Family History Month Challenge Day Nineteen:

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 19? Here it is: Do something crafty with all that research. Get it out of the books and off the computer and create something you can hang on a wall. If you google family history art, or family tree gifts, you will see tons of ideas for creating something with your family tree. And Pinterest is sure to be full of great suggestions.  Pick something, and be sure to share it with us when you’re finished!

Family History Month Challenge Day Eighteen: Document Heirlooms

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 18? Here it is: Document your family heirlooms. Many of us have anything from trinkets to furniture that have been passed down to us, whether from our own parents or from our second great grandparents. Have you taken the time write up what it is, who it is from, why it is important, and snap some pictures?

Along those same lines, do you have them insured? How devastated would you be if something happened to it and you didn’t have anything left to show the family?

Family History Month Challenge Day Seventeen: Make a Meme

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 17? Here it is: For you tech savvy folks, make a geneameme to share with the world. Got a favorite genealogy faux pas? Make it funny. Got a tip? create a memorable meme to illustrate it. Have fun-we all know the dark, silly side of what we love so much.

Federation of Genealogical societies and Global Family Reunion join forces for the largest family reunion in history

FGS Marshals Its Hundreds of Member Societies to Help Global Family Reunion Fight Alzheimer’s

October 17, 2014 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and the Global Family Reunion announced today their partnership for the largest family reunion in history to be held June 6, 2015 on the site of the legendary 1964 New York’s World Fair to benefit Alzheimer’s research, education, and training.

FGS will facilitate the organization of Global Family Reunion branch parties at many of its member societies across the United States and around the world.

As a leader in the family history community, FGS is delighted to be working with the Global Family Reunion,” said FGS President D. Joshua Taylor. “As genealogy increases in popularity, events like the Global Family Reunion give our member societies the chance to show the world the best of the best. We couldn’t be happier to join Mr. Jacobs and his search for cousins across the world to benefit such a worthy cause.”

Brainchild of best-selling author and three-time TED talk speaker, A.J. Jacobs, the Global Family Reunion will host the event in New York. It will include talks, family history exhibits, the world’s largest family photo, other family reunion activities as well as live-streaming to branch parties located all over the world.

I’m thrilled the Global Family Reunion and the Federation of Genealogical Societies have formed a partnership. I can’t wait to work with FGS and its wonderful member societies on this project to spread the word to all members of the human family about how fun and fascinating genealogy is,” said Global Family Reunion Founder A.J. Jacobs. “Plus, I’m very, very distant cousins with everyone on the FGS team, so it’s all in the family.”

The talks and presentations will feature a wide range of fascinating experts and entertainers including Academy Award-nominated director of Supersize Me Morgan Spurlock, the 41st President of the United States George H.W. Bush (via video), Peabody Award-winning correspondent Scott Simon, leading population geneticist and director of National Geographic’s Genographic Project Spencer Wells, and Federation of Genealogical Societies President D. Joshua Taylor.

fgsAbout the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS)

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) was founded in 1976 and represents the members of hundreds of genealogical societies. FGS links the genealogical community by helping genealogical societies and family history enthusiasts strengthen and grow through online resources, FGS FORUM magazine, and through its annual national conference which provides four days of excellent learning opportunities for both societies and family history enthusiasts. To learn more about FGS visit fgs.org. To learn more about the next annual conference to be held in Salt Lake City, UT, visit fgsconference.org. Also, find FGS on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FGSgenealogy, on Twitter @FGSgenealogy and on the FGS Voice blog at https://voice.fgs.org.

GFRlogo2_zps6b204ee8About Global Family Reunion

The Global Family Reunion is an event conceived by bestselling author A.J. Jacobs. It will include presentations by celebrities, genealogists, and famous scientists, music, comedy, games, interactive exhibits and food. Jacobs became fascinated with the idea that every person on Earth is related to every other after entering his name in several genealogy websites and finding he was connected to people all over the globe. “Once we realize we’re all related,” he says, “we can solve the big problems, like Alzheimer’s”. He is using the event to collect donations, which will be distributed to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and the Alzheimer’s Association NYC Chapter. The Global Family Reunion will be the topic of Jacobs’ next book and the subject of a documentary by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me). Among those participating are actor Daniel Radcliffe, President George H.W. Bush and comedian Nick Kroll. The event has already been featured in the New York Times, People Magazine, NPR and Good Morning America. If you are interested in attending, please see the event website at globalfamilyreunion.com for more information. Plus, take a few minutes and watch Jacobs’ TED talk The world’s largest family reunion…we’re all invited!

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Contact: Federation of Genealogical Societies
Caroline Pointer, Marketing & Publicity Chair
phone: +1 (888) 347-1500
marketing@fgs.org

Global Family Reunion

A.J. Jacobs

aj@ajjacobs.com

info@worldfamily.us

“I Am A Cousin”: Angel Hundley

Meet Cousin Angel

Angel Hundley

Angel is our GFR Branch Party Liaison and we are thrilled to have her as part of our Team.  She is helping people coordinate their own local Branch Parties (satellite events) in conjunction with the Global Family Reunion that will take place in New York City! Stay tuned for more details on those soon.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for work? Fun? Married? Kids? You get the idea.

I live in Huntsville, Alabama with my husband and our two incredible, creative daughters. My husband and I own two small businesses: A children’s franchise-The Little Gym of Huntsville and a small engineering firm-Zero Point Frontiers. Full disclosure, I mostly stick to leading the Serious Fun at our gym and let him worry about the rocket science. Divide and conquer you know…

2. What are your thoughts on the Global Family Reunion? Will you be attending?

My thoughts are that it is going to be the most awesome, epic party ever and that you all need to attend. If you can’t make the main party, look for a Branch Party near you. Or host a Branch Party near you. I can even help you with that…
And yes, I will be attending the main Reunion with my 15-year-old niece Allison. We might let some of our other family come too.

3. Favorite color? Favorite food? Left-handed or right-handed? Do you like to have breakfast for dinner? Favorite book? Movie? TV show? Song/band? Quote?

Green. Asian. Right-handed. No, I like to have dinner for breakfast. The Year of Living Biblically. LA Story. Doctor Who. U2. “Let’s face it, a frog without a sense of humor is a green lump.” -Kermit

4. If you could get AJ to invite one person to the Global Family Reunion, who would it be and why?

Joss Whedon. Definitely Joss Whedon. The Cabin in the Woods- best. movie. ending. ever. Deserves an invitation to our party for that effort alone.

Wait, no- Dolly Parton. I would LOVE to hang out with Dolly at a family reunion. Because she is Dolly Parton. No other explanation needed really.

So Dolly Parton or Joss Whedon. Or maybe I could impose on AJ to invite two people for me. I have been putting in a lot of volunteer hours on this project…

5. AJ’s idea is that if the people of the world could see how interconnected we all are maybe we would be a little nicer to one another. What do you think about that?

I’m not sure if it will make everyone nicer, but I hope it makes everyone feel a little more obligated to one another. For me, that’s what family is about ultimately. You help and support your family. Even when you don’t feel like being nice to them. Because they are your family. So I hope when people widen their circles of kinship, they will realize that we are all in this together. I’d like to see our global family have meaningful discussions about what responsibilities we have for one another. What does kinship really require? Since we are all connected, at what point do we need to act for/on others behalf? Even the others who might live on the opposite side of the world. If we don’t take care of our family, who will?

6. If you could share one message with your 7 billion cousins what would it be?

I would share these words by Wayne B. Arnason:
Take courage friends.
The way is often hard, the path is never clear,
and the stakes are very high.
Take courage.
For deep down, there is another truth:
you are not alone.

Family History Month Challenge Day Sixteen: Catch up with the Living

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 16? Here it is: Update your current people records. We get so caught up with finding our ancestors we forget about the family happenings all around us. Have you got all the recent births, deaths, and marriages written down somewhere? Do it! Make some calls; family historians have to document that which will be history later, too.

Family History Month Challenge Day Fifteen: Help Someone Else!

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 15? Here it is: Help someone else with one of their research. A fun way to do this right now is to offer to help someone via the Global Family Reunion’s Connect for the Cure. A lot of people want to know more about their ancestry, and right now there are prizes involved 🙂

Family History Month Challenge Day Fourteen: Family Photo!

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 14? Here it is: Get a family photo taken. It is easy to forget to have this done, but think about how much you treasure those family photos you find in your research.  Make sure you write on the back or digitally tag everyone so someone can identify everyone later.

Family History Month Challenge Day Thirteen: Honor Your Veterans

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 13? Here it is: Honor the veterans in your family. Make sure those who are gone have clean headstones areas and a flag to mark them. If you’re on a collaborative site, be sure to add them to any groups and put notations on their profile to honor their service. 

Family History Month Challenge Day Twelve: Send an Email

by Eowyn Langholf and Abby Glann
Hi Cousins!

gfr challengeOctober is Family History Month so for fun we’re giving a challenge every day of the month relating to ways you can celebrate your family, your lineage and your heritage!

Ready for Day 12? Here it is: Email that person who you noticed posted a shared family tree on the internet. Introduce yourself, ask them how they got started in genealogy, find out more about their leg of the family, and tell them about yours. Sharing in the research opens so many doors.

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