Cyndi’s List turns 30 today! A genealogy must have.

It was March 4, 1996 when Cyndi’s List was born. It began as a list of websites for members of the Tacoma-Pierce County Genealogical Society from their own member, Cyndi Ingle. Thirty years later, it’s grown into a worldwide extravaganza of genealogy and history links. Thousands and thousands of links to help our genealogy research. […]

Pullman Porters records, history, and struggles

It’s already the end of February and Black History Month. It’s been an extra busy month for me with some big decisions, working on genealogy presentations, family things, client consultations, and a whole lotta other stuff. One of the presentations I did this month was for the Western New York Genealogical Society on railroad records. […]

My genealogy speaking calendar has been updated

Sunday is for updating my speaking calendar that can be viewed by clicking on the Speaking tab at the top of the blog. A few dates are waiting for the organization to fully execute our contract and to make their own announcement. If your organization needs a speaker in April, July, and months beyond, I […]

Family history sleuth? Please don’t avoid online family trees.

Every time I see someone posting on social media or saying out loud something akin to “I avoid those online family trees.” That may be followed by a comment that they are useless and baseless. Oh, do I disagree. Do I trust all family history details that someone told me, wrote about today or 120 […]

Genealogy Learning, Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills.

Next Thursday, 5 February 2026, at 1:00 p.m. EST, Noon CST, 11:00 a.m. MST, and 10:00 a.m. PST, registration opens! Ready for a week of learning, networking, analysis, and insight to a variety of records to further your genealogy research. Would you like an opportunity to receive help on one of your own genealogy dilemmas? […]

Viewing my past genealogy webinars

Every so often someone asks where they can get a preview of one of my presentations. Most are from a genealogical or historical society or library representative who is interested in hiring me to do a presentation. It’s a good way to learn how I present and the comprehensiveness of the slides and handouts. Continuing […]

Suddenly, it was a 4:00 a.m. bedtime for a genealogist

On a recent evening,  I planned to spend a couple hours on some updating and expanding of syllabus material for upcoming presentations. Then I was going to reward myself with some more time on my own family history. I accomplished both and went to bed at 4:00 a.m. The Montreal Daily Star. Monday, 14 September […]

MyHeritage website adds 9 new languages

MyHeritage announces that its website is now “available in 50 languages, following the addition of 9 more languages. This expansion enables millions more people around the world to discover who they are and where they belong, in their native language.” Further they said “It will also lead to more valuable matches and discoveries for MyHeritage […]

Genealogy syllabus work makes me think and I enjoy it

One of my work projects this week is my part of the syllabus for two sessions in the upcoming Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research course “Repository Research: From Website to Doorway.” See my 28 December post on this course for more details and to register for one of the seats that are still open […]

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

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 […]