Family Locket

RLP 366: Using AI to Add Historical Context – Boston Union Workhouse and Sarah Jane (Miller) Creer

Today, Diana and Nicole discuss how to use AI to add historical context to your genealogy research, focusing on the Boston Union Workhouse and Sarah Jane (Miller) Creer. Diana begins by introducing the topic, explaining that researching institutions like workhouses can offer significant insights into an ancestor’s experience. She shares that her second great-grandmother, Sarah Jane (Miller) Creer, lived in the Boston Union Workhouse at age 10. Diana used Claude 3.7 Sonnet, an AI tool, […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 14, 2025 Podcast

Onsite Research: Beyond Digitized Records

In our digital age, when millions of records are accessible from our home computers, it’s easy to forget that some of our most valuable genealogical treasures still lie waiting in courthouse basements, archive storage rooms, and historical society filing cabinets. While online databases have revolutionized family history research, the reality is that countless records remain undigitized—and these might hold the keys to our most challenging research questions. Claude (an artificial intelligence tool) helped write […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 13, 2025 Certification, Research Tips

RLP 365: Thomas B. Royston’s Land and Headstone in Chambers County, Alabama

Diana and Nicole discuss Thomas B. Royston’s land and headstone in Chambers County, Alabama. Diana shares about her trip to Alabama, where she visited the cemetery where her third great-grandfather, Thomas, is buried and viewed the land he owned. They start with Thomas’s life in DeKalb County, examining the 1840 census and questioning the identity of “F.B. Royston.” The discussion moves to Thomas acquiring land through a federal land grant and his later move to […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 7, 2025 Podcast

Comparing Marriage Records: Original Licence and Return vs Marriage Book Entry

When researching our ancestors, we seek original records, but at times, it can be challenging to determine the status of a record. Take, for instance, an entry in a county marriage record book. Is this an original or a derivative, copied from an original marriage certificate into the marriage book? In this blog post, we’ll examine two instances of the marriage record of my 2nd great-grandfather, John C. Harris, and explore what we can learn […]

By Diana Elder July 6, 2025 Research Tips

“The Thread Collectors”: A Fictionalized Civil War Novel Based on Family History

We often have family stories that have been passed down through the generations to us. How much truth is in the story we may never know, but in the novel, The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman, we have an interesting example of weaving a tale from historical research and a thread of a story. The authors collaborated on this novel. Shaunna has African-American ancestry, and Alyson has Jewish ancestry. They combine […]

By Diana Elder June 27, 2025 Book Club, Creating and Sharing Family History

RLP 363: A Day at the Chamber County Courthouse: Tips for Success

This podcast episode discusses visiting county courthouses for genealogical research. Diana shares her experience at the Chambers County Courthouse in Alabama, where she researched her ancestor, Thomas Beverly Royston. She explains the importance of preparing a research plan before visiting, including creating a timeline and identifying potential records. She also mentions learning about what records are available beforehand, either online or by contacting the courthouse. Diana describes the process of researching at the courthouse, such […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer June 23, 2025 Podcast

Tracing the Enslaved in the 1900 U.S. Census and Enslaved.org Project

Tracing the enslaved in U. S. records is challenging and time-consuming. Because enslaved people typically only had first names until emancipation, we hope to find identifying information, such as age and possible family groups, in records like the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules. We also look for records post-emancipation, such as the 1867 Voter Registration and the 1870 census. Tracing people forward in time presents its own challenges because the formerly enslaved may have chosen […]

By Diana Elder June 22, 2025 Research Tips

RLP 362: A Day at the Alabama Department of Archives & History

This podcast episode centers around Diana’s research trip to the Alabama Department of Archives & History (ADAH) in search of information about her ancestor, Thomas B. Royston. Diana shares how she wanted to fill gaps in his timeline, particularly regarding his move to Chambers County, Alabama. She details the process of researching at ADAH, from registering and receiving a research card to working with archivists. Diana sought tax records specifically, as they often reveal residency. […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer June 16, 2025 Podcast

Memories of My Father: Bobby Gene Shults (1927-2011)

On this Father’s Day, I’ve been reminiscing about my dad, Bobby Gene Shults. He was one of the “greatest generation” who served in World War II and went on to build a life and raise a family afterward. He wrote his own life history, which is filled with stories about the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and his adventures as a young boy in Texas, Oklahoma, and California. When we visited, he’d tell those stories […]

By Diana Elder June 15, 2025 Creating and Sharing Family History

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