When a 20-year-old WWII pilot makes fudge in a POW camp on Christmas Day, he teaches a lasting lesson...

Jason Terry shares how his grandfather's small act of kindness in a German prison camp during WWII sparked a family legacy of service that spans generations. Through stories of answered prayers, harrowing escapes, and a precious Red Cross package shared with fellow prisoners, we discover how even the smallest gestures can create lasting impact. This moving conversation reveals how family stories shape our values and how service to others becomes a cherished inheritance passed from one generation to the next.

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 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Have you ever wondered if there are forgotten family heroes in your past? In this episode, documentarians Wayne Abbott and David O'Keefe reveal how combining historical records, artifacts, and family research can bridge generational gaps and uncover powerful family stories. Through their work on Ancestry's "Finding Heroes" podcast, they share emotional moments of families discovering ancestors they never knew – including a son who finally connected with the father he never met through a simple military artifact. Their work shows how even the smallest historical discoveries can transform family relationships and create lasting legacies for future generations.

💭 Which of your ancestors' stories are waiting to be discovered in your family tree?

Watch Wayne & David's latest podcast episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQbfCatul_w

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 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

When Jenny Ashcraft joked with her dying father about needing a 'cell phone call from heaven' to start family history... that's exactly what she got. Just days after her father's funeral, a mysterious package arrived from a stranger who felt compelled to send her family records after reading her father's obituary. Follow Jenny's journey from a reluctant beginner to becoming part of the Ancestry team, including an incredible series of discoveries in Pennsylvania that proved family history is full of divine coincidences. This episode shows how even those who feel intimidated by family history can find themselves drawn into a puzzle more rewarding than they ever imagined.

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 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Two genealogists discover they might share a Mayflower connection - but there's a twist.

In this special Thanksgiving episode, my producer Lisa Elzey and I explore our connection to America’s founding story, take a memorable trip to Plymouth Plantation, and learn that sometimes uncovering the truth means letting go of cherished family lore. Through our journey, we reveal how the real power of family history lies not in the famous names on our family tree, but in the authentic stories we uncover along the way.

 Curious about the truth behind your own family legends? Find guidance and story prompts inspired by this episode at CristaCowan.com/blog.

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Not everyone stumbles on a photo of a relative hanging in a hotel bathroom, but Nicka Sewell-Smith isn’t just anyone. And, that’s not even the most interesting story she has to tell.  From family reunions to battles for tribal citizenship, Nicka reveals an American tale that challenges common narratives about Native American and African American history.  Her persistence and use of modern technology helped her document more than 4,000 descendants of formerly enslaved ancestors and uncover her family’s deep ties to the Cherokee Nation.  Join us as she shares these extraordinary discoveries.

Follow Nicka:
On Instagram @NeekSmith

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Have you ever thought about how deeply you can trace your roots with just a simple DNA test?

Listen in on my conversation with Diahan Southard, a trailblazer in consumer genomics and the founder of Your DNA Guide.  She takes us through her story, starting as a microbiology student at Brigham Young University, continuing to her work with Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, leading to her pioneering role in the field of genetic genealogy education.  Sparked by the advice of a high school English teacher and a fascination with archaeogenetics, Diahan has not only played a role in advancing the field, she has also experienced the personal and emotional impact of DNA discoveries in her own family.  In this episode, she shares her journey and invites us to discover the unexpected stories hidden within our own DNA.

Follow Diahan:
YourDNAGuide.com
Instagram

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

For 43 years, Becky Ellis's father refused to speak about his World War II service — until one conversation at age 89 changed everything. What started with a simple "Dad, I want to know about the war" led to seven years of profound revelations that transformed not just their relationship, but Becky's understanding of herself. As her father finally shared his experiences as a Staff Sergeant in the 104th Infantry Division, she discovered how his 172 days of continuous combat shaped both his approach to parenting and her own life. Through their journey from silence to storytelling, Becky learned that sometimes the most powerful family connections emerge when we're brave enough to ask the hard questions and patient enough to listen to the answers.

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Does the veil between worlds thin as October turns to November? I certainly think so.

Born on All Saints Day, my birthday celebrations always mingled with Halloween festivities.  But, it was my 18th birthday, spent cleaning up a vandalized cemetery that changed my perspective. Then, my 47th birthday spent experiencing Día de los Muertos in Mexico City and the dozens of birthdays in between that shaped my understanding of how these religious and cultural celebrations are a powerful way to connect generations.

Join me as I explore the fascinating intersection between my birth date, my calling as a genealogist, and the belief that during these autumn days, the veil between past and present grows uniquely thin. This personal story reveals why I believe there are no coincidences when it comes to our connections with family history.

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

A young girl sits at her Italian family's dinner table, absorbing stories of sea monsters, witches, and prohibition-era St. Louis — while her cousins run off to play. Today, that curious child has become Director of Brigham Young University’s Center for Family History and Genealogy.

Join me as Suzanne Russo Adams shares how listening to her grandfather's colorful tales sparked a lifelong passion that took her back to her family’s tiny Sicilian fishing village and around the globe to more than 100 archives worldwide. Between stories of immigrant resilience, mafia connections, and serendipitous research discoveries, Suzanne reveals how understanding her Italian roots helped her create deeper family bonds across generations. Whether your ancestors left carefully documented paper trails or whispered stories around the dinner table, this episode will inspire you to dig deeper into your family's unique narrative.

Learn more about Suzanne and the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy:
https://history.byu.edu/directory/suzanne-adams

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

What if uncovering a family story you never knew could change the way you see yourself and the world? In 2019, Ancestry's documentary Railroad Ties revealed how the Underground Railroad connected descendants of the enslaved with those who fought for their freedom. Before listening to this powerful conversation, watch the film.

My guest Gayle George's journey began with a surprising invitation to be part of this documentary. What she discovered – from emotional court records of her great-grandmother to unmarked family graves – transformed her understanding of home, belonging, and legacy. Today, through the Weems the People Foundation, she helps other families uncover and preserve their own powerful stories.

This episode will inspire you to look deeper into your family's untold stories and the profound impact they can have on future generations.

Discover more about Gayle's work and the legacy of her ancestors at WeemsThePeople.org and Awakeningho.me.

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️

 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most.

🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.

♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!