Have you seen the FB posts about Debbie Mieszala’s ongoing blog series about online access to historic laws? She is being lauded for her work of drawing together the many places that we can check for free to learn what was in effect at the time our ancestors lived in that area. Those laws do greatly affect our research. One of her posts tells of New York “linked digitized law books include colonial laws, session laws, and private acts.” http://advancinggenealogist.com/historic-new-york-statutes/

Did you know that Debbie is teaching four sessions in the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh’s course “Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills” this coming July 14-19? One of her sessions is: “Legal Savvy for the Genealogist” and her description is “Knowing laws past and present, how the legal system works, and the types of legally influenced records available to genealogists are essential. Learn why documents were created, what they mean, and how the law impacted our ancestors’ lives and records about them.”

Debbie holds a certificate in paralegal studies. Debbie and I are joined that week by two other fantastic instructors, Karen Mauer Jones and Melissa Johnson. Learn more at https://www.gripitt.org/courses/digging_deeper/. We still have some seats available. In May, those registered for this course will receive a special offer with details about having one of their brick wall research issues discussed in class. The tips and clues received during the discussion furthers the research and just might solve a long-time problem.

Please feel free to share my post with others who may be interested in the course or Debbie’s series of laws posts.

© 2019, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.