This podcast episode discusses visiting county courthouses for genealogical research. Diana shares her experience at the Chambers County Courthouse in Alabama, where she researched her ancestor, Thomas Beverly Royston. She explains the importance of preparing a research plan before visiting, including creating a timeline and identifying potential records. She also mentions learning about what records are available beforehand, either online or by contacting the courthouse. Diana describes the process of researching at the courthouse, such...
Diana and Nicole discuss using FamilySearch’s Full-Text Search to make genealogical discoveries. Diana explains how the tool helped her find new information about her ancestor, Thomas Beverly Royston, after previous searches came up empty. She details how to find and use the Full-Text Search feature on the FamilySearch website and shares tips for refining searches to get the best results. Diana describes using keywords and date ranges to narrow down the matches and emphasizes how...
This podcast episode focuses on the genealogy of two women, Clarinda Knapp Allen and Jerusha Barden Smith, and their connection to early settlers and significant figures in American history and the Latter-day Saint movement. Nicole discusses her husband’s ancestry, specifically how his relatives married into the Hyrum Smith family. She then shifts focus to one of her own ancestors, Clarinda Knapp, whose relationship to Hyrum Smith’s wife, Jerusha Barden, becomes the central point of discussion....
What can you find at the county courthouse? Records kept on the county level, such as deeds, mortgages, marriages, wills, guardianships, etc., are vital for our research. Although many of these items may be available online, some likely exist only at the courthouse. A trip to the courthouse may be in order if we want to perform reasonably exhaustive research. I recently visited Chambers County, Alabama, the residence of my ancestor, Thomas Beverly Royston, from...
In Episode 350 of the Research Like a Pro Genealogy podcast, Diana and Nicole discuss Florence Matilda (Creer) Kelsey’s first job. Diana begins by asking Nicole what she has been working on or reading. Diana recaps RootsTech, mentioning classes on AI, locality research, and transcriptions, as well as meeting listeners. Diana then introduces the subject of the episode by asking listeners if they remember their first job outside the home. She notes that ancestors also...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss several new genealogy tools and features. They cover the AncestryDNA “Matches by Cluster” feature, which is a visualization tool for Pro Tools users to identify related DNA matches. They also discuss the improved AncestryDNA feature that allows users to attach DNA matches’ lines to their family trees. Nicole explains the updates to the FamilySearch catalog, focusing on the site architecture and place standardization....
In Episode #339 of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss customizing an Airtable research log for tax research. Tax records are invaluable for genealogy research because they were taken annually, filling in the gaps between federal censuses. The challenge is finding a good way to track and analyze the data. Airtable is a favorite research log tool, and by adding a linked table to the log, researchers can tame tax data and make...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana interview Jessica Morgan, an Accredited Genealogist specializing in U.K. research. They discuss strategies for researching English ancestry when traditional parish records of baptisms, marriages, and burials are unavailable. Jessica highlights the value of parish chest records, which contain documents like settlement papers, bastardy bonds, and apprenticeship indentures. These records can reveal an ancestor’s origins, family relationships, and even their occupation. The hosts and guest...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Nicole and Diana discuss Transkribus, a platform that uses AI to transcribe handwritten documents. They explain how Transkribus works, the benefits it offers for genealogy research, and how to get started using it. Diana and Nicole outline the transcription process, including uploading documents, choosing the right model, and reviewing the results. They also highlight advanced features like language models, Smart Search, and Super Models, which can improve...
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....
