Have you ever wondered what is at your state archives? Tucked away in a corner, could you find a clue to your ancestor's life? Every state has a physical location that hosts a treasure trove of artifacts, documents, books, and more. The National Archives provides a list of state archives and don't despair if you don't live near the one where you need to research. Many of them are digitizing their collections and making them available on their websites. Some of the state archives will respond to research questions and for others you might have to hire an onsite researcher. I needed experience...
How long has it been since you looked at some of your oldest research? A year or two? Several years? You might be surprised and in for a treat if you pick up one of your loose ends. With the number of new databases added daily to the internet, the answer to a nagging question might be waiting. Need more convincing? Keep reading for three reasons to revisit your research. I recently revisited a Confederate soldier in my family: C.B. (Charles Baldwin) Royston. He enlisted in the Confederacy but never came home from the Civil War. I researched the Royston...
Do you have a strategy for researching or do you just start clicking around and hope for the best? One of the characteristics of an excellent genealogist is planning. Taking a few minutes to analyze a pedigree or document and come up with a research plan can turn an hour of research from ho-hum to productive. Today I'm going to share what I learned about research planning in session 2 of my Accreditation Study Group for Levels 2 & 3 of the test. (Here's what we did in session 1.) I also wrote about the Level 1 Accreditation Study Group here. One...
Summer is coming to a close. Among the vacations, picnics, and other fun did you get a chance to do any family history? You may have done more than you thought. Did you reunite with extended family at a reunion? Maybe visit some ancestor graves or historic sites? How about attend a family history or genealogy conference? If you're ready to get back on track with your research, then I have just the thing for you - and it's free! The famed Family History Library will be holding two week-long events: the United States Research Seminar 2016, August 22nd to...
After an exciting and exhausting week at Brigham Young University's Conference on Family History & Genealogy, it's time to digest all of the information swimming around in my head. Nicole and I attended the conference as official bloggers and met people from all over the country who share our passion for finding their family. Four days, three keynote addresses and nineteen classes later, what did I learn? Keep reading and I'll fill you in! Vendors A conference would not be complete without the vendors and this was no exception. I collected their flyers, talked with them about their products, and spun...
Are you sure you've found all of the clues in the census records for your family? After you look at the names, ages, and birthplaces, do you pay attention to the rest of the questions and answers? Census records are one of the most valuable tools for a researcher, not only for the information reported, but for the clues to other records. I recently revisited the 1910 census looking for clues on my great, great grandfather, Robert Cisney Royston. He died in 1915, so this was the last census of his life. Records for him are scarce. Aside from census...
Are you curious about the process to become an Accredited Genealogist (AG)? Maybe you'd like to get started but aren't sure what to do next. Follow my journey and see if Accreditation is for you! In the six months since I set a goal to become an AG, I've been working consistently towards that goal. I shared my experience from the Level I Study Group several weeks ago. Level 1 focused on the application for Accreditation and the Four-generation research project. I learned so much from that initial study group, that I happily continued on to the Level 2 &...
Have you ever found a marriage listing of an ancestor in an online index or in a book of marriage abstracts and been so excited you didn't question it? Just added the information to your database, researched the couple and their children and went merrily on your way? I did this a few years ago, but unfortunately I connected the wrong marriage record to my ancestor. Essentially I married her to the wrong man. How did I completely miss the boat? It all has to do with original versus derivative sources. An original source is just what it says, original:...
Have you ever spent an hour at the doctor's office waiting for your turn, wishing you had something more interesting to do than scanning Facebook? Try the FamilySearch Tree Mobile App! I just discovered the "Descendants with Tasks" feature and it's pretty smooth. You can go to an ancestor, view their profile, and click the menu button to see the "Descendants With Tasks" option. There you'll see a list of all that ancestor's descendants who have "tasks" - either record hints to attach (blue icons) or temple work to reserve (green temple icons). When you click on the blue record hint icon,...
Do you research in the same state over and over? Do you ever find great information on the web that you'd like to save but don't know what to do with it? Do you have stacks of papers you've printed out for future reference, but you can't find them now? If you answered yes to any of those questions, maybe it's time you created your own research guide. A research guide is a collection of information that you can draw on as you research. It can include maps, history, and geography of your locality. It might be a list of...
