Collect Momentos for your Family History
If you really want to get a "feel" of your family’s history, you will need to try to get your hands on old family pictures, artifacts and mementos. There is something magical about holding onto something from 50, 100 or 150 years ago. Being able to dig up a reproduction of an old map where your family lived is a notable addition to your family history.

It wasn’t until cousin Bill Mills brought an 1867 map showing the ratepayers of Emily Township, Ontario that we found out my great, great grandfather Joseph Mills had a person named William Mills living on the next farm. After a bit of "detective" work, we found William was Joseph’s brother which led to links to another branch of the family.
Great Grandpa Hall There are numerous histories and historical documents lurking in libraries that can be used to obtain a picture of a township or county. One township book had a public school picture taken at Springmount in 1925, which I had never seen before, of my dad and one of his sisters. Another book had some sketches of farm implements used in the mid to late 1800s. Implements that I’m sure my great, great grandfather must have used on his farm. You should be able to find books with diagrams of clothing, furniture, houses, etc. which your ancestor might have encountered in his or her everyday life. If you use pictures from books, please be careful around items protected by copyright laws.
After my mother passed away, my sister and I looked through the old family photo albums. We laughed over some neat old pictures we had not seen for a while. We were also a bit sad that there were quite a few pictures of people that we did not know. So, if I could give one piece of advice, I would say visit your older family members and document all old pictures.

It creates a warm feeling when you can look at and hold onto pieces of your family’s history. A friend of mine had his father’s war mementos mounted in a large, deep picture frame. It looked absolutely stunning hanging on the wall.

 Who ARE these People??!!
Other sources of great interest can be old letters, diaries, scrapbooks, family bibles, marriage certificates, school reports, yearbooks, cookbooks, pieces of furniture, articles of clothing, jewelry or special items (especially if handed down from generation to generation).  When your parents die, never throw these type of things out – be a pack rack (at least for a little while). You never know what you will find in an old trunk or hope chest.

 When my sister and I were going through mom’s old hope chest after she passed away, we came across a small 6"x 6" piece of cloth with some poorly done needlepoint on it. We both looked at it and thought "Throw it out!" A few months later, my sister was listening to an audiotape I had made with mom a couple of years before she passed away. On the tape, mom mentioned how she still had the very first needlepoint she had ever completed when she was a young girl. It was packed away in the hope chest.

And finally, enough can not be said about documenting your family history.

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