Genealogy website hints do work. Don’t ignore them!

Social media often has posts from genealogists that say “how do I turn off hints” or “why do we keep getting hints.” They are referring to emails and online hints on various genealogy websites. Me? Sometimes the hints bug me when they are off the mark. Yet, I do look at them. I wouldn’t want […]

Radio show tells about a book with recipes from tombstones. Must be made for genealogists!

I’ve seen the occasional post on Facebook showing a family recipe on someone’s tombstone. Now there’s a book with many recipes found on stones. More of these in cemeteries than I ever imagined. How did I hear about it? It was mentioned on a local radio show today by on-air personality Bradley Traynor, myTalk FM […]

Genealogy presentation immersion via Zoom. My surprising statistics.

Didn’t realize how truly busy I have been recently. I just kept going. From the end of August through today, I have been heavily involved in preparing handouts and PowerPoint presentations for genealogy organizations all across the U.S. I appreciate the invitations to do presentations whether it’s a single webinar or a full-day seminar. Some […]

October is Family History Month and American Archives Month.

I’ll be doing a lot of promoting of both in my upcoming presentations for October. I look forward to seeing many of my readers virtually for these. Then the rest of the month is reserved for clients. First, consultations with clients to get them started on research or to figure out what to do next. […]

Webtember. September. Free Wednesday Genealogy Webinars.

I’m a few days behind in letting you know about Legacy Family Tree Webinar’s Webtember. It’s four Wednesdays of free webinars. A total of 19 webinars on a variety of topics from an array of knowledgeable presenters. They are free to listen to or listen to again throughout the month of September. https://familytreewebinars.com/webtember/?ref=566036. I appreciate […]

Jim Hansen, retired reference librarian, Wisconsin Historical Society and his Celebration of Life

As he signed an email to me four years ago, he was “Jim Hansen, Reference Librarian, happily retired, Wisconsin Historical Society.”  I was first introduced to this librarian at the Wisconsin Historical Society back in 1982 or 1983 during my first-ever genealogy research trip. One of many trips from Saint Paul to work in the […]

More detail on FamilySearch Full-Text Search and the Catalog.

If you were in any of my GRIP Genealogy Institute sessions a few week ago, you heard me talk about FamilySearch Full-Text Search. The FamilySearch blog has a great post from June 2d about using it. I have been extra excited in the way the FamilySearch Catalog points to the full-text search. If you haven’t […]

Instead of a vacation, I’m working on upcoming genealogy presentations

I’ve been a bit busy since the virtual week of GRIP Genealogy Institute ended on June 27th. A couple days off after teaching all week in two courses, work on some client research and reports, a gift of a Minnesota Twins baseball game for my birthday, celebrated the U.S Independence day with family, and then […]

What a week! BEYOND Digging Deeper hit the ground running at 2025 GRIP Genealogy Institute

Last week’s GRIP Genealogy Institute was a blast. I’m a bit caught up on sleep and lots of housework.I have been a course coordinator with GRIP since 2012. In 2024, I developed a companion course to the one that I had coordinated since 2012. It’s not a replacement course, but they complement each other. 2025 […]