A New Year, new genealogy sales, and new research plans for all of us

Paula Stuart-Warren  Genealogy  , , , ,  2 Comments

New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t really make them but have been thinking about some things that are genealogy related for 2026.

1. If you didn’t  take advantage of membership/subscription or DNA sales at the end of 2025, don’t worry. Many of our favorite websites and companies are having New Year’s sales. Check the websites of Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, and RootsMagic, to name a few. I keep seeing ads on Facebook for some of these. Don’t delay as these may not last more than a few days.)

2. Think ahead and plan to personally visit a library, historical society, or archives for in-person research in the wonderful records they hold. Most are not online. This research always gives me a boost and is often just what one of my clients needed. We all can’t get to every place we wish to explore, but there are professional genealogists like me we can hire. My connections to directories of professionals are https://www.apgen.org/ and https://www.bcgcertification.org/

3. Choose one great grandparent and peruse the research you have already accomplished. What questions and blank details do you need to solve? Start a 2026 Research Plan for this one person. Then move on to one more great grandparent. Work on research based on these Research Plans for a couple of months and then tackle Research Plans for the others. Of course, there will be some overlaps as you do the research. Are you including the siblings of those great grandparents? Don’t neglect them. Those siblings have been the clues to some of my research breakthroughs.

4. “Borrow” a friend, in-law, or neighbor’s family and do some family history research. It’s interesting how working on this other family  can offer some ideas for your own families. Let them know your plan and ask for some details. When we work without preconceived ideas, names, dates, and places, it can open up a new year’s world of research avenues.

5. Don’t forget that libraries, historical societies, and archives often have subscriptions to many genealogy, newspaper, and history websites. Public libraries, genealogy libraries, university libraries, and state archives realize the importance of access to these. You may need to visit the place to access the subscriptions, and some are accessible from home.

6. Education never stops. Consider attending a genealogy institute course such as GRIP Genealogy Institute, Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) , and Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). I have been involved in all three and highly recommend the in-depth studying. These involve days of presentations, not years or even many months. They are a great way to learn about more records, repositories, analysis, and how to do so much more. 

Now stop reading my blog post. Think about my points here and make some notes as they relate to your family history. Next, work on discovering Great Grandma Annabelle’s first marriage.

Happy Productive New Year!

 

 

2026 Legacy Family Tree Webinars Announced! I am fortunate to be one of 200+ speakers.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Webinars  , , , , ,  Leave a comment

2026 is going to be another great year in genealogy and technology education in the field of family history. Geoff Rasmussen, the guru behind Legacy Family Tree Webinars, has announced the 2026 lineup of presentations. https://familytreewebinars.com/upcoming-webinars/?list_view=true&multiple=true&language=english Register for individual webinars or hit the select all if you are able to join in when each one is first offered.

You can join me live for free, or sign up for a membership to get full access to all the handouts (syllabus) and the massive on-demand library. I will be presenting my webinar on Friday, May 1, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. EDT; 1:00 p.m. CDT and Legacy Family Tree Webinar members will have access to the handout.

Insight into State Archives: ARCs, IRADs, ONAHRs, and Other Branches
Each U.S. state has a state archives to preserve government records from counties and state agencies. Did you know that some states have branches of the state archives? These are facilities found around the same state. Have you been missing some records that may fill in blank spots on the family tree? The reasons for their existence, ways of operating, collection finding aids, types of collections, and staff are varied. Learn more about these, access, staffing, and the often-surprising material and indexes they hold. The real life examples will convince you of what you may have missed!

How is your 2026 calendar looking?

  • Are there too many of the webinars you won’t be able to watch during the first free presentation time?
  • Do you want to have the syllabus for each of those in hand during that presentation time? Only available to members.
  • My mind is already picking out the webinars that I need to attend. Oh, there are many already.
  • Do you need to be able to watch one later, watch one from 2023 or 2025, or check out the recording and syllabus from any one of the 2,600+ previous webinars?
  • The answer is to become a member for one year at $49.95. My affiliate link for becoming a member https://legacyfamilytree.com/product/membership/?ref=566036

My first genealogy presentation of 2026 is January 3 and is both in-person and online!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Webinars  , , ,  Leave a comment

January 3, 2026. that’s this next Saturday and I am presenting an afternoon hybrid webinar. The host is the Greene County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society and they are based in Xenia, Ohio. https://www.greenecountyogs.com The event opens at 1:30 EST and I will present “The U.S. National Archives: The Nation’s Attic” at 2:00 EST. It will be accompanied by a detail-filled handout. Virtual and in-person genealogy events like this serve many researchers. If you can’t attend in person, fill out the contact form to receive a link to listen from home.

Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research course listing and registration link.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Institutes, Uncategorized  , , ,  Leave a comment

I am a big fan of genealogy institutes. Multiple days of learning, sharing, excitement, and progress in your research endeavors. The 2026 courses offered by the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research cover many parts of our journey. The flyer below shows the course titles, course coordinator, and the dates that course is offered. Some are one full week and others are once a week courses. All are online so people can participate from anywhere in the world! I’m presenting two sessions in the Repository Research: From Website to Doorway course that is offered Thursdays from March 12-April 16, 2026. It’s only the second time it has been offered. Full details on each course and registration link is at https://ighr.gagensociety.org/ighr-2026/ IGHR still has room for you!

 

 

 

Scheduling January & February Consultations with a Special December rate

Paula Stuart-Warren  Consultations  , ,  Leave a comment

If you are interested in a one-on-one consultation to get you started on family history research or to figure out the next research steps to take by yourself, you may be interested in a consultation. I offer a special two-hour minimum consultation for a total of $120 but for those agreed to in December 2025, the rate is just $100 paid in advance by check, PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle.

I take client cases in the order in which an agreement is processed, and the initial retainer is sent. A December deposit places you in line for future open hours for the consultation. Contact me directly for other options and availability in cases of rush orders. I can provide full details via email in a several page document about my genealogy services and rates.

Consultations can be done via email, Zoom, or by phone. If by Zoom platform, your computer needs to have a camera and microphone so we can talk together. This is the best way to do the consultation. I would provide the link for the Zoom consultation.

For a consultation, the more copies of records you have or found, family tree charts, timelines, and family details you can provide ahead of time, the easier it is for me to begin. These can be scanned and put in a Dropbox file, scanned and emailed, or photocopies sent by regular mail.

I do a pre-meeting minimum of 15-20 minutes review (as part of the two-hour consultation) of materials you provide to help to make the most of the actual consultation.

Another consultation option is that I can do an extended analysis of what you send, some quick record checks, and prepare a report on the possible next steps to take, or we can talk in-person or online to share these and discuss the steps.

Essentially, you are receiving a research plan of what to do next, where and how to do it, and what you might be discovering. Another set of eyes, knowledge, and experience often provides the path to great discoveries.

The two-hour consultation can be split into two sessions. That way you could ask your questions, have some discussion with tips from me, and you can then follow that with some research based on my 20-minute preview of your information and our discussion. Then the second hour (or even 30 minutes) can be at any time later for updating, more questions, and suggestions based on what you have already researched and discovered. All you have to do is let me know when you wish to schedule that remaining time and that all this totals 2 hours.

Contact me via PaulaStuartWarren @ gmail dot com

 

 

    Interviews with descendants of abolitionists who lived in Minnesota

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Civil War, Minnesota  , , , ,  Leave a comment

    “The Minnesota Digital Library recently added some oral history interviews with descendants of abolitionists who lived in Minnesota prior to the Civil War. They were shared by a new contributing organization called “Project Get Outdoors.”

    “Many of them were associated with the Underground Railroad. The long-term goal of this project is to work with local county historical societies and cemetery associations to create a Freedom Trail highlighting the stories of these early civil rights activists and their final resting places.”

    I saw this announcement in a newsletter for libraries, Minitex, from the University of Minnesota Libraries and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The 12 oral histories are online and free on the Minnesota Digital Library. The interviewees do not all live in Minnesota and some of the interviews are with historians researching the time period. The interviews may be downloaded and are accompanied by transcripts.

    I need to continue listening to interesting histories. I wonder how many of my fellow family historians might have stories to contribute? Did the project reach out to genealogical organizations and their members? 

     

    State Historical Society of Iowa and the outcome of 2-year partnership with Ancestry.com

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Ancestry.com, Iowa  , ,  Leave a comment

    “The agreement allowed the State Historical Society of Iowa and Ancestry to complete a two-year project to digitally image materials and integrate more than one million additional records from the State Archives in Ancestry’s searchable database.”

    Read the full article about the December 2d announcement https://www.communitynewspapergroup.com/vinton_newspapers/state-historical-society-of-iowa-announces-project-partnership-outcomes-with-ancestry-com/article_89f02954-4254-4533-b940-0cf2ce5f4177.html

     

     

    Updated information about my “2026-2027 Genealogical Presentation Details and Fees”

    Paula Stuart-Warren  Presentations, Uncategorized, Webinars  , , , , ,  Leave a comment

    Every so often someone asks how to get details on what I do as a speaker in the area of genealogy and history. When a civic, military, cultural, ethnic, historical, religious, or genealogical organization inquires about my historical and genealogical speaking services, I try to acknowledge the email within 24 hours. Yes, I have done presentations for all those types of organizations.

    • If a date or several dates have been specified, I check my calendar and let them know if the date(s) is available.
    • Then I send them my Genealogical Presentation Details and Fees packet.
    • If they have asked for a specific lecture title, I acknowledge that. If no title is suggested, then the link to the lecture list on my website is included.
    • No date or title is required for an initial inquiry.

    Many years ago, the packet was 4 pages long. As more questions were asked about my services, or unfortunately when issues arose, I kept adding to that. I try to cover all points and that means more pages. Program chairs, please feel comfortable asking me additional questions.

    One thing that has been constant since mid-2024 is my list of fees for webinars and seminars. No raises to those in 2025 and now for 2026.

    Program chairs change over time and new volunteers may not yet know about various speakers. Even though I reside in the Saint Paul, Minnesota area, I have done presentations for many places in the U.S. and Canada. As my packet explains, each topic and handout are updated before each time it is presented. Most include segments about the general area where I am presenting.

    If you know of an organization that is looking for new presentations or for someone that hasn’t been with them for a while, tell them to contact me via paulastuartwarren at gmail.com and to check out this website https://genealogybypaula.com/.

     

     

     

     

    Need a free New York State Death Index 1880-2017? Reclaim the Records for the win!

    Paula Stuart-Warren  New York  , , ,  2 Comments

    I have some mid-late 1800s New York relatives and then more in the early 1900s. This newly free index is because the non-profit Reclaim the Records worked hard, filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit, kept working, and now we all have it! Want to know more and maybe look for some entries in it? https://www.newyorkdeathindex.com . Be sure to check out all the options under Advanced Search. WOW. Appreciate all the work of many of our genealogy colleagues in this effort? Click on the donate tab in the upper right corner of that death index page