Blog – Page 24 – Family Locket

Selina (Beddoes) Kelsey (1864-1962): Utah Pioneer in the News

Newspapers provide a look at our ancestors’ lives that can be unique. Before Google Photos, Family Search Memories, and Ancestry trees, we clipped newspaper articles and saved them in scrapbooks. My grandmother, Florence (Creer) Kelsey, was a wonderful keeper of news articles relating to her family, and thanks to her, I have a nice collection of clippings about my great-grandmother Selina (Beddoes) Kelsey. At the time of her death in 1962, Selina was one of […]

By Diana Elder July 26, 2023 Creating and Sharing Family History

RLP 263: Alford/Johnson Project – Interview with Michelle Mickelson Part 2

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is the second in a series of discussions with Michelle Mickelson about the Alford/Johnson research project. The project was commissioned to determine if James William Johnson was actually Patrick Alford. The data from a deep dive into friends, family, associates, and neighbors revealed that the two men were almost certainly the same – based on records of the siblings. Join us as we review this project with Michelle. […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 24, 2023 Podcast

Writing Family History: Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of An American Family

Do you have a fascinating ancestor who is also a historical figure? What if family stories, DNA, and research found that ancestor to be a different race than expected? Researching and imagining their life could lead to asking hard questions and writing their story. Rachel Jamison Webster discovered her ancestor, Benjamin Banneker, was a brilliant mathematician who surveyed Washington D.C., and wrote almanacs. He was also African American, and her branch of the family had […]

By Diana Elder July 22, 2023 Book Club, Creating and Sharing Family History

RLP 262: Michelle Dickens’ Certification Journey

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Michelle Dickens, CG, a member of the Research Like a Pro Facebook group, who recently completed her application for certification through the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Michelle shares how she prepared for certification through studying textbooks, the RLP podcast and books, and working on her work samples. Join us for a fun talk with Michelle. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 17, 2023 Podcast

Finding William Keaton’s Land: A Visit to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History

Discovering the location of an ancestor’s land is always exciting. Once the approximate location has been determined, we can visit the land and imagine the work that went into settling it. Land grants, patents, and deeds are all land records that can reveal the location. Because my paternal lines are out of the South and I grew up in the West, I haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Southern states, much less the actual […]

By Diana Elder July 16, 2023 Research Tips

RLP 261: Malissa Welch – Correcting Incorrect Parents

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Malissa Welch, Diana’s 2nd-great-grandmother. We discuss her life and sources we have found for her, and how we incorrectly attached the parents of Meredith Welch and Susannah early in our genealogy research. Later we discovered a conflict with her name which led to discovering the correct parents for Malissa. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 261 Malissa Welch Correcting incorrect parents Welcome […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 10, 2023 Podcast

Back to the Basics with Marriage Records Part 4: Civil Marriage Records

In part 3 of this series, Back to the Basics with Marriage Records: Church Marriage Records, I talked about church marriage records and how to find them. While church marriage records are common and easy to find in Europe, civil marriage records are much easier to find in United States records. Part of the reason for this is that church records are private, while civil marriage records are public and easier to access. In my […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 8, 2023 Records, Research Tips

RLP 260: Shipindex with Peter McCracken

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Peter McCracken, founder of ShipIndex.org. Peter is an electronic resources librarian at Cornell University. Shipindex is a database to assist researchers finding material about vessels. Peter tells us about ShipIndex and how it can be useful for genealogists. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 260 Ship Index with Peter McCracken Welcome to research Like a Pro a genealogy podcast about […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer July 3, 2023 Podcast

Visiting the Land of Colonial Emigrant Ancestor: Thomas Royston (1610-1699)

Have you had the chance to stand on the ground that your colonial emigrant ancestor may have also traversed? Tracing a family line to the original emigrant during Colonial America can be one of the most difficult research tasks. Record loss, poor record keeping, and people of the same name are all challenges that, with some ancestors, make it impossible to make a positive identification. For my Royston line, the unique surname, original Virginia land […]

By Diana Elder July 1, 2023 Research Tips

RLP 259: The Coverage Estimator

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Coverage Estimator tool at DNA Painter. We discuss the purpose of the tool, some ways to use it, and how to use it. We also share some examples of how we’ve used it. Nicole shares her Joanna West case and how the coverage estimator showed increased coverage as more test-takers were added. Diana shares how she is using the coverage estimator to track the coverage […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer June 26, 2023 Podcast