I've been doing the 30 minute daily research challenge for two weeks now. Some days I can barely keep my eyes open long enough to get it done (like when I don't start until after 10pm) and other days I spend much more than 30 minutes because I get on a track of discovery. Mostly, I try to keep my daily research to 30 minutes. Along the way, I've learned a few things for making the most of my time. Here's some tips if you also are researching in small increments of time: Research Log Keep notes in a cloud based research...
This year I'm starting the journey that I hope will end with my becoming an Accredited Genealogist. What exactly does that mean? What steps do I need to take? Keep reading and I'll fill you in! I had never considered becoming a professional genealogist until Nicole broached the subject several months ago. She had looked into the certification process and decided to start working slowly toward that long term goal. About the same time, a neighbor approached me with an offer to pay me for helping him straighten out his family lines. I had my first client! I discovered that...
Janine from Organize Your Family History shared her 30x30 challenge the other day and I was inspired to do it too. I'm excited to join her in researching 30 minutes every day for the next 30 days! What better way to prepare for the RootsTech conference that I get to attend for the first time this year, February 3-6, in Salt Lake City. As I'm researching I'll choose the classes that most apply to what I need to learn to solve the questions and problems I have in my research. Doing family history research in small increments of time has always been...
Are you ready to take your Family History efforts to the next level and actually get organized? Do you sometimes feel like you have spent the last hour of "research" mindlessly surfing the web looking for records of your family but you have no idea where you've been and what you've found? You might be ready to put some order into your research! Family History work has come a long way in the last twelve years. When I first started research in 2003, I kept all of my documents in paper file folders, my family tree on PAF (Personal Ancestral File)...
Do you have pioneer ancestors who joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) in the 1800's and came west to join the saints in Zion? The LDS church began emphasizing family history about 1890, so you may think that those branches of your family tree are complete and accurate. Just looking at your fan chart on FamilySearch's Family Tree, it might seem that there are no more family members to discover. In reality, our pioneer lines may be reasonably accurate up to a point, but the dates, places, and relationships are often based on family knowledge and...
Not sure what to do with the Family Search Partners that now appear on the Person page of Family Search? Have you clicked on one of them for fun and been completely overwhelmed with the amount of information you see? Or were you underwhelmed with the lack of relevant information returned? Because of FamilySearch's partnership with Ancestry, Find My past, and MyHeritage, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have access to free LDS accounts. If you have not registered for the partner websites, go to familysearch.org/partneraccess and create your free accounts. Keep your log-in information handy because you'll need...
Do you know of a diary or journal of a pioneer ancestor that used to be in the family and no one knows what happened to it? Would you like to hold the original and see your ancestor's actual handwriting? If you suspect you might have an ancestor who left a diary or journal you can follow the same steps I did to locate, view, and share it. My ancestor, William Henry Kelsey, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1843 in England. During the 1850's he traveled the area as a missionary. He kept a detailed journal...
Need a fun activity to help your youth learn to research census records? "Finding Franklin" gives them the opportunity to discover the wealth of information that can be found in a census. Questions about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States lead the youth to find specifics about his family and occupation over a span of 48 years. They can then use the skills they've developed to find their own family in the census records. I created this to use with FamilySearch.org, but you could try it with Ancestry.com or MyHeritage.com also. Each website has different search boxes and filters, so...
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah is the largest of its kind in the world. Chances are, if you love searching for your family, you'll want to pay a visit to this amazing library. For information on location, parking, classes, hours, and tips, here is your one stop web page: Family History Library The missing piece of your family's puzzle is probably somewhere in one of the books or microfilm available in this fabulous library. If only you knew where and how to find it! Novices in the genealogy world may hope that just by walking through...
Have you created your whole family tree in Ancestry.com or another system and now you want to try using FamilySearch.org? How do you move your tree over to FamilySearch.org? There are two ways - one without a GEDCOM file and one with. First, you should know that FamilySearch Family Tree is a collaborative tree. We all share ancestors, so when you add an ancestor, chances are that someone else has already added that person. That's why FamilySearch doesn't allow you to upload a GEDCOM without first comparing each individual to the people already in the tree. There are many duplicates that still...
