In this podcast episode, Diana and Nicole talk with guest Michelle Mickelson, AG, about the significance of the Homestead Act of 1862 in spurring westward expansion and its implications for genealogy. They explore how this act allowed people to claim and cultivate land in states like Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah, and discuss how genealogists can access these land records through the National Archives, Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office, and...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s visit to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History to learn more about William Keaton, our ancestor. William Keaton received a land grant in the late 1700s in Pendleton District, which became Anderson County. Diana shares what she learned in her visit to the archives and we discuss the land grant. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 282, finding William...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s road trip to Oklahoma to visit sites relevant to her great-grandparents, William Huston Shults and Dora Algie Royston. She shares her experiences finding cemeteries, visiting small towns, and reading her ancestors’ stories as they drove around. She also shares a few tips for preparing for a family history road trip, including bringing a map and printing out the histories of your ancestors before you go....
Do any of your ancestral lines go back to the southern colonies of Georgia, Virginia, or the Carolinas? You may have wondered if it is even possible to research families in these difficult localities and times. Often all we need is a new perspective on the research – something that I gained in abundance in my recent course at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), which was coordinated by J. Mark Lowe. I’ll...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to find and use gazetteers in your genealogy research. Diana and Nicole discuss how to locate them using the FamilySearch Wiki, Google, and library catalogs, and what kind of helpful information they contain. They share several examples of helpful gazetteers, including Meyers Gazetteer for Germany, the U.S. Geographic Name Information System, Names in South Carolina, and more. Links Gazetteers – article at the FamilySearch Wiki...
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...
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...
Updated links as of 16 October 2024 When faced with a tough research problem, have you considered digging into the location? Often clues or even the answer to your question can be found with an in-depth look at the places your ancestor lived, worked, and died. Professional genealogists thoroughly research any new area as part of their planning and so can you! In Part 1 of the Research Like a Pro series, you learned...
Children love playing games. According to the book Einstein Never Used Flashcards by Roberta Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, play is how young children learn. I loved this book – the ideas really resonated with me. Of course children learn more when they are playing, not just repeating memorized information to please an adult. To teach my children about world geography and family history at the same time, I made a personalized “where in the world”...
