At the RootsTech genealogy conference in Salt Lake City a few weeks ago, I spent my time in the Ancestry.com booth talking with many of our customers face to face.  I helped people with genealogy research challenges, answered questions about Family Tree Maker, and, most importantly, shared information about MyCanvas.

I was amazed at how many of our long time Ancestry.com customers have never heard of MyCanvas.  Many of them said this was exactly what they were looking for and were so excited to hear that this program was available to them.  The response was overwhelming!

Due to that great experience, I realized there might be more of you unaware of MyCanvas and the tools available for you to publish and share your family history.  Allow me to share.

MyCanvas provides a way for you to create beautiful family history books and family tree posters to share with your family.  Using the information from your online tree on Ancestry.com, a simple book or poster is created that you can then customize any way you choose.

To access MyCanvas, click the Publish button on Ancestry.com.

Creating books and posters is free, so you can use it even if you don’t have a current Ancestry.com subscription.  Start a project by importing information, documents and pictures from your online Ancestry.com tree.  You can then add more generations, stories, or pictures.  There are also thousands of backgrounds and embellishments available to enhance your family story and make it truly your own.

Can’t finish your project right away?  Want to do just a little more research before printing?  No problem.  Any projects you start remain in your account until you choose to delete them.

I hope you will take a little time this weekend to try out MyCanvas.  And, if you have any questions along the way, just leave a comment for me here.

Need some help getting started on your family history book?  Check out this article or watch this video.

Don’t wait until you are finished!

If you wait until you are “finished” with your genealogy, you will never have anything to share. Your genealogy will never be “done.” I inherited a lot of my family history and have been actively working on it for at least a couple of decades. After all that time, I’ve only identified 328 of the 1022 people responsible for my existence in the last 9 generations. (Here’s how that math works.)

My advice to you?  Pick one grandparent or great-grandparent and focus on learning everything you can about them and two or three generations of their ancestors. Then share what you’ve learned with the rest of your family. The sooner, the better!

Less is best!

When you do share, do so in “bite-sized pieces.” Don’t overwhelm non-genealogists with too many charts and forms. Take the time to write a story or two about each ancestor based on what you’ve learned about their lives. Add pictures. Keep it to just four or five generations.

In the live chat afterwards and in my email box this afternoon there were lots of really great ideas shared about WHY you might want to create a family history chart or book. (And we all know that if we have a reason and a deadline we are more likely to get it done.) Here are just a few of those great reasons:

• Create a giant wall chart for a family reunion so everyone knows where they fit into the family.
• One book about a grandparents ancestors makes an easy Christmas gift for all the siblings and cousins.
• When there is a new baby born into the family create a chart to show their lineage.
• A chart showing three or four generations of the new couple makes a great wedding present.
• A military focused book honoring all those in the family who have served would make a great memorial.
• Having a goal to create a book is going to force me to focus on making one section of my family tree as complete and as well documented as possible.
• We should share more and more often. You never know when you are going to create another genealogist in the family.

What’s your reason?

Until next time – Have fun climbing your family tree!