Genealogy has become more than just writing your close family members on a paper tree. It is a completely new invention, technology and business. How far back can you trace your family to? I know one person who traced her family all the way back to the Knights Templar. That is just intriguing.

Genealogy is a wonderful hobby for anyone wanting to find out more about where they came from, and that includes just about every human being on this planet. You can find out who your great, great grandparents were, where they lived, what they did, and more. It just takes research and a commitment. The one thing that will help you create your own family s genealogy

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Despite what is being claimed everywhere on the WWW, e-books are not the absolute be-all-and-end-all of published format. There is still a huge buyer demand for information printed the “old-fashioned way” — on paper. The very technology that spawned the WWW also provides the ability for individual self-publishers to produce top-quality books that can be readily sold for a handsome profit.

Strange to say, that can be a problem in itself. Many would-be self-publishers of books seem dazzled by the variety of impressive production features that are possible with new print on demand [POD] technology. They visualize their name on fat full-length novels printed with perfect-bound spines, elaborate text formatting, varnished covers, and four-colour artwork.

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I recently visited Langnau, Bern, Switzerland and spent two days immersed in all things Langenegger. My wife and I arrived at the Langnau rail station on June 25, 2004, exhausted from a long flight from San Francisco. As we left the train station we were immediately struck by the unique character of this area.

Outside the train station are the remnants of a cobblestone street, now patched by asphalt. Everywhere we looked were beautiful Swiss houses and buildings many of them hundreds of years old and all colorfully decorated with pink and red begonias placed in flower boxes below each window. As we found later, the Emmental is also a wonderland of covered bridges, friendly

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Since family information has become so available on the Internet, many people don t realize the vital role still played by local genealogical societies. While all of the press and excitement has been focused online, these organizations have quietly gone about their business of preserving history and making it available to the world.

Societies come in many different flavors but mainly are . . .

Geographically based like Chrystal Lake Historical Society located at http://www.cl-hs.org/

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Back in the 15th century there were books known as commonplace books. These books were used to record information, such as weights, poems, medical formulas and prayers. Instead of trying to remember all of this information, it was written into a commonplace book. Commonplace books were used by students to record the information learned.

Over time commonplace books also held newspaper articles, recipes and illustrations. Commonplace books were a way to share information.

There were also friendship albums that were created and given as gifts. Young women in the Victorian period often created memory books or visitor s albums filled with signatures, scrap, cards, hair, handwriting, poetry, and even photographs of their family and friends. Again, these

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