In this episode, Nicole and Diana discuss Nicole’s research adventures in Love County, Oklahoma, focusing on tax records. Nicole shares her experience of finding valuable genealogical treasures in an old jail, detailing the challenges she faced, such as a lack of workspace and a dying phone battery, and how she adapted. She explains the organization of the tax records, including multiple volumes per year and different organizational systems for land versus personal property and poll...
An important step in our research is to make a plan. Rather than haphazardly clicking on record sets in various websites, we can think through our research objective and what we know about the family and locality, then plan searches in specific record sets. For this part of the Research Like a Pro process, we have several steps that help solidify what we know and prioritize the research. Previous posts in this series are: Revisiting...
Today, Nicole and Diana discuss Nicole’s genealogical “treasure hunt” at the Love County Courthouse in Marietta, Oklahoma, where she uncovered land records for her Harris family ancestors. Nicole shares her preparation process, including calling the courthouse and using RandyMajors.org to map out locations. She recounts her journey to the courthouse and how she became oriented with the deed books and indexes. Listeners will learn about Nicole’s first discovery of records for her second-great-grandfather, Dock Harris,...
Researching a new locality is always exciting. Finding the extant records and learning the background of the area sets the stage for the research phase. My latest project on finding the father of Cynthia (Dillard) Royston involves research in a new area of Georgia. Using AI to help create the locality guide for Cass County, Georgia, speeded up this part of the Research Like a Pro process and gave me good insights. Research Objective I...
Welcome to Research Like a Pro! In this episode, Nicole and Diana discuss high-quality handwritten text recognition with Gemini 2.5 Pro in Google AI Studio. Nicole shares her experience transcribing a 1791 South Carolina deed, highlighting how accurate the transcription was using Google AI Studio. She explains that Google AI Studio is a free, web-based tool for prototyping and testing Google’s Gemini AI models, and she finds it to be the most accurate way to...
In my ongoing research to discover the father of Cynthia (Dillard) Royston, I’m exploring a new Dillard group who appeared in Cass County, Georgia, by 1840. In Part 1, I outlined the four previous research projects, including their objectives and conclusions. In this blog post, I’ll share the next step in the Research Like a Pro process: creating a timeline and analyzing the sources and information they hold, along with any evidence they provide. Research...
Today, Nicole and Diana welcome Gavin Beinart-Smollan, the Public Historian in Residence at The Jewish Board, one of New York State’s largest and oldest mental health and social service agencies. Gavin is also a PhD candidate at New York University, researching the history of Jewish immigration and the Jewish immigrant family. He is the project lead for 150yearsofcare.org, a digital history exhibition and genealogy database. In this episode, Gavin discusses two incredible resources: the National...
If you’ve been following the saga of my research into Cynthia (Dillard) Royston’s father, you may be wondering if I’ve made any progress lately. I’m happy to report that, after four focused projects and taking a break for a few years, I have a new lead and am back on the quest. I’m tackling the Dillards again as part of the Research Like a Pro 11 Study Group and will share each step of the...
In this episode, Diana and Nicole discuss the value of visiting a local historical society and museum for genealogical research. Diana shares her experience visiting the Cassia County Historical Society & Museum in Burley, Idaho. She talks about finding scrapbooks with newspaper articles, including tributes to her Uncle Ted Kelsey and details about her family’s donated pioneer cabin. Nicole also recounts the significance of the cabin’s donation to the museum. They describe the museum’s features,...
Nicole and Diana discuss the final and most important step in preparing for an onsite genealogy research trip: calling the facility. Diana opens by referencing previous episodes that covered foundational steps like creating a research objective, developing a timeline, conducting locality research, and crafting a detailed research plan. Nicole emphasizes that calling ahead is her number one tip for successful onsite research because it can reveal critical information not found online. They share anecdotes from...
