A Family Tree Gathering

As summer approaches, many thoughts turn to family gatherings and family reunions. A fun reunion is to do a family tree gathering. A family tree gathering is when the family gathers to honor and learn about their ancestors. FamilySearch Blog’s article, “Five Easy Ways to Enrich Your Family Reunion,” has some great ideas for a family tree gathering reunion.

Share Family Stories
One family decided to spotlight six people. The descendants of these people were given a few months to prepare a five to ten-minute presentation about their assigned person. Some did collages, slideshows, videos, or told stories that were full of humor and retrospect.

Share Family Photos
Before the family reunion, organizers called everyone to bring their photo albums, scrapbooks, and family photos. They set up photo viewing stations where family members could go from booth to booth to see the photos brought. The sharing of photos is a great time to scan the photos and have them uploaded to the memories section of FamilySearch.

Some families have put the photos onto cardstock and made a deck of memory cards or find a match. If someone found a match, they could earn extra points for sharing a story of the ancestor pictured on the card.

Perform Family Skits
A skit could be about family love stories or other fun memories from ancestors. Those families that don’t care for skits could assign out to everyone over sixteen a couple to research and share their research with the other members of the family. These stories can be collected and put into a binder to share with everyone and FamilySearch.

Capture Oral Histories
Bring interview prompts and divide up into groups to interview the senior members of the family. Make sure that each person in each group gets to ask a question. Be sure to record these interviews and then transcribe them to share with the other family members and be sure to share these histories on FamilySearch.

Highlight Heirlooms
Before the reunion, ask those who have heirlooms if they could bring them to the reunion and share the story behind them. Be sure and take pictures and share the stories with members of the family and on FamilySearch.

There are many more ideas. As you gather for your family reunions this summer, think of having a family tree gathering. A family tree gathering is a fun way to introduce your family members to their ancestors.