Diana Elder

About Diana Elder

Diana Elder AGⓇ AGL is a professional genealogist, author, and speaker. She is accredited in the Gulf South region of the United States through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). Diana graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Elementary Education and has turned her passion for teaching to educating teens and adults in proven genealogy techniques. Diana is the author of Research Like a Pro: A Genealogists Guide and creator of the “Research Like a Pro” study group. She writes regular articles for FamilyLocket.com, the genealogy website created by her daughter, Nicole Dyer. She presents regularly at genealogy conferences, sharing the methods she uses every day to solve challenging genealogical problems.

Family History Book Series for Children

May 31, 2018

Family History is for Everyone: Becky Villareal, Teacher and Children’s Book Author When should a child start to learn about their family’s history? Nicole and I believe it’s never too early. We are passionate about sharing family history with children and love to meet other’s who share our sentiments. We recently connected with retired elementary school teacher and author, Becky Villareal, who has written a series of children’s books aimed at interesting them in learning...

Research Like A Pro available in print!

May 22, 2018

We are thrilled that the print edition of Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide is now available on Amazon! To preview the content of the book, read the blog posts in our Research Like a Pro series. Today I want to tell about the journey of writing the book. But first, here’s a bit about our upcoming eCourse. We are creating a brand-new Research Like a Pro e-course, to be released this summer. Each part corresponds to the...

Using Evernote for Genealogy Research

May 14, 2018

Have you ever wished you could cross reference your genealogical findings? Find all the census records in a certain county for a family? Look at all of the mentions of a surname in a city? With Evernote, you can do all of this and more. In a previous post I wrote about using Evernote to create a genealogical research center. Today I’ll share my method of using Evernote to organize my research findings. Genealogy Notebooks...

What’s In a History? “Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation”

May 4, 2018

When is the last time your immersed yourself in the history of a research locality? You might know the records well and have a basic understanding of the history and geography, but reading a full length book is an excellent way to bolster your genealogy knowledge. As a southern United States researcher I often come across land records that state something like “land obtained by the Creek Session of 1832.” I had a vague understanding...

Create Your Own Genealogy Reference Center with Evernote

Apr 24, 2018

Do you need a better way to locate the research helps you’ve accumulated through the years? Are you drowning in paper? Do you have stacks of handouts from genealogy conferences and classes? What are you doing with that blog post or online article you know you’ll need in the future? Solve your organizational problems by creating your own genealogy reference center using the popular tool Evernote. I started using Evernote three years ago, transferring research...

Using DNA to Find Biological Parents: 3 Tips to Get Started and a Case Study

Apr 10, 2018

Are you an adoptee looking for your biological parents? Maybe you’re helping an adoptee or you have someone in your family tree who was adopted. In each case, you might have tested with the various DNA companies and have a slew of results but you’re stymied with what to do next. I’m currently helping my adopted sister, Nancy, locate her biological father. Years ago I helped her find her bio mother using traditional genealogy sleuthing....

Put it in a Table: Understanding and Organizing Research Findings

Mar 30, 2018

Would you like to try a research tool that has the ability to clarify your findings and make connections? Creating a table might be just the key to wrapping your brain around a difficult research problem. I use tables in every research project. Evidence analysis, census enumerations, and other records take shape when put into a table. Organizing the data by individual, date, and place can make all of the difference in understanding the...

RootsTech 2018: Connect. Belong. Always.

Mar 22, 2018

RootsTech 2018 is done and in the books, or is it? The theme for the 2018 conference was Connect. Belong. Reflecting on the amazing connections I made at RootsTech, that sense of belonging will continue. I couldn’t think of a better way to share my experience than through photos, so here is a sampling. Connect. Belong. Family. RootsTech introduced the new addition to the FamilySearch app of “relatives around me.” Each day, host Jason Hewlett,...

Find Your Lost Websites in the Internet Archive: Wayback Machine

Mar 9, 2018

Have you ever saved a web address, commonly known as the URL, only to discover later that the web page no longer exists? What about a website that you had used many times and now can’t locate? This can be annoying in normal life. In genealogical research it can be catastrophic. Losing access to a website that included crucial information about your family is a worst case scenario, especially if you didn’t record the information....

RootsTech 2018: Connect. Belong

Feb 27, 2018

Are you ready for RootsTech 2018? You might be here in Utah ready to attend in person or participating from the comfort of your home. Either way, you can share in the excitement. Find a way to connect and feel a sense of belonging in this wonderful world of family history. To help those of you at home connect and feel that sense of belonging, RootsTech will be live streaming the keynote speakers and several...