Family History Month: Time to Explore and Preserve

Family History Month: Don't Let Ravages of Time Erase Family History

October is Family History Month. Go to About.com for a list of 10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month: Projects to Explore and Preserve Your Family Heritage.

It's no big surprise that #1 on the list is to start or to work on your family tree. A family tree can record your ancestors' time and place in history further back in time than photos alone.

According to the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin,"the earliest known surviving photograph made in a camera, was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827."

In a way that makes the family genealogy even more important than photos.

Read about my discoveries this Family History Month. For one thing, I was able to identify one of the West Point cadets in the 1890s photo above as my paternal grandfather. But there was a disappointing discovery as well.