Family Connections

"When I lost my mom, I almost lost our family history too—until I found a way to preserve it forever." 

Hi, I’m Gina, and I’ve been a genealogy hobbyist most of my adult life.

It started with curiosity—wanting to know where I came from, what my ancestors looked like, and how their stories shaped the family I know today. Over the years, that curiosity turned into a passion.

When my mom passed away, I inherited our family photo albums. Flipping through them, I realized I didn’t even recognize some of the faces. Many of the pictures were old and fragile, and I knew they were too valuable to risk losing. So, I put on my “detective hat” and tracked down as many cousins as I could—some I had never even met! To my surprise, they also had photos of family members I’d never seen before! That’s when it really hit me: these precious memories need to be preserved and protected through digitization.

To keep everything safe and share it with the people I love, I created a private Online Family Photo Album Website—a space where we could upload/view old photos,and documents, share stories and add our own memories. What started as a small project has now grown into something much more meaningful. It's become a digital gathering place for my family to laugh, learn, and connect across generations. 

I wanted it to be different from the big genealogy sites because:

1. They aren’t truly private. Even if I set my tree to private, the photos I upload can still be seen by others.

2. They can be very expensive  maintain the membership fees every month.
   
   

My Family Photo Album website is designed to solve those problems:

1. It’s completely private. Only people with the link can find it, and they also have to join.

2. It’s free for everyone to use (though you can choose to allow family donations to help with upkeep).

3. Because members have to join, you’ll also build a family contact list for future communication—perfect for sharing birthdays, memorials, reunions, and other events. 

4. You can organize albums however you want—one big family album, or separate groups by branches of the family. You can even upload census records, documents, or link your family tree if you want.
   
   

To make it easier, I even created a template you can use to build your own Family Photo Album site. And if you’d like help, here’s what I can do:

• Create a custom template, to use on any Hosted website or Google

• Customize and personalize your site.

• Digitize and upload your photos.

• Help build or connect your family tree.

• Plan ancestry travel (I’m also a travel agent with 20+ years of experience) so you can visit your roots and make even more discoveries.
  
  

I’d love to chat with you about what you’re looking for and how I can help. Preserving family photos and stories is so important—otherwise, they risk being lost to time, natural disasters, or simply forgotten.

Gina