It is the time of year when families travel to be together, share meals and sit around swapping stories about childhood, relatives who’ve passed away and what life was like in the old country.

Seems like a recipe for surging traffic at Web sites devoted to family history. But oddly enough, that’s not what happens.

“You’d think people would get to talking with family, and then look online,” says Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Web-tracking firm Hitwise, who notes that the holiday season is actually a low point for genealogy and family tree sites, since people on vacation tend to spend less time on the computer. Read More