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.

Favorite Reads of the Week: 19 March 2016

Mar 19, 2016

Many articles and blog posts were about Irish roots this week, which I thoroughly enjoyed as we celebrated our Irish ancestry for St. Patrick’s Day. Amy Johnson Crow wrote a fascinating article refuting advice in an AARP bulletin which said to burn old family letters when de-cluttering. Laura Hedgecock’s thoughtful response about finding her parents’ love letters was equally interesting. A BBC article discussed what happens to our Facebook pages when we die – and how...

Celebrating Irish Heritage on St. Patrick’s Day

Mar 13, 2016

St. Patrick’s Day is only a few days away! Here are some ways that we’ve been celebrating our Irish Heritage: Learn about your Irish Heritage Did you know that 3.7 million American residents claim Irish ancestry? According to this graphic, that’s more than 7X the population of Ireland. Between 1830 and 1940, nearly 4.5 million Irish immigrants arrived in the United States. Do you have any Irish immigrants in your family tree? If so, here’s an article about...

Favorite Reads of the Week: 12 March 2016

Mar 12, 2016

Some of my favorite reads this week include: Family history writing tips from Paula Williams Madison, astonishing colorized photos by Marina Amaral interviewed on the FindMyPast blog, Genealogy Jen’s post about building ancestor immigration stories with legos, and Dustin Hoffman’s tearful discovery of family heritage. See the full list below! Family History on TV Recap of my favorite episode of Finding Your Roots (and this season’s finale) – I was shocked that he didn’t know his...

Remembering the Faith of My Ancestors with a Blurb Book

Mar 11, 2016

Two years ago, I made a book about my Grandpa Elder’s ancestors to give to my family for Christmas. I was inspired by William R. Walker’s talk in the April 2014 General Conference about learning stories of faith of our ancestors. I knew some of the conversion stories of my Mormon pioneer forefathers, but not all. I determined to find and compile all the stories and records about my LDS ancestors’ faith. One repository that...

Family History is for Everyone Spotlight: Phil Gregory

Mar 7, 2016

Today, Phil Gregory tells how he got started in family history in our second installment of the “Family History is for Everyone” series. Phil says, “I think we should all know where we came from, at least in some basic way.” He tells about the value of sharing records freely online and the discovery of his Irish ancestry. I met Phil six years ago while searching google for more information about a branch of my family tree...

Favorite Reads of the Week: 5 March 2016

Mar 5, 2016

Subjects highlighted in our favorite reads this week include: DNA and health/longevity family trees Memories of grandparents Irish Family History Day and Irish-American Heritage Month Women’s History Month and more! Thanks to all the bloggers out there who are writing these fascinating posts. [View the story “Favorite Reads of the Week: 5 March 2016” on Storify]

“Grace O’Malley, Queen of the Sea” by Elizabeth O’Neill-Sheehan

Mar 4, 2016

As part of the Family Locket Book Club, we’ll be featuring a children’s book each month. Please share your comments on the books in our Goodreads group or in the comments section! The criteria for the children’s books we share will be: books that are about someone’s ancestors books that give ideas for writing family history stories for children books that teach about genealogy and family history books that inspire young people to learn more about...

How to Learn about the Public Service of your Female Ancestors

Mar 2, 2016

Do you know more about your male or female ancestors? Men are definitely easier to research. They owned land and were listed as the heads of household on U.S. Federal Census records before 1850. We’ve probably all traced our surname line back as far as possible – who wouldn’t want to know where their name came from? The soldiers, land owners, prominent business men, and community leaders in our family trees have captured the interest of many of...

Favorite Reads of the Week: 27 February 2016

Feb 27, 2016

Relative Race I’m eager to find out if the new genealogy reality show, Relative Race, premiering tomorrow, Sunday at 6pm MT, can measure up to The Amazing Race (CBS). Relative Race will be on BYUtv which is free to watch online. Grandma’s Makeup I want to highlight a unique post from the blogosphere this week at Bustle.com about interviewing your Grandma by asking her to do your makeup. The author said, “My grandma told me that her first experiences with mascara involved a “block”...

Make Your Family History Book Kid-Friendly

Feb 26, 2016

Do you have a compiled genealogy book with numbers assigned to each individual? What do those numbers mean and how can you trace your family with them? If you have wondered how to navigate the long blocks of numbered text in these books, you’re not alone. Last September, my friend Gina and I were chatting about family history when she showed me a genealogy book compiled by one of her husband’s relatives. She let me borrow it. As I flipped through it, I realized how daunting...