthouse access, cemetery rules, and whether appointments are required. Write down the people and records you hope to investigate.
Take photographs of buildings, roads, cemetery entrances, historical markers, and the surrounding area. A close photograph of a gravestone is useful, but a wider photograph showing where it stands in the cemetery can be helpful too.
Pay attention to the land. Is it mountainous, flat, wooded, or near a river? How far was the family home from town? Were there churches, mills, railroads, factories, or mines nearby?
Seeing the place where your ancestors lived can help you understand parts of their lives that records do not fully explain.
5. Create a Family History Scrapbook
A scrapbook can bring photographs, records, newspaper clippings, maps, letters, recipes, and family stories together in a form relatives will enjoy.
Choose a clear subject. Your scrapbook might focus on:
- One couple
- One family branch
- A military ancestor
- Family weddings
- An old family home
- An ancestral hometown
- Several generations of mothers or fathers
- A family business
- Holiday traditions
- School photographs
Use copies of valuable originals rather than attaching irreplaceable records directly to the pages. Include names, dates, locations, and short explanations so future readers will understand why each item matters.
Do not worry about making every page perfect. Preserving the information is more important than decorations.
You can also create a digital scrapbook and print copies for several relatives. This allows family members to enjoy the photographs and documents without risking the originals.
A scrapbook can make a meaningful Christmas or birthday gift. It is also a good way to bring scattered pieces of family history together in one place.
6. Begin Writing Your Family History
Many genealogists plan to write their family history someday. The size of the project often keeps them from beginning.
Do not start by trying to write an entire book. Begin with one person, one family, or one event.
Write about your grandparents’ marriage, your father’s military service, your family’s move to another state, or the history of a house where several generations lived.
Start with what you know, then add details from the records. Explain where the family lived, what work they did, which relatives lived nearby, and what was happening in the community.
Family history is more than births, marriages, and deaths. Those facts give you the framework, but everyday details help readers understand the people.
What did the family eat? Where did the children attend school? Which church did they attend? Did they own land? Were they farmers, merchants, laborers, teachers, or tradesmen? Who lived next door?
Write as though you are explaining the family to a relative sitting across the table. It does not need to sound like a school textbook.
Even two or three pages are a beginning. Once the first family story is written, the next one is usually easier.
7. Research a Neglected Family Branch
Most family trees have at least one branch that has received less attention than the others.
Perhaps you have spent years researching your father’s family but know little about your mother’s ancestors. Maybe you have followed your direct ancestors while overlooking their brothers and sisters.
Choose one neglected person or family and review what you already have.
Look carefully at every document. Pay attention to witnesses, neighbors, informants, sponsors, bondsmen, and people buried nearby. They may have been relatives or close family friends.
Make a simple research plan that includes:
- What you already know
- Which facts are supported by records
- Which details come only from family stories
- What questions remain unanswered
- Which records may help answer those questions
Researching siblings can be especially helpful. A brother’s obituary may name the parents. A sister’s marriage record may identify the family’s hometown. A widowed mother may be found living with one of her children in the census.
Sometimes the best way to learn about an ancestor is to research the people around that person.
8. Start Making Family History Gifts
Christmas may seem far away, but family history gifts often take longer to prepare than expected.
August gives you time to gather photographs, verify names, correct dates, and order printed items without rushing.
Possible gifts include:
- A framed ancestral photograph
- A small family history book
- A printed family tree
- A calendar with family photographs and birthdays
- A collection of family recipes
- A photograph album
- A recording of family interviews
- Copies of old letters
- A map showing ancestral hometowns
- A memorial booklet about a parent or grandparent
Think about the person receiving the gift. A cousin who enjoys detailed research may appreciate a documented family history. A young grandchild may enjoy a simple photograph book with short stories.
Check every name and date before ordering anything. Spelling mistakes have a way of becoming noticeable as soon as the finished copy arrives.
A family history gift does not need to be large or expensive. One restored photograph with a short family story may mean more than something purchased at a store.
9. Cook an Old Family Recipe
Recipes belong in our family histories too.
Look through handwritten recipe cards, church cookbooks, old notebooks, and boxes of family papers. Choose a dish connected to a parent, grandparent, or earlier generation and make it for the family.
As you prepare it, talk about the person who made it. Where did the recipe come from? Was it served on Sundays, holidays, or special occasions? Did the cook measure everything carefully, or did she simply know how much to add?
Older recipes sometimes need a little interpretation. Oven temperatures, package sizes, ingredients, and kitchen equipment have changed. Make notes about any adjustments you make.
Photograph the original recipe card, especially when it is written in a relative’s handwriting. Then type a copy so the instructions remain easy to read.
You might eventually create a family cookbook containing recipes, photographs, and short memories about the people connected to each dish.
The smell or taste of a familiar food may bring back family stories that no one has discussed in years.
10. Catch Up on Your Genealogy Reading
Most genealogists have books, magazines, articles, newsletters, or research guides they have been meaning to read.
Choose one or two rather than trying to finish a large stack.
You might read a local history of an ancestral county, a guide to courthouse records, a history of a military unit, or a book about a church or religious group connected to your ancestors.
Local histories can be especially useful. Even when your ancestor is not named, the book may explain the roads, businesses, churches, weather events, illnesses, and migration patterns that affected the family.
Keep a notebook nearby. Write down record collections to investigate, unfamiliar terms to look up, and ideas that may apply to your own research.
Learning how a particular record was created may even help you understand a document you found years ago but never fully examined.
Choose One Project and Begin
You do not have to finish your entire family history this August.
Organize one box of photographs. Interview one relative. Write one family story. Visit one cemetery. Try one old recipe. Research one person who has been waiting patiently in your files.
Small projects add up.
By the end of the month, you may have preserved someone’s voice, identified a photograph, found a new research direction, or made something your family will value for many years.
Which genealogy project will you work on this August?
