Are you interested in learning more about genealogy best practices and working toward becoming an Accredited Genealogist Professional or AG? There are resources available to help you prepare. I’m working toward becoming an Accredited Genealogist Professional (AG) through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) in the Southwest United States region. Several months ago, I learned that I passed the accreditation Level 1 by researching and writing a 4-Generation Project. The starting individual for the research and the parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and 2nd great-grandparents researched need to have at least one major life event that occurred in the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about locality research. This third step in the RLP process helps you understand the historical and geographical context of your research project. It also helps you find record groups that might be relevant to your research planning. This is a replay of episode 115 with new commentary at the beginning about Diana’s Missouri locality guide. Transcript Links RLP 115: Revisiting Locality Research – https://familylocket.com/rlp-115-revisiting-locality-research/ A History of the Ozarks, Volume 1 by Brooks Blevins – https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c041914 Research Like a Pro Resources Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide book by Diana Elder...
In the last blog post, we learned how the book American Nations provides a framework for understanding U.S. History that can give greater context to the community our individual ancestors were a part of. Our ancestor’s small FAN club connected into a larger network of FAN clubs that can be seen in history and in large genetic networks such as Ancestry Communities or the 2017 study published the scientific journal Nature Communications, “Clustering of 770,000 genomes reveals post-colonial population structure of North America.” In the first post, we covered the three heavyweight nations of early U.S. History, Yankeedom, and the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana studied Elijah Dillard’s timeline and chose two places to learn more about and create a locality guide – Macon County and Pike County. She also studied the ethnicity results of Victor and his matches, comparing their AncestryDNA communities. Transcript Links RLP with DNA Study...
Can DNA help us discover an unknown 4th great-grandfather? In the hopes that it can, I’m returning to my brick wall of identifying Cynthia (Dillard) Royston’s father. The Research Like a Pro with DNA study group is a perfect way to tackle a persistent research question. The structure of the assignments helps me stay on track and the process keeps me moving forward. I’ll be sharing my progress in this series. Will I finally be able to answer the question of who was Cynthia’s father? I don’t know. But I do know that I’ll be one step closer by the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lessons 5 and 6. Allison tells about doing locality research for her project in Alabama and Texas. She also talks about studying locations in DNA match’s trees, migration, and ethnicity. Lesson 6 is all about exploring DNA tools and methodology. Allison discusses the Genetic Affair Autocluster...
When researching your ancestors, have you considered a deep dive into the locality through reading a book? Although articles on Wikipedia or other websites can give us an overview of an area, we might be missing the deeper nuances that can be found in an in-depth scholarly treatment of our research locale. I recently read A History of the Ozarks, Volume 1: The Old Ozarks by Brooks Blevins. With several ancestral lines settling in the portion of Southern Missouri and northern Arkansas that makes up the Ozark region, I was hoping to gain insight into my ancestor’s actions. The book...
If you’re like me and overwhelmed by DNA and this new wealth of information for genealogists, I am going through my experience with the Research Like a Pro with DNA e-course to help those looking for a way to get started! This is the fifth post in the series. In the fourth step of the RLP with DNA process, Analyze Your Sources and DNA Matches, I went through the traditional genealogy records I had collected previously and analyzed the sources as original, derivative, or authored; the informant of the source as primary, secondary, or undetermined; and the evidence in the...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with co-founder of The Family History Guide, Bob Taylor. The FH Guide is a free website that aggregates learning resources for beginner and intermediate researchers to learn about genealogy research in step-by-step modules. Bob talks with us about the resources available at the FH Guide and walks us through the website. Links The Family History Guide: A Researcher’s Friend https://www.thefhguide.com/ Kids Corner at the FH Guide Countries page at the FH Guide Vault page at the FH Guide FamilySearch Research Wiki Research Like a Pro eCourse Study Group – more...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about locality research. As we revisit the steps of the research like a pro process, we are discussing Diana’s project about Nancy Briscoe. Nancy lived in several places, but this objective focused on her early years, during which time she lived in Arkansas and Missouri. Diana created two simple locality guides for two Missouri counties and used the Arkansas state guide she had already created. We discuss how to make your own locality guide to become familiar with the place you are researching and the records that are available there. Links...
