We are loving Education Week at Brigham Young University this week. We’ve been attending classes, enjoying lunches with friends, and most of all, we are enjoying sharing and teaching about family history. Thank you to everyone who has been attending our classes. It has been great to meet you and hear your comments. We look forward to the next two days! For those of you who are attending our week-long series of classes entitled “The...
Do you have 15 minutes to spare for making a little map magic? Would you like to explore the location where your ancestor lived? With county boundaries changing throughout the 18th and 19th centuries you need to do a little investigating to figure out the lay of the land. Would you like to also see a topographical view of the area? With two free databases, you can now do all of this from your home...
Today’s podcast episode is all about why you need to start creating research plans for every project, and how to do it. There are fives steps: Create a document with objective at top, compile a summary of known facts, write a hypothesis, make a list of sources to search, then finalize a prioritized strategy. We will talk about the need to be flexible as we follow our research plans, since plans change once you find...
Today Diana and I are going to wrap up our discussion of locality research. In last week’s episode we talked about the first two question to ask: “What happened?” and “Where did it happen?” Today, we are talking about the last question: “Why did it happen?” This episode is all about the historical context that affected our ancestors lives. What is your favorite way to learn about historical context? We suggest several ideas, including county...
Diana and Peggy Lauritzen at the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy, 2018 When is the last time you went outside of your genealogical comfort zone and learned something unrelated to your usual research area? One of my favorite sayings is, “you don’t know what you don’t know.” That statement especially holds true for genealogy. Attending the BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy last week, I decided to try out some classes in...
Today we’re talking about preparing to research by learning more about the where your ancestor lived. Doing locality research is absolutely essential! Previously, we talked about objectives in epsidode 2, and analysis in episode 3. Those are the first steps in a research project. Today, Diana and I are going to dive in to the next step, locality research, and talk in depth about all the ways you can learn more about a location. Before...
Diana and I decided to start a podcast to be able to share with more people our research methods and strategies. We are so excited for you to join us! In the Research Like a Pro podcast, we will discuss how to take your family history research to the next level and uncover more of your family tree. Learn about research objectives, analysis, locality research, research planning, source citations, report writing, case studies, and more....
Today, Diana and I are talking about analyzing your sources – the next thing to do in your research project after creating an objective. In order to establish what you know and determine how reliable it is, you must analyze the source, information, and evidence on a record. Start by gathering up all the sources that you’ve already found. Talk to close relatives who have knowledge or information about the project. Check online family trees...
Have you wondered what is behind the scenes at an archive? Any idea what work goes into preserving the records that we use for our genealogy research? I recently presented a class on using probate records at the Family History Workshop sponsored by the Utah Division of Archives and Records Service and was treated to a tour of the archived records. My guide opened an innocuous door and when I entered the archive I was...
Have you been interested in joining a Research Like a Pro Study Group, but worried about the time commitment? Perhaps the dates didn’t work for you or you were nervous about receiving peer feedback on your work. I’m excited to announce that Nicole and I are launching the Research Like a Pro E-course designed to give you the extra boost you might need in your research efforts. You’ll be able to work at your own...