“My grandma does genealogy.” “Oh, that’s my great aunt, in our family.”

Many a family has someone who does family history. Ever notice how so often those self-appointed guardians of family history are retired, or otherwise have spare time?

How many of you have avoided starting your genealogy because you think you don’t have time? “Oh, I’ll start that when I retire.”

Maybe that made sense when your grandma or great aunt started genealogy. Writing letters, making phone calls, trips to the post office, expeditions to county, state or federal archives. Only a retired person has time to do all that, right?

Look again. FamilySearch makes getting started so easy that everyone can enter themselves on the shared family tree in less than an hour. Blue “record hints” (like the corresponding green leaf hints on Ancestry), give suggestions of ancestors recorded in census, death records, draft records, and so on. If the record doesn’t get suggested in a hint, a powerful search engine can be used to search millions of records. No more trips to archives for the census. Letter writing, stamped envelopes and waiting weeks has been replaced in most cases by an email and paypal and replies in hours.

There is a mobile app for FamilySearch that works for iphone, ipad and Android devices. Once you have signed up with FamilySearch (best started on a computer), when you log in on the app, you can check your tree, attach blue record hints, update names, dates or places, add individuals to the tree, and search millions of records, all in the palm of your hand. I routinely add sources in line at the grocery store or the gas station.

Of course, genealogy MIGHT consume lots of time, once you catch the bug. But the point is, you don’t NEED to devote hours every week to make progress on your family history. Let the new technologies work for you. Get started before you retire.

If you need help getting started, or need some expert advice on your new hobby, or get stuck on a brick wall, contact me. Having expert help means you can work even more efficiently.

Start now.