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.

How to Find Your Ancestors in Early Relief Society Records

Mar 26, 2017

How can you find out if your female ancestors helped build the early Relief Society organization? I happened upon this FamilySearch campaign and it really changed my view of Relief Society and womanhood in general. Learning about my early Relief Society ancestors helped me with many of my own concerns about being a woman in today’s society. Read about that here: What I learned about feminism from my remarkable Relief Society ancestors. Step 1: FamilySearch...

What I learned about feminism from my remarkable Relief Society ancestors

Mar 25, 2017

In a world where womanhood, motherhood, and feminism are often discussed by opinionated and conflicting voices, I’m constantly pondering questions about a woman’s role in society. Do I need a career to make a valuable contribution to the world? Is my service at home looked down upon? How can I balance homemaking with raising with my children? When my children are grown, what will be my work? What is a woman’s role in the church? I found...

Kid General Authorities Coloring Book and Matching Game

Mar 24, 2017

LDS General Conference is coming up! Here are two free, printable activities you can do with your kids using photos of the general authorities as children. As you know, I love making coloring pages of our family and ancestors from photos, so I thought this would be a fun way to do the same for a conference activity to help my kids learn that the apostles were kids once, too. Have you read Kid Presidents?...

Mom’s Secret Weapon for Better Family Dinners and Stronger Children

Mar 21, 2017

I have a secret weapon for making family dinner happier. Every time I try it, it results in laughter, connection, and fun. Oftentimes when we sit down together to eat diner, all that can be heard is: “Ugh be quiet, stop making that noise, you’re bothering me.” “Please don’t eat until we say the prayer.” “I need a snack.” “We’re not having a snack right now we’re eating dinner.” “Can I have something else?” “I...

Is It Important to Share Family History with Kids?

Mar 15, 2017

Anything that happened before your child’s birth is “history” to them. Do you tell them the story of how you and your spouse met? The story of their own birth? Those times in college when you wanted to quit? The time you were the last to get picked for a team? The time when grandma gave food to strangers stranded in a snow storm? The time when great grandpa rescued fellow sailors when their ship...

5 Ideas for Family History Innovators

Mar 13, 2017

“Which of the judging criteria was most important to you during the judging process?” Alan Doane, John Richards, Kenyatta Berry, myself, Thomas MacEntee I was sitting down with the judges after the RootsTech 2017 Innovator Showdown Finals, feeling pretty lucky to be surrounded by such experienced, knowledgeable people. “Business viability.” “Innovative technology.” “Pitch.” And then an answer I wasn’t expecting… “Impact.” Dalton Wright, a partner at Kickstart Seed Fund, said that while he was looking...

Brave Ancestors, Brave Daughters: Make A Brave Women Book

Mar 6, 2017

I asked my 3-year-old daughter if she knows what it means to be brave. She didn’t. I told her that it means “doing something you are afraid of, or doing something that is hard.” Then I read Seven Brave Women with her. We discussed several different ways that everyday women in the past were brave. Seven Brave Women by Betsy Hearne is a story about the brave deeds of the author’s ancestresses. Each of them did something...

Family History for Children Blog Link Up

Mar 3, 2017

I’m excited to announce that I’m hosting the very first “Family History for Children” blog link up. I loved the genealogy blog party by Elizabeth O’Neal at Little Bytes of Life and this is partly inspired by her. Thank you Elizabeth! Rather than focusing on genealogy in general, I am inviting you to share about the important topic of Family History for Children (ages 0-18). My hope is to add inspirational stories and practical tips...

Favorite Reads of the Month – February 2017

Feb 28, 2017

tortillas: an heirloom by Allison Kimball at Simple Inspiration Discovering My Passion for Genealogy by Kenyatta Berry at FamilySearch Blog ‘It’s a Small World’ 4-part DNA online series YouTube series by AncestryAU 4 Reasons You Should Be Recording Family Stories by Hilarie at Legacy Tale New Discovery Experience center provides a jump start for family history by Twila Van Leer at Deseret News RootsTech Oscar “Andy” Hammerstein on Creating a Family Culture by Scot and Maurine Proctor at Meridian Magazine The...

Gathering Strength From the Past – Hank Smith at RootsTech 2017

Feb 17, 2017

Did you know that when you learn stories about your ancestors, it actually gives them power to reach through the centuries and touch you?! At Family Discovery Day last week, Hank Smith, popular speaker for youth, shared how knowing a story from his family history helped him make a good choice. (See the video of Hank’s address here. And don’t forget to watch the bonus video at the end of this post!) Hank was a teenager...