"Thank you for the ideas of adding to my newsletter, The Rybock Family Newsletter. I needed a boost in the arm - so to speak.
I was contemplating retiring my newsletter which I started 3 years ago, due to my move and all the distance in between from family and friends.
Then I happened across your newsletter in a 'family newsletter ideas' search. I didn't think I was making a difference in family history but I was wrong!
Ten years from now, if someone was looking up a 50th anniversary, date, place of event, etc, it's all in the family newsletter!
Thank you,
You really make a difference!"
--Sonya Paquette, editor
Rybock Family Newsletter
Great Family Newsletters
Reader Response
This is the place to share your response to what you have read on these pages. Tell us about your experiences with family newsletters. Pass on your reflections. Email us and we'll include you.
I started "Toman's Dialogues". I named it that because I want the members to talk to each other and not just get a newsletter I put together. So it has the news of the family. I started in May and didn't know if it would take off -- I have 37 subscribers (families). I have sent out 3 newsletter issues and the lists grows!
Plus so many relatives have sent me stories, genealogy and photos that I have had to put together several albums! What a treasure! The photos get passed around via my newsletters so we all benefit sharing. One of the advantages of sending in a photo that had been in a musty album in the attic is that some photos are surfacing that people have never seen! I was thrilled to see photos of my great grandparents and photos of my grandfather as a little boy. It has been a very rewarding and FUN thing to do!
-- t."
Terri Toman
Nov. 8, 2000 -- "Yes, I started a family newsletter for just about the same reasons you had in your article "Why Family Newsletters?" Another reason was, I had collected a lot of names in my family genealogy and they were just that. I wanted faces and stories to go with these people. Only one of my Dad's siblings was alive out of eleven!
"I have been doing my family newsletter, 'Calling All Cousins,' for just over 6 years, 3 times a year. One of the sections that our young cousins love is 'Sports.' I usually receive about 2 to 5 sports articles per issue, from skating, football, water-skiing competitions, etc. I even received one from an 8-year old girl who plays hockey! Great stuff! The kids can't wait to get their articles in the newsletter."
"I started my family newsletter 'BondNews' almost six years ago for just my brothers and sisters (there are 8 of us) for the purpose of keeping everyone informed about what our children were doing. It kept expanding to other areas, then other family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) heard about the newsletter and wanted to join in too. The newsletter now goes to over 80 people. It is a great way for everyone to keep in touch."
