Are you ready to make new discoveries in land records for your ancestors? In Part 1 of our series on land records, I shared several reasons to research the land. A land record may reveal the following: a family relationship, clues to past or present residence, associates, evidence of migration, and more. I also explained the differences between “state land states” and “federal land states” in the United States system of land distribution. We looked...
Did you know that Quaker marriage records could include over 10 witnesses? Talk about a great resource for building a FAN club. In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss church records, and their genealogical value. We talk about the history of church records in the United States, what kinds of records you might be able to find, and several examples of evidence gained from membership records in various churches. Links Back to the...
Have you been wanting to learn how to use the FamilySearch Catalog to make new discoveries about your family? I taught this class twice at RootsTech and both classes were full, so you’re not alone. I use the catalog every day in my client research and I was excited to teach over 2,000 people how to become better researchers. Today I’m sharing an overview of my presentation and including the slides and syllabus at the...
The latest, greatest information about DNA and Genealogy was presented at Roots Tech. There were exciting new programs, tools, and technology announced and explained by DNA companies, and leading experts in the field. Nicole wrote eloquently about some of the classes she attended, and the fascinating concepts presented. It is an exciting time to be involved in genealogy, with new and improved ways of accessing and analyzing information at our fingertips! This article will highlight...
I was excited to present a class on research logs at RootsTech 2019. Research logs are the workhorse of my research process so I love helping others learn to use them to organize their research. Here is a synopsis of my lecture. I’m also including a PDF of my slides and my syllabus at the end of the article. What is a Research Log? Simply put, a research log is a record of what you...
I taught Organize Your Research with Google Drive at RootsTech this year and I enjoyed preparing for it immensely. I already loved Google Drive and used it with my usual genealogy workflow; but my preparation helped me find even more ways to use it to become a more productive and organized researcher. In this post, I’m sharing an overview of what I covered in the class, as well as links to my syllabus and presentation...
I had the pleasure of presenting a Power Hour at RootsTech with two of my colleagues, Julie Stoddard AG, and Lisa Stokes AG. We split our presentation into three parts: the Benefits of Accreditation, an Overview of Accreditation, and Preparing for Accreditation. I’m sharing a brief outline here and linking to the ICAPGen website where appropriate. Our slides and syllabus are attached at the end of this article. Diana presenting, Lisa and Julie seated at...
D. Joshua Taylor gave an excellent lecture at RootsTech about how to resolve conflicts in genealogy research. He said that if you are not finding any conflicts in your genealogy research, you may not be doing reasonably exhaustive research. During his lecture, he reviewed 8 methods for resolving conflicts, and gave several helpful examples. It was a great lecture. I’m sharing the first few steps that he suggested. Bio: D. Joshua Taylor is the President...
For today’s podcast we are sharing our keynote address from the Tucson Family History Fair on February 2, 2019. We talked about Diana’s story of receiving a suitcase full of unorganized genealogy papers from her father and her system of dealing with each paper one at a time. We talked about choosing personal genealogy software, and even compared our favorite programs to cars recommended by my son! Which program do you think we compared...
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 class at RootsTech 2019 yesterday. New & Improved Tools for DNA Matches [new filters] You can now easily switch between...