Kelley Becker and Neal Varner from AncestryDNA shared new genetic genealogy tools at their site! Some are in beta still, meaning they are brand new and still under development and you have to sign up to try them. Go to Ancestry.com/Beta to sign up to try these new features. I’m sharing my notes from their […]

I attended Blaine Bettinger’s DNA class entitled “Adding Shared Matches and Genetic Networks to Your Research” today (Thursday) at RootsTech 2019. I’m excited to share my notes with you. Description Shared matching and genetic clusters are among some of the most powerful tools genealogists have to work with DNA evidence. We will look at some […]

Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a presentation by Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL entitled “Digging Deeper: Voter Registrations.” Rebecca holds Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer credentials. She focuses on research in Maryland and the War of 1812. Rebecca has lectured for the Maryland State Archives, NGS Conference, IGHR, RootsTech, and webinars for […]

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss what negative evidence really is, and how it differs from negative results. We will talk about a couple examples of negative evidence and negative results, and how you can create citations for your negative results. Links Speaking Negatively: The Difference Between Negative Results and Negative Evidence […]

Demystify My DNA Part 1 I know the feeling–you finally submitted your DNA test, excitedly awaited the results, they finally arrived, you logged in, and then…what?  After poking around the website, it all seems interesting, but the question remains…What do I DO with it? There are 4 simple steps that will initially help you to […]

Why would you want to search land records as part of your genealogy research plan? Are they really useful? How do you find them and what information can they hold? These are some of the questions we’ll be looking at in our new series on land records. If you’ve been wanting to delve into the land […]

I have been studying citations for my Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) virtual class, Intermediate Foundations. Sara Scribner, CG, is our wonderful instructor. She gave us a suggested reading list about citations. I studied a few different articles by Tom Jones and Melinde Lutz Byrne, along with some parts of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, […]

We would love to see you at RootsTech. Here is a list of our classes! To view the full schedule, go here: RootsTech Salt Lake City 2019 Schedule. For a full listing of all our activities, sales, and class materials from RootsTech, please go to our webpage here: https://familylocket.com/rootstech/. Diana The FamilySearch Catalog: A Researcher’s […]

In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss the difference between indirect evidence vs. direct evidence. Is a birth year calculated from a census record considered direct or indirect evidence? What about the birth year ranges in pre-1850 U.S. Censuses? And what does your research question have to do with the type of evidence? […]

Have you heard of PERSI, short for the PERiodical Source Index? I recently used this amazing resource to discover an article about a very specific research question. If you’ve heard of PERSI, but not known how to use it, today I’ll be sharing 4 steps to get you started. First of all, a little background […]