I have only produced one "family history" book. It was for my grandmother's 100th Birthday Party in 1995. It turned out surprisingly well especially since I was a real newbie then. I handled the research and collecting photos (easy part) and wrote the text (hard part) and then shipped everything to my sister who produced the book. She did an amazing job matching photos to text and used a software package that made the whole thing look very professional. My recommendations Put in lots of photos Put all the lists at the back - all the begats, the census details, family charts, etc. Only hard core family history nuts are interested in those. Try to come up with a theme or thread that ties all these people together - it will make writing the story easier. My next book will be for my husband's family. His mother refers to the family background as Heinz 57. In any event, he comes from a long line of wonderful cooks so it will be a cookbook - with recipes tied to the various branches from around the world. Quite an inspired idea - now to actually do it. Find the most technically capable person in the family to help. These days you can also produce a DVD with the photos, music and voice over. Good luck, Susan McPhedran Ontario - where we are having a very English summer - rain, rain and more rain.

Thank you Susan. This is a wonderful formula . Dear Listers, I have partly accomplished my mission. On Friday I printed out on 160 gm cream paper the Ancestor report for Yonah which went back about 10 or 11 generations on different sides including his maternal grandparents and great grandparents. I did it in boxes and it covered about 12 pages. The pages were stuck together with double sided tape and now fold down and sideways into one size a 4. I then did a Report from his ancestors on the Rodrigues Ribeiro : Hart: Gelbberg: Cohen from S. Africa sides. and joined them up so that they opened down. I fitted them all into a nice plastic see through button down envelope. As I have so much more to put into the tree, this will have to be updated and I will also put the whole tree onto a CDRom or a memory stick for him. I didn't have enough time to sort or to paste photographs but managed to put a small photograph with double sided tape onto the Grandparents etc tree. These were of my parents and one set of grandparents. It was all a bit of a rush, but there will be more to come. What was lovely today was to be with all the children ( except my daughter in US who is coming next week) and young cousins and grandchildren, for lunch and tea for Yona's Jewish birthday. The house was full of family, not only on paper but lively, in and out of the house and garden. On Monday he will be called up in our synaogogue for the first time. With many thanks for your help a;nod suggestions, Louise thank you everyone for your help and suggestions, With best wishes, Louise.--- Original Message ----- From: "Susan McPhedran" <smcphedran@sympatico.ca> To: <british-jewry@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 1:12 PM Subject: [BRITISH-JEWRY] Putting down family tree > > I have only produced one "family history" book. It was for my > grandmother's > 100th Birthday Party in 1995. It turned out surprisingly well especially > since I was a real newbie then. I handled the research and collecting > photos (easy part) and wrote the text (hard part) and then shipped > everything to my sister who produced the book. She did an amazing job > matching photos to text and used a software package that made the whole > thing look very professional. > > My recommendations > Put in lots of photos > Put all the lists at the back - all the begats, the census details, family > charts, etc. Only hard core family history nuts are interested in those. > > Try to come up with a theme or thread that ties all these people > together - > it will make writing the story easier. My next book will be for my > husband's > family. His mother refers to the family background as Heinz 57. In any > event, he comes from a long line of wonderful cooks so it will be a > cookbook > - with recipes tied to the various branches from around the world. Quite > an > inspired idea - now to actually do it. > > Find the most technically capable person in the family to help. These > days > you can also produce a DVD with the photos, music and voice over. > > Good luck, > Susan McPhedran > Ontario - where we are having a very English summer - rain, rain and more > rain. > > > > > > Our website is at > www.british-jewry.org.uk > We update regularly. Let us know if you have ideas to offer. > > British-Jewry-admin@rootsweb.com is the address to use for help. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRITISH-JEWRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.5.5/1569 - Release Date: 23/07/2008 > 13:31 > >