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.

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...

A Newbie’s Experience at SLIG – the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy

Feb 14, 2018

Have you heard of SLIG – the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy? I recently attended and want to share my experience today. I had heard of SLIG and other institutes but had never attended. Because registration is several months prior, in the summer of 2017, I decided to attend my first institute. Browsing the course titles, I decided “A Practical Approach: Establishing Genealogical Proof with DNA” would be the most beneficial for my research. Knowing...

Frontier Grit – Book Club Selection and Author Interview

Feb 7, 2018

Are you looking for an engrossing book? One that tells captivating, true stories about real women in history? Frontier Grit by Marianne Monson delivers twelve short stories, each based on a woman who was a pioneer in her own right. An excerpt from the introduction gives us the author’s insights. The women in this book come from a variety of backgrounds and traveled in a number of different directions – these stories represent a mere handful...

RootsTech 2018 – 5 Tips for an Extreme Experience

Feb 5, 2018

You’ve purchased your RootsTech or Getting Started pass. Hotel and flights are nailed down. All that is left is figuring out how to get the most out of this unique, exciting experience. Having attended RootsTech for the past two years, I have five insider tips to share. TIP 1 ATTEND THE KEYNOTES If you’re tempted to skip the keynote speakers, think again. Each speaker has a story to tell linking them to genealogy and family...

Back to the Basics with Probate Records – Part 2

Jan 15, 2018

Have you discovered a will for your ancestor but are puzzled by the legal terminology? You might have extracted some information like names of sons or daughters but aren’t sure what to do with the rest. Back to the Basics with Probate Records – Part 1 discussed what information might be in a probate record and how to locate the records for your ancestors. Now it’s time to learn about the document that is often first...