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.

Baptism for the Dead: Do They Have a Say in the Matter?

Oct 6, 2018

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that finding the names of our ancestors, providing proxy baptisms for them, and sealing families together in the temple is essential for God’s plan of happiness for his children. We love our ancestors and want to be connected to them in the afterlife. This doctrine motivates our genealogy research. Some Questions and Answers One of our readers has asked some wonderful questions on Facebook...

From Stumped to Confident: Learning to Find Names for the Temple

Oct 5, 2018

“I’ve gone from being completely stumped as to how to find names for the temple, to not only being confident that it can be done, but more than a little amazed at how many research opportunities there are on my tree!” Today I’m excited to share a guest post by reader DoriAnn Haskins, who also blogs at Baby Steps. She has read our book, Find Names for the Temple: A Step-by-Step Method for Success, and shared...

RLP 12: Productivity

Oct 1, 2018

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss productivity and how to make the best use of your research time. We discuss various ideas including the pomodoro technique, using Google Keep, a 30×30 challenge for daily research in small increments of time, and using a time journal to notice what you spend time on and eliminate time thieves. Links Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide by Diana Elder with Nicole Dyer on Amazon.com...

RLP 11: Organization

Sep 24, 2018

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss ideas for organizing genealogy papers, documents, electronic files, and more. We’ll talk about how to choose a personal family tree software program and how to create backups of your research so they don’t get lost or destroyed. Diana is going to talk about her story of receiving a suitcase full of unorganized genealogy papers from her father and how she dealt with that. We’ll talk about...

Find Names for the Temple Part 7: Repeat the Process

Sep 20, 2018

When you have completed the entire process of finding names for the temple, you will probably, at some point, want to find more names. The next time you do the process, it will be easier, because you have already made a list of ancestors to research! If you are working with a full tree and doing descendancy research, go back to your “List of Ancestors for Descendancy Research.” Select another one of the candidates for further...

RLP 10: George W. Dillard Case Study

Sep 17, 2018

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss a research project that Diana completed to determine if George W. Dillard was the father of our ancestor, Cynthia (Dillard) Royston. Here’s the objective of the project: The objective of this research project was to determine if George W. Dillard born 1781 in Virginia and died 1854 in Lee County, Alabama was the father of Cynthia (Dillard) Royston. Cynthia was born about 1815 in Georgia. She...

Find Names for the Temple Part 6: Reserve Temple Ordinances

Sep 13, 2018

Now that you have added new relatives to FamilySearch Family Tree, attached sources, and ensured there are no duplicates, you are ready to reserve temple ordinances. To view previous posts in this series, click the links below: Part 1: Review the Accuracy of Your Tree Part 2: Analyze Your Pedigree Part 3: Analyze Descendancy Trees Part 4: Research Part 5: Record Your Findings Part 6: Reserve Temple Ordinances To view all the articles detailing each step,...

RLP 9: Report Writing

Sep 10, 2018

In today’s episode of the podcast we are talking all about why you should write your results at the end of a research project. There are so many reasons, but probably the most important is that the act of writing about something helps you make connections and solve problems. And of course, it also helps you to leave the project knowing that you can pick it back up in a year and know exactly where...

Find Names for the Temple Part 5: Record Your Findings

Sep 6, 2018

Recording what you found is an essential part of the research process. You should record the information in your own notes, FamilySearch Family Tree, and your personal genealogy database, (i.e. RootsMagic, Family Tree Maker, Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree). To view the other parts in this series, click the links below: Part 1: Review the Accuracy of Your Tree Part 2: Analyze Your Pedigree Part 3: Analyze Descendancy Trees Part 4: Research Part 5: Record Your...

RLP 8: Research Logs

Sep 3, 2018

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss research logs. You know, that dreaded spreadsheet that you should keep when you’re doing research. We will discuss a few different types of research logs, including Research Ties, spreadsheets, tables, paper logs, and the research notebook. We will also talk about how we normally use our research log in our workflow. Diana is going to talk about how she never feels like she’s really doing research...