Nicole Elder Dyer

About Nicole Elder Dyer

Nicole Dyer is a professional genealogist specializing in Southern United States research and genetic genealogy. She is the creator of FamilyLocket.com and the Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast. She co-authored Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide and Research Like a Pro with DNA and is an instructor for the study groups of the same name. She lectures at conferences and institutes and previously served as the secretary and publicity chair of the Pima County Genealogy Society. Nicole holds a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in History Teaching. At Family Locket Genealogists, Nicole is a project manager, editor, and researcher.

RLP 99: Writing a Narrative Family History – Certification Preparation

Jun 1, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Kinship Determination Project (KDP), the narrative family history work sample portfolio element submitted to the Board for Certification of Genealogists. The KDP element shows your ability to prove parent-child links as well as tell the story of a family in their unique place and time. There are three formats of narrative family histories – narrative genealogy, narrative lineage, and narrative pedigree. We discuss these terms...

RLP 98: Discovering the FAN Club in Archives with Melissa Barker

May 25, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about finding records for the friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors in archives. Melissa Barker, the Archive Lady, teaches us all about archives. Tune in to learn more about different types and levels of archives, what you might find there, and best practices for using them. Links What Your Ancestor’s Neighbors Can Tell You – handout by Melissa Barker RLP 55 – It’s Not All Online:...

RLP 97: RLP with DNA – What’s Next?

May 18, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about what to do after you have finished all the RLP with DNA steps. Robin Wirthlin, genetic genealogist, joins our discussion. If you haven’t reached a proven conclusion, you’ll want to start on the next phase of our research. Choose a sub-objective to work on next – maybe you have a hypothesis to test and see if you can eliminate. We also discuss DNA blogs, podcasts, classes,...

Airtable Research Logs

May 14, 2020

Airtable is a hybrid spreadsheet and database. Most database tools are beyond the technological level of typical users, so most people don’t use database tools. Yet, databases are highly useful. Luckily for us, Airtable is a database tool that doesn’t require that you know how to code. If you are familiar with spreadsheets, you’ll pick it up right away. Each database is called “base.” Think of it as a spreadsheet with multiple sheets/tabs. Each sheet...

RLP 96: How to Track and Organize the FAN Club

May 11, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about organizing and keeping track of the names you find on records that don’t fit into your family tree. The friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors are important to know and research, but where do you record your findings? Can you add them to your family tree software? We discuss this question and more. Tune in to hear how you can organize your ancestor’s FAN club...

Seven Ways to Obtain an Article Found in PERSI

May 6, 2020

The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is a subject index to family and local history literature published in periodicals. Originally created in 1986 by the Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, it is the second largest family history library in the United States, in print and fiche formats. PERSI now includes more than 11,000 genealogical, historical, and patriotic periodicals, including magazines, newsletters, journals created by societies from around the...

RLP 95: How to Use the FAN Club in Research

May 4, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the FAN club. When you research your ancestors, do you pay attention to their neighbors on the census? The bondsmen, godparents, witnesses, doctors, and people with the same occupation? These all make up the friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors. Researching the FAN club is a strategy Diana and I have used often in our own research and research for clients. Join us as we...

Simple Family History Mother’s Day Activity for Children

Apr 29, 2020

Today I’m sharing a guest post for children with some sweet printables for celebrating mother’s day with family history. First, kids can write down their memories of mom. Then moms can write down their memories of the child. What a sweet thing to look back on when children are older. The second printable is a family tree that children can fill out within the PDF file, if they like typing, or print and write on....

RLP 94: U.S. Federal Pensions with Michael Strauss

Apr 27, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about pensions given to soldiers of various U.S. conflicts. Our guest, Michael Strauss, AG, discusses each war, the kind of pension records that are available to veterans and survivors, and where to find them. Join us as we talk with Michael about this substantial federal record group. Links Prologue Magazine – National Archives Publication Genealogy Research Network – website of Michael Strauss, includes his lectures, speaking schedule,...

RLP 93: Elizabeth Biddle: A Case of Parentage in England in 1800

Apr 20, 2020

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about a research project Nicole did for a client in the 19th century in England and New York. We discuss each step of the research like a pro process and how it helped find a solution. Join us as we discuss the known information, creating a research plan, finding candidates, and eliminating them until only one remained. Links RLP eCourse coupon code: RLP89RT2020 (expires April 30, 2020)...