Have you ever read a family history with an interesting fact, like "Great Grandma was a full blooded Cherokee"? You're excited to read more and see some proof, but there is nothing: no source citations or documentation of any kind. You're left in the dark, wondering how much to believe in that history. My great grandmother, Eliza Ann Isenhour, supposedly had Cherokee heritage. Unfortunately, the family history stating this fact neglected to state any proof. Nicole and I researched Eliza's parents, found that she actually belonged to the Eisenhour clan, and through that connection discovered our relationship to President Dwight D. Eisenhour....
The excitement and hoopla of RootsTech 2016 ended last Saturday and I came home with a bag, two new books to peruse, class notes, and lots of pieces of paper. So what's next?How do I organize everything I collected so I can find it when I need it? How am I going to use what I learned to make a difference in my family history efforts? After attending the Brigham Young University Family History Conference in 2015, I knew I needed to come up with a better method for keeping track of my conference paraphernalia! I had started using Evernote to...
Did you know that the individual giving the family's information in the 1940 census is marked with an X? Or how about the estimated 1.2 million Southerners missing in the 1870 census? These are just two of the fascinating and helpful discoveries I made last week as I studied more about the history and details found in U.S. Federal Census records. In working toward my Accreditation goal, I am studying each major record group suggested by the ICAPGen website. For the Gulf South region, I need to know census records very well. I have used census records for years and...
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...
