RootsTech: What is it and why should you go?

What if I told you of a conference you could attend with 27,000 of your closest friends and all you talk about is family history? This place does exist and it is called RootsTech.

I attended RootsTech (held annually in Salt Lake City, Utah) for the first time this past February. It was amazing and overwhelming and amazing and fun and amazing and mind-expanding and amazing.

Did I mention amazing?

RootsTech is held the last week of February and encompasses 4 days of workshops/seminars (over 300+!), an enormous expo hall, inspiring and enlightening speakers all centered around one thing. Making connections through knowing your family’s story.

You can read more about all the benefits to attending here.

I am already planning to attend RootsTech 2019. This year I will be serving in the role as a RootsTech Ambassador. This means that I get to share with you who the keynote speakers will be as soon as it is released. I will also be sharing all the goodness that is RootsTech – what is different this year and what has been made better.

Best part? I will be able to giveaway a pass to RootsTech! Look for more details on this in early October (also known as Family History Month).

If you are like me and want to get your tickets now at the early-bird price (a savings of $110 on regularly priced tickets), then be sure to click here and get your tickets today! (P.S. If you win my giveaway and have already purchased your pass, you will be reimbursed for the price you paid for your ticket. Win. Win.)

RootsTech is unlike anything I have ever attended. It is like Genealogy BootCamp but in a good way. No one is screaming in your face but rather looking at your name tag and asking: Are we related?

Feel free to post any questions you may have as well as your own experience if you have attended RootsTech in the past.

I hope to see YOU there!

Let’s Get Social! Genealogy and Social Media

Genealogy is more about making connections between the past and the present and sharing stories within the two then it is about the filling in the blanks of certain life events. Have you ever thought of using social media as a tool in the gathering of these stories and a means of making those vital connections? Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are just some of the outlets that you should be using as an active family historian.

I know most of you know about Facebook. If you aren’t on it yourself, you have probably heard about it especially recently in the news. Despite the privacy concerns, I still think Facebook is a worthwhile tool to help you connect with living relatives as well as classmates and/or friends with whom you may have lost touch. Did you know that you can form your own private Facebook group on whatever topic you desire? Say you would like to form a group from one of your family branches that has annual reunions. Facebook is a great way to communicate with those family members. You can then easily share photos within this private group after the event. You could also form a group on just a surname that you are researching. Invite a bunch of folks that are looking into the same line and exchange new research hits and misses all within the group.

Twitter. It is not just for our current president! If you have never dipped your tow into the waters that are Twitter and you have n interest in genealogy, you really must dive right in. The water is fine and full of nice and welcoming like-minded individuals! Twitter is a great place to ask general research questions as well as the chance to talk with actual genealogical librarians in real time. One account I highly recommend is David Allan Lambert’s (https://twitter.com/DLGenealogist). He is the Chief Genealogist at NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society) based in Boston, MA. One neat thing that happens on Twitter is called Twitter Chats. These happen on a scheduled date and time and can cover an array of topics. One chat that I enjoy participating in is #GenChat. This is the chat that specifically covers genealogical topics. #GenChat happens usually twice a month on Fridays at 9 p.m. Central Standard Time. #GenChat has covered topics related to RootsTech, finding female ancestors, and records found specific to certain locations among many others. They are fast-paced conversations but are fun to follow. The moderator will usually post a question and all can chime in their answer using the same hashtag of #GenChat. Simple search “genchat” in the Twitter search box to see all the recent tweets.

The last social media channel that you may be ignoring is Instagram. Instagram is very popular with the younger crowd but don’t let that give you an excuse to not give it a look. Instagram is a photo platform which makes it perfect to share all your old photos. I enjoy posting photos of not just my ancestors but also my research process and how I got started in genealogy. A wonderful account to check out on Instagram is Save Family Photos (https://www.instagram.com/savefamilyphotos). On their home page they state that their mission is to “save and share family stories, one photo at a time.” Many times they will repost photos that others have posted on their personal Instagram accounts. Their mission is one that I think all of us as family historians would agree with. I believe that through posting your family photos on a site like Instagram you will not only be sharing them with relatives but also helping to save and share the story that lies behind that photo. Since Instagram is very popular with teens and up, I believe that when you share your family photos on that platform you are then meeting them where they are at. You could then help plant a seed of knowledge and perhaps curiosity into their family tree that maybe wasn’t there before.

Another aspect for all of these social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) is that it is a way for you to learn more about businesses that cater to the genealogy market. There are so many small businesses that make gorgeous family trees (check out Branches.art at https://www.instagram.com/branches.art/ for an example) and other unique pieces of art that are of interest to the family historian. Simply search genealogy or family tree on any of these platforms and see what comes up.

So I urge you to give each of these outlets a glance. There are benefits to each one. Try one out this month and see if it is a good fit for your interests. If not, delete your account and try another one. Make some connections and see your family tree grow!

I would love to connect with you!

Find me on Facebook: http://www.fb.com/tilliestalesandmore

Read my tweets on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tillies_tales

View my photos on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/tilliestalesandmore

**Leave a comment and let me know which social media outlet you use the most for your family history interests!**

[Note: this article was originally written by myself, Angie Kelly, for the June 2018 issue of the Newsletter of the St. Clair County Genealogical Society]

I Am Here Because Of Immigrants

Today in America we celebrate Independence Day. It is a good day. It is a day that makes me reflect on my immigrant ancestors. I wonder what they felt when they celebrated their first 4th of July. Was it momentous to them? Were they proud to live in America? Were they happy they made the sacrifices they did to come over?

My family history’s immigration stories happened around the 1850’s/1860’s for the majority of the branches. There is one branch (looking at you Dunlap line) that I don’t have that date as of yet. [Isn’t there always that one line??]

They came over to escape hardship. They came over to escape conscription. They came over as single men/women. They came over as families with young children in tow. They came over mostly from Germany and Ireland. They were all seeking something more.

I hope that America exceeded their expectations. I hope their road to and within the U.S. was paved with easy choices and few turmoils but we all know that is never the case. They struggled. They persevered. Most of all, they stayed and didn’t give up.

Perhaps they didn’t have any other choice.

I have a shirt that reads “I am my Ancestors’ Wildest Dream.” I truly believe each and every one of us is just that. When you look at your roots and where your family began and then look to how your life is now, it is pretty amazing. And just like them, we have troubles, we have hard choices but also like them, we do not give up.

Happy Independence Day! May you never forget where you came from and where you are going.

Be Your Ancestors’ Wildest Dream.

**Where did your immigrant ancestors come from? How long has America been home for the branches of your family tree?**

What Started It All : My Love of Genealogy

An early memory. I walk into my parents’ bedroom and see my mom looking at a big piece of paper that to my 8 or so year old mind covers up her entire bed. I ask “What is that?” My mother responds “It is a family tree.” She then showed me her name and my grandparents’ names. She went on to explain that she had recently talked to her Aunt Caroline (her dad’s sister) and with her help had written down all the names and dates of those that encompass the Klein Family Tree. “Am I related to everyone on here?” I asked. “Yes” was her reply.

I was amazed. Both of my parents are only children. I grew up in a very nuclear existence with my brother and sister and I being the only (and I indeed mean only) grandchildren on both sides of the family. Were we spoiled? I don’t think so. I like to think that our grandparents treasured each of us a bit more because we were it.

But looking at this family tree, my world suddenly expanded. A seed was planted.


My father died from brain cancer when I was ten. Understandably, his death deeply impacted my life. His parents were still alive when he passed and I subsequently formed a strong relationship with his mother, my Granny Dunlap. She was an interesting soul. She was born in 1909 and was never the happy homemaker. Though she loved to cook, she was a working-out-of-the home mom all of my dad’s formative years. She could also handle her alcohol better than a person twice her size (she wasn’t even five feet tall). “Oh, the stories I could tell you…” she would often say when she was feeling a bit tipsy. But that was as far as it would go.

As she got older, old photos would begin appearing around her home. We would ask her who they were and she would tell us. She was great at labeling the backs of said photos as well. The stories she would share would be few and far between (especially when sober). But I was a teenager at this point and not too concerned about asking the right questions.

When she passed away at the age of 81 in 1990, so went the stories that were never shared. Since my father had no siblings and now both of his parents were gone, I felt a loss of connection. I had no one left to ground me to that side of my identity. My last name’s meaning and origin was a big question mark in my mind.

All were gone (on that side of my family tree) and in their wake was a heart-shaped hole.


Flash-forward to my early twenties. I am living near Madison, Wisconsin, just out of college, newly employed and lots of free time on my hand plus access to a world-class Historical Society Library.

Libraries are my second home. I began investigating first the census records and then requesting death records, marriage certificates, you name it I searched it out. This was in the early 2000’s so the internet was still in infancy. Not everything was online (hint: it still isn’t).

I started asking those questions to my dad’s cousins and my grandmother’s remaining younger sister. I began paying closer attention to our annual trips to Southern Illinois and visited cemeteries with my mom and her cousin for that side. I began filling in some of the blanks.

And the more I fill in, the more is left gaping open.

So I press on … with no end in sight.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.


What got you started investigating your family history? Do you know your family’s story? I can help.

One page of my mother’s original family tree

Love Reading Old Diaries?

If you enjoy reading Tillie’s Tales of the 1930s, I highly encourage you to check out the website Paper of the Past. Mandy is a scrapbook collector who shares the stories of those who wrote in them on her Instagram page. She brings to light what might have been forgotten and/or discarded.

Starting tomorrow, June 16th, she will be emailing excerpts each week from a diary she discovered that dates to 1891. The author, Leona, is 16 when the diary begins and lives in Houston, Texas.

You can subscribe to these emails by clicking here.

Thanks again for your ongoing support of Tillie’s Tales.

Your Photos Hold a Story

Did you ever look at a photo and think: I know there is a story behind this! I just wish I could know what it is!? This happens to me more times than I can count.

Sometimes a family member is dressed up silly which is the case in a photo of my grandfather wearing nothing but a native Hawaiian hula skirt and a huge grin. Where did he get this skirt? What drove him to put it on? Was it even his?? Unfortunately I didn’t come across this picture until after he was gone to ask him these questions.

And sometimes it is just a group shot. All filled with smiles and I can only identify a couple of people in the photo. Oh, how I wish I could know who the other folks are and why they were important in the lives of my relatives.

This past summer I attended St. Augustine’s KirchenFest in Hecker, Illinois (the town where my grandmother’s journals are written from). St. Augustine was my grandmother’s home parish and the church in which she married. I enjoy going to this church festival every year with my husband and daughters as well as my mother (Bertille’s daughter).

While we were eating the delicious chicken dinner at the fest, I had the delightful opportunity to meet Iona Buehler Heidel. Her daughter had seen a photo that I had posted on the Tillie’s Tales Facebook page  where I knew some of the names but not all. Not only was Iona able to identify everyone in the photo but also had a great story to accompany it:


Her daughter, Janice Pautler, later emailed the details in full.

She wrote: “Willie Birkner was not present for this picture but his wife, Lena Birkner, wanted a partner for the picture. Lena said that Irvin Buehler, her nephew, should take Willie’s place. Willie wore a hat and had a mustache so a hat was put on Irvin’s head and Lena said to put some chicken feathers under Irvin’s nose for a mustache.

On the photo from left to right:
Lena Birkner and Irvin Buehler (Iona Buehler Heidel’s brother)
Mary Birkner and Fred Birkner
Frieda (Birkner) Buehler and Christopher Buehler (Irvin and Iona’s parents)

Willie Birkner and Frieda (Birkner) Buehler were brother and sister.
Fred Birkner was Frieda’s uncle. Frieda’s dad, Louis Birkner, and Fred were brothers.”

I am so appreciative to both Iona and Janice for sharing this wonderful information. I always wondered what that was in front of Irvin’s face but had no clue! Now we all know.

Do you have a family photo that you are curious about? Do you ask yourself: what is the story? Do you sometimes invent a story that could be the reason for that photo?

Yet another reason to share your photos with your family members while you are still here to share your story!

P.S. This is another great way to get older relatives to start talking about their past. Get out some photos with them in the picture and ask and listen!

Get talking! 22 Interview Questions to Discover YOUR Family Story

The dreaded interview. We all have had to endure at least one that didn’t go quite the way you wanted. Or, in my case, you thought it went really bad and you still ended up with the job! It all goes to say what you may think is one thing isn’t always the case!

But I am not talking about those kind of interviews. Let’s talk about the interviews where we take some time and just sit and chat with our oldest family members. What if you are the oldest family member? Well, then interview yourself! Get a nice journal and jot down your answers to these questions. Perhaps use them as a jumping off point for a story or two that you would like future generations to know.

If you are blessed to have an older family member in your vicinity then I can’t encourage you enough to ask them questions now and not later. You truly never know when you won’t be able to sit with them like you can today.

Below is a handy FREE printable that I made just for you of 22 questions to get you started.

Wondering what the best technique to use to get your subject to start talking? Head on over to the Tillie’s Tales FaceBook page and enter the word “INTERVIEW” in the message box that will pop up.

Comment below who you would most like to ask these questions to if you had the chance (living or passed away).

Family History Interview Questions by Angie on Scribd

Changes at Tillie’s Tales

There are changes afoot on Tillie’s Tales!

We are now deep in 1937 for my grandmother’s (Bertille “Tillie” Brand Klein) entries of her “Tales.” She ends her entries on December 30, 1939 so that means we have a little over two years left to go.

With that being said I (Angie Kelly – Tillie’s granddaughter and the person who posts her entries) have decided to expand what I post on this website. Starting today you will occasionally see posts by me about various family history/genealogical topics. For example: interviewing your relatives, how to get started with your own family tree, the importance of journaling and how it relates to genealogy, etc.

I am also in the process of revamping this website so please excuse the “dust” as I move things around. You will soon see a services tab where I will offer my help to work with you to unearth your family’s story like I have done with my grandmother’s news diaries.

Feel free to comment below with any topics you would like me to cover as well as any questions you may have about Tillie’s Tales and my grandmother’s journals. As always, you can email me at Angie@tilliestales.com or message me on the Tillie’s Tales Facebook or Instagram pages.