Free Printable Genealogy Paper Dolls

With "Who Do You Think You Are?" now in its third season, the show has helped boost the search for genealogy again. At least that's how it appears. Even though people have been searching for the ancestors as long as I can remember, this hobby seemed to have lost part of its appeal for a short time from what I have seen with genealogy coverage on the internet.

When I first came to start using the internet, genealogy sites were being advertised quite often. It appeared for a few years such websites, weren't as readily seen as they were then and now.

With such stars as Vanessa Williams, Rosie O'Donnell, Ashley Judd, Lisa Kudrow also executive producer, Spike Lee, Emmett Smith, and a slew of other celebrities, genealogy seems to have found its place again online and now on television. Many of these celebrities have found out about their great grandparents, great uncles and aunts, cousins and even found relatives they didn't know they had.

Some of the celebrities found their ancestors helped shape this nation as well as the countries they came from. Others found their relatives came to America for different reasons.

For example, Rosie O'Donnell found her ancestors came to this country from Ireland because of the potato famine that left hundreds if not thousands disease stricken and possibly left for dead. Others found their ancestors came to this country with other celebrities ancestors looking for a better life.

In my case searching for my immediate ancestors and my husbands ancestors, I found both sides of our families had their own hands stuck right into the wars, building of roads, and politics.

For example, one of my husbands ancestors, James Loudon McAdams, came to the U.S. before the Revolutionary War. This particular ancestor was known for the term "Mcadamizing."

He was the one who invented the paved road system in the U.S. and England. Once the Revolutionary War started, he found his heart was still with England and helped the British in their war efforts. In the end, James was sent packing back to England and was told to never return to this country.

Once in England, he had his invention taken away by the English government and was given only a slight mention of his work. Years after his misfortune in England, he was offered knighthood and turned it down. He did request the honor be bestowed upon his son instead because of his age.

How do the paper dolls connect with genealogy?

In many of our cases, our ancestors heed from this area of the world, but this isn't the case for everyone. At some point in all our lives, our ancestors who came to America back when people were coming here in its earliest stages can find some of their family who dressed like those in the paper doll collection.'¨'¨It doesn't matter if they were wearing these styles of clothes of the era, but they probably knew aristocrats who did. In those days, clothing was know as a sign of wealth or how poor you were, whether you were of society or not, and a means of stature.

While some men would wear suits during this time, the type of suit would tell of his business and where he was at as far as how well his business was doing at the time. For others a suit was meant to be worn on special occasions such as a wedding, Christmas Day or on Sundays for church services.

Then there is the lineage sheet associated with each family shown in the printouts for the paper dolls. This sheet is often seen, minus the photos, in printable genealogy forms, some genealogy sites, and software.

The genealogy style paper dolls.

Both families have a printout of the family along with their family tree. There are paper dolls for each line of the family listed on the time line from the first printout. Each group of paper dolls has a story about the family and their clothing.

Each of the links will download to your computer and can be printed from the area where they are saved. Be aware each page will print out in full color.

Depending on how many people are listed on each of the links for each section of the family, there will be several pages. Each group of people have a paper doll for each person plus several pieces of clothing.

A family from 1865

There are eight sections for this family and their history.

A family from 1860

There are five sections for this family and their history.

More by Karen:

TImeline of William M. Brown in the Civil War

Vanessa Williams Gets a History Lesson from her Genealogy Search

Tim McGraw Finds his Family Traveled with Elvis Presley Ancestors

Ephriam S. Brown of Georgia fought for the North and South