In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss the book “The Woman They Could Not Silence” by Kate Moore. They focus on the story of Elizabeth Packard, who was committed to an asylum by her husband in the 1860s. Elizabeth’s experience sheds light on the injustices women faced under coverture laws and the lack of oversight in mental health institutions at the time. The hosts discuss Elizabeth’s tireless efforts to secure...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss using DNA segment data in a research project. Diana shares her experience working on a chromosome map in DNA Painter for several years, gradually adding matches identified as descending from one of her ancestral couples. She focuses on her Cline DNA research project, where she seeks genetic evidence to confirm her hypothesis that John C. Cline is the father of Clemsy (Cline) Weatherford....
This blog post was written with the assistance of AI based on the Henderson Weatherford Research project uploaded to Claude 3.5 Sonnet. See the report link at the end of the article for all information fully cited. In genealogy, what we don’t find can be just as important as what we do find. The case of Henderson Weatherford, born about 1815 in Tennessee, demonstrates how careful attention to negative evidence helped break down a long-standing...
In this episode of the Research Like a Pro Genealogy podcast, hosts Diana and Nicole interview Lisa Stokes, AG, about educational opportunities for genealogists. Lisa, an experienced genealogist and educator, shares her insights on several valuable resources. She begins by discussing her e-course, Genealogy Source Citations Simplified, emphasizing the importance of proper citations for credibility and accuracy in genealogical research. Lisa’s course offers a simplified approach to citations, guiding students through step-by-step video tutorials and...
Tax research involves a lot of data – land, property, associates, amount of tax paid, and more. You may be working with a run of tax lists for several years and dealing with several individuals in those tax lists. Once you’ve carefully extracted the data, the next challenge is analyzing it. I recently wrote about customizing an Airtable research log for tax research to match the headings in the Dallas County, Texas, rolls from 1847...
Nicole and Diana discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in report writing for genealogy research. They talk about the different roles AI can play, such as a coworker, creative assistant, tutor, and coach. Diana and Nicole acknowledge the challenges of using AI, including the need to track its use, fact-check responses, and maintain a personal writing style. Nicole shares how to use AI for various sections of a research report, such as...
Have you ever found yourself frustrated while searching through Ancestry.com’s city directories? As genealogists, we often assume that printed materials like city directories, with their clean, typewritten text, would be easily and accurately indexed. However, I recently discovered that unique formatting in these historical documents can lead to some surprising indexing challenges. Here’s what I learned while searching through Las Animas County, Colorado, directories, and how you can avoid similar pitfalls in your research. Claude.ai...
Nicole and Diana discuss Diana’s recent project on Isabella Weatherford, demonstrating how she used both traditional methods and AI assistance to log her research effectively. Diana reviews the research plan she created using AI, including the objective to examine the economic and social conditions in Dallas County, Texas, in the early 1870s and their influence on Isabella’s life and marriage prospects. Diana followed the research plan, beginning with county histories. She used Claude, an...
If you’ve studied tax records when tracking an ancestor, you know how much data there can be to enter. Tax records are invaluable in research because they were taken annually, filling in the years between the federal census. The challenge comes in finding a good way to track and analyze the data. Airtable is my favorite research log tool, and by adding a linked table to the log, I can tame that tax data and...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro Genealogy, Diana and Nicole discuss using descendancy research to find DNA test takers. They explain how DNA evidence often involves identification of living individuals. The hosts outline the steps for descendancy research, emphasizing the importance of fully identifying the starting ancestor. Nicole shares a case study from her Dyer project, demonstrating how she identified her starting ancestor James Dyer and traced his children forward using various records...
