My next two November 2025 genealogy presentations

November 13, 2025. Thursday all-day free virtual event. Texas State Genealogical Society “Society Leadership Forum.” Virtual presentations about helping our genealogical societies thrive. Full details on the website. My topic and handout cover “Bringing Genealogical Societies into the 21st Century.” It includes tips about volunteers, programs, publications, websites, and much more. Register here. AND don’t ignore the TxSGS Virtual Fall 2025 Conference taking place 7-8 November!

November 15, 2025. Luncheon presentation. Germanic Genealogy Society Annual Meeting and German Themed Luncheon. Lowell Inn, Stillwater, Minnesota. My topic and handout are on “A Bakers Dozen: Easy Ways to Begin Writing Your Family History.” I will be including some easy ideas that include stories about some German immigrants to the upper Midwest.  Register and pay here. 

MyHeritage announces Whole Genome Sequencing

The world of DNA tests is rapidly advancing. Lots of news and updates in recent weeks. I need to let one of my nephews know about his updates from one company.

MyHeritage has announced “Leveraging cutting-edge sequencing technology from Ultima Genomics and processing at the Gene by Gene lab, MyHeritage is the first major consumer DNA testing company to adopt Whole Genome Sequencing at a scale of more than one million tests per year. The enriched data will empower MyHeritage to deliver more accurate ethnicity analysis and DNA matching, and unlock opportunities for future innovation in consumer genomics and genetic genealogy.” It will work with testing through MyHeritage but not with transfers from other DNA testing sites that were previously allowed. For more details:

https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/10/myheritage-upgrades-its-dna-tests-to-whole-genome-sequencing

 

 

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 to miss the one that ties me to one of my missing ancestors or a distant cousin.

On Sunday, 19 October 2025, I was on Ancestry.com and checked out recent leaf hints. It’s a perfect example of something I may never have taken the time to locate.

It was a hint for my maternal Grandmother Gertrude (Cook) Hanley. She was born in 1901 here in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. My online trees are pretty basic. The hint was to a high school yearbook. Her high school did not have yearbooks for almost 20 years AFTER she graduated, and the hint was for her high school with a bit of a twist. I checked it out and then sat and stared at the image on Ancestry for several minutes.

It noted Gertrude Cook Hanley as a ’20 graduate and she was in a photo at a mother and daughter tea celebrating the graduating class of 1949. She was standing next to her daughter, Jeanine, my beloved aunt. The both attended St. Joseph’s Academy, an all girls highs school in Saint Paul as did my Mom, Patricia (Hanley} Stuart, a 1944 graduate. The Cook family home was across the street from St. Joe’s at 358 Marshall Ave. (formerly Nelson Ave.)

 This tale will be added to my school records talk as another example of what can be found in old yearbooks. It’s not just your graduate that appears! Grandma is standing 4th from the right and Aunt Jeanie is 5th from the right.

Grandma’s hat in the photo reminds me of another photo of her from around that same time period. Now to find that in my boxes of photos that are waiting to be scanned.

 
 

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 107.1, here in Minnesota. Traynor is also interested in genealogy and every so often he mentions something that makes my ears perk up! It’s a pop culture station that I listen to when I don’t want to hear the news or politics of the day. Lot of silliness, too, but food, movies, TV shows, actors, musicians, gossip, some games, and an escape from daily chores.

Here’s a link to a long post on EATER.com about the book and lots of details from the author, Rosie Grant. https://www.eater.com/eater-at-home/916291/rosie-grant-gravestone-recipes-book

 

 

 

2025 Indigenous Peoples Day. Reasons for this recognition

Today I honor those who first resided on the land that surrounds me today. It is Indigenous Peoples Day. For about ten years I spent several weeks a year researching at the National Archives locations in Washington, DC, College Park, MD, and Kansas City, MO. The work was for some Native American tribes and I was reading file after file in records of the Office of Indian Affairs (later known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs). I learned how my fellow human beings were treated, written about, talked about, and hidden away. I saw awful correspondence about children and boarding schools. I think you get the picture.

Minnesota Public Radio has a listing of places and ceremonies to honor Native Americans today and every day.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/10/10/indigenous-peoples-day-events-happening-in-minnesota

 

My post in 2024 still strikes the same message. https://genealogybypaula.com/2024/10/bloh indigenous-peoples-day-2024-in-the-u-s-at-least-in-some-places/

 

 

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 are short notice events and others are a year away from the actual presentation date.

Whether by Zoom or in-person, one favorite part of my genealogy business is sharing knowledge, experience, tips, books, websites, and more to audiences. I have benefited from great program people, friendly audiences, and some additional information shared by audiences. Genealogy does involve a lot of sharing. Those attending kindly cooperate by laughing at points where I hope they will do so! A benefit to me is that while tailoring parts of a presentation to the area of the society that hired me, I think about some ideas for researching parts of my own family.

I love statistics. About an hour ago, I decided to check out my own in relation to ten presentations I have done since late August. One was a local area session, and I was there in person. The last nine were done via Zoom. Eight of the total ten were presented in the last ten days. Yes, eight virtual presentations within ten days. More statistics:

  • Updated and/or created 76 pages of  syllabus/handout material to accompany those presentations.
  • Updated and/or created 635 PowerPoint slides for those presentations.

A last statistic is that each of the ten was not a repeat of others in the group. Each organization requested a different topic. NO REPEATS!

Should you care about the topics, check out my Speaking calendar to see what topics and organizations hired me. https://genealogybypaula.com/speaking/speaking-calendar/

Yes, I know I need to move recent ones to the section of those already presented in 2025. First, I need to sleep and not set an alarm to wake me up on October 12th. Maybe by Monday. 

 

 

Increasing the size of the Norfolk Southern railroad collection at the Atlanta History Center

You may have heard my presentations about records relating to U.S. railroad history and railroad workers. A news story about additional railroad records popped up this week. Alas, I didn’t have a subscription to read the article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Checked for others and found more from Atlanta TV station WSB. 1000 more feet of railroad business records exchanged. The railroad collection is that of the Central of Georgia Railway. I love to hear about repositories cooperating with each other and love the Norfolk Southern for their large monetary contribution. Much of the Norfolk Southern collection had been move to Atlanta from its previous home at Virginia Tech University. Read the full news piece from WSB: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/norfolk-southern-500k-contribution-unites-railroad-history-collections/ZUGEGQPCZFEJRBXCN7D6M6IALQ/. More stories about the collection below.

https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/tsouthern-railway-serves-the-south

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/preserving-the-past-powering-the-future-ns-helps-reunite-georgias-railroad-history/?RAchannel=news

https://norfolksouthern.mediaroom.com/Complete-Southern-Railway-archives-now-publicly-available

https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/southern-railway-records-now-available

 

 

MyHeritage: free access to German records October 2-6.

In honor of Unity Day in Germany, MyHeritage is offering free access to all of its German historical records from October 2–6, 2025. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone with German family history to dig into their roots and make new discoveries. MyHeritage hosts 283 million records across 77 German collections, including vital, church, and emigration records. Some collections from key regions like Prussia, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, and southwestern Germany are exclusive to MyHeritage.” https://blog.myheritage.com/

 

 

 

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. Second, will be research and reporting on that for other clients.

October 3-4, 2025. Virginia Genealogical Society Fall Virtual Conference. My Friday topic and syllabus material “Family Answers Hidden in Older Southern and Eastern Genealogical and Historical Periodicals.” Check the VGS website for full details on the presenters, topics, and registration information. Eight speakers virtually. 

 

October 4, 2025. Two free webinars. 10:00 am – 12:30 pm PDT. San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society of California. My topics are “Stuck? Have You Tried . . .? Have You Overlooked . . .?” and “What’s Next? Developing Step-by-Step Research Plans” and are accompanied by handouts.


October 9, 2025. Free Evening Webinar, 7:30 p.m. EDT, 6:30 p.m. CDT. Central Florida Genealogical Society. My presentation and handout cover “Lord Preserve Us! Church Records for Family History Research.”


October 11, 2025. Free Saturday webinar. 10:30 a.m. EDT, 9:30 CDT. KINSEEKERS Genealogical Society of Lake County, Florida. My presentation and handout cover  “The Three Rs: Reading, ‘Riting, and Research in School Records.”


October 11, 2025. Free
Saturday webinar. 10:00 a.m. PDT, Noon CDT. Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group (Santa Clara California). My presentation and handout cover “The Farmer in the Dell . . . and in Many U.S. Records.”

 

 

 

MHS Minnesota People Records Search expanded as of 25 September 2025

The Minnesota People Records Search on the Minnesota Historical Society’s website has long been home to indexes and record ordering information on a variety of subjects including births, deaths, state censuses, veterans’ burials, and Gold Star records. Now the searchable online indexes include some World War I era records of those who served. These World War I records are filled with personal details.

Begin your search here https://www.mnhs.org/search/people