Welcome to Part 3 of our six-part series, “Key Records and Repositories.” In this section, we’ll thoroughly inspect land and property records, emphasizing this region’s Spanish land grants. This module is particularly beneficial for genealogists researching family histories in the American Southwest. These records are a valuable resource, offering insights into land ownership, family linkages, and key aspects of migration, economic development, and legal structures that have influenced the region. After our discussion on the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about conflicts encountered while researching our ancestor Harriet Huggett Kelsey and updating her profile on FamilySearch. Diana found conflicting information about Harriet’s birth year, with possible years of 1823, 1825, and 1826 from different sources. We discuss a conflict regarding the name and identity of Harriet’s twin sister Hester/Esther, with records using both spellings and even an indexed baptism record combining the two sisters’ names into “Esther...
In the second post of our six-part series, “Key Records and Repositories,” we focus on church and cemetery records in the Southwestern United States. Today, we’re exploring the unique aspects of church and cemetery records in states like Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. These records are not only vital links to the past but also gateways to understanding the diverse cultural heritage of this region. The Role of Church Records in Southwestern...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about our ancestor Harriett Huggett (Nicole’s 3rd great-grandmother and Diana’s 2nd great-grandmother). Diana researched records for Harriett’s early life in England. She enjoyed finding a personal history written by Harriett’s granddaughter which provided wonderful details about Harriett’s decision to leave her wealthy situation. The history describes their difficult journey and Harriett’s adjustment to poverty in the Utah desert after being used to fine things in England. We...
Have you ever felt like you’ve been working on a research question for years, and are not even sure what progress you’ve made? To combat this feeling, we recommend breaking up complex research projects into phases. For instance, researching the mother of a female ancestor born in the early 1800s is unlikely to be completed within 20 hours. It will likely require several phases, each with its own objective. As professional genealogists, this is how...
Welcome to the first post in our six-part series on genealogical research in the Southwestern United States, encompassing Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. This series is dedicated to guiding genealogists through the complex system of records and repositories in this region. The series will include the following posts: Part 1 – Understanding Federal, State, and Local records Part 2 – Church and Cemetery Records Unique to the Southwest Part 3 – Land...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Torhild Shirley about Scandinavian research. She continues the case study of Gudmund Rasmussen and discusses research planning, carrying out the research, and the conclusion. The central question addressed in this episode revolves around whether Gudmund Rasmusson, presumed to be Rasmus Gudmundsson’s father, married twice – first to Elsa Thuesdotter and then to Karna Larsdotter. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode...
As 2023 draws to a close, we thought it would be fun to review the most popular posts on Family Locket published this year. I’m not surprised that our most popular post was about ChatGPT. One of my favorite ways to use ChatGPT is to summarize articles. So, I thought it would be apropos to use it to summarize the articles below. Here they are! 1. Making ChatGPT a Valuable Genealogy Assistant – April 20,...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Scandinavian research expert, Torhild Shirley, AG. Torhild is a native of Norway. We discuss the challenges of genealogical research in Scandinavia, focusing on a case study from Sweden. In the case, Torhild aims to uniquely identify a person named Rasmus Gudmundsson, born around 1719 in Malmöhus, Sweden, using Swedish tax and church records. We discuss challenges from the patronymic naming system and the use...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole Dyer and Diana Elder speak with Sam Howes, an archivist at Bates College in Maine. They discuss his work managing the official records of the college, including administrative documents, student records, yearbooks, and special collections. Sam explains what types of materials college archives typically maintain, like trustee meeting minutes, presidential records, alumni newsletters, student government documents, and more. He notes that confidentiality restrictions can limit access...
