Tell a Story with History Lines App

Have you tried the History Lines app from Family Search?
I was nosing about today, reading some blogs from my lineup, clicking on this and that, and the Family Search Blog suggested trying some of their partner apps.  So what the heck, I decided to take a look-see. 

The one called History Lines looked interesting so I clicked on it.  You don't have to upload a tree, or start one at Family Search, although you can if you wish - all you have to do is create a free account and fill out the form with one of your ancestor's information.  Name, year and place of birth, year and place of death.  That's it - Get Started.

You can edit and add known facts and photos as you wish before you print, or after.  When you are done you click on Print and Save (top left), and wait while it prints to a PDF.  It may take a while, as the program has to gather all the facts for your ancestor's time period. Then you can save the PDF to your to your computer. (I clicked on save and it didn't seem to do anything, but the 'save as' window had gone behind main window). 

Although it says it is free, it looks like you only get 2 free stories.  So choose a time you want to know more about.  Look at my example to see what it gives you.  For my first story I chose James Tait who lived between 1679-1753 in Scotland.

You can see down the left side the categories it tells about - childbirth, clothing, diet, education, entertainment, hygiene, military, marriage, etc... all what it was like at the time of your ancestor's life. I added some things... bits about his apprenticeships and goldsmith work, and a photo of his death record.

Here is my finished story: James Tait - History Line

To create your own story, go to Family Search, scroll down to the bottom of the page to the App Gallery and click on Get Started. Scroll down to the History Lines app.
Or just click here.

You can sign back into your account on the home page, click on Stories on the top right menu to see your stories, click on the one you made and edit it at any time, rearrange photos etc (don't forget to save), then print and save it again to your computer.