Adding photos and images to your Family tree or Family History Site will guarantee your tree has immediate impact upon those you chose to invite to view it.

Having as many strategically placed photos and images in your tree as possible will also make your life considerably easier in obtaining photo and other great rich content to add to your trees from other relatives. It’s also a great way of connecting with other Ancestry Members with similar ancestral interest since photos are searchable content. And, what’s more it’s all free for you to use.

Firstly, don’t just restrict yourself to photos. Anything you can scan or have as an image can be added to your Ancestry family tree. For example, postcards sent by your ancestors whilst on family holidays, Christmas and Birthday cards, Birth, Marriage and Death certificates and more can all be easily added to your family tree.

In a recent poll amongst Ancestry Members, nearly 3 in 4 respondents cited access to photos as the biggest obstacle they had to overcome in adding photos to their tree. Very often we have photos of ourselves lurking on our own PCs or laptops which may have become buried deep down in a file somewhere. Other frequently cited causes for lack of photos are restricting your vision to just photos of direct ancestors.

Here’s just some of the photo related content you should be looking to add:

Memorable places: churches where ancestors got married, baptized for example, places of work synonymous with your ancestors, favourite holiday destinations or strong personal significance are just a few.

Teams, School & Work Members: sports teams, school years and workplace photos make great content additions, in particular given their relevance and wide appeal to other Ancestry Members researching their family’s history. Often these can form a link with other Members in turn enabling you to find out more about your direct ancestors

Family Pets & Animals: whilst faithful companions in life, can often easily be forgotten. However how many of our ancestors’ lives were shaped by those at their side-this is your chance to capture their memories too and give them their rightful place beside their owner.

Birthday and Christmas Cards: not only reveal details of other family members but also provide firsthand views of your ancestor’s handwriting and writing styles. So, don’t forget to scan both the outside and insides as separate images.

Significant events your ancestors may have attended or lived through: were you or your ancestors at Wembley on 1966 to witness Englands 4-2 World Cup Victory over Germany?

Family heirlooms: ornaments, clothes, books or anything with a close association with your ancestor’s past-for example, military uniforms, company livery, rugby or football shirts bearing their number make for great content.

Adding your photos is easily, all your need is the ability to scan and upload images from your PC or laptop. Read on to find out more about how to do this.

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