Updated August-November genealogy presentations

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes, Webinars  ,  1 Comment

My speaking calendar has been updated as of today. Click on the “Speaking” tab above this post to see my upcoming presentations. I’ve been working on a bunch of handouts/syllabus material for the August ones. I am always amazed at the updating that needs to be done even for a topic I have done just a few months earlier. To learn more about taking part in any of these presentations, click on the live link in each date’s entry. The website of the organization will show you details on free and fee-based topics.

Genealogy webinars: Free and low-cost

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

If you have read my blog posts before, you know I am a strong advocate for continuing education in genealogy. Heck, in many professions, continuing education is a must. Doctors, nurses, dentists, teachers, realtors, social workers, pharmacists, paramedics, plumbers, and many other occupations either recommend or require it. The number of genealogists (some who consider themselves beyond a beginner) who ask basic questions on some websites and in various Facebook genealogy groups continues to astound me when knowledge is so easily available. Classes, webinars, seminars, institutes, books, websites, and more are everywhere. Check used bookstores. For just the U.S., Google genealogy or genealogical society and the name of the county or state where you live. Then do the same for places where your ancestral families resided. Peruse their websites to learn about education opportunities.

MANY offer FREE or low-cost education, some of which can be attained while sitting at home wearing your slippers or robe. Maybe you have an hour or two while your child is taking a nap or is at school. Maybe you need something in the evening or on a day off from work. It’s everywhere. My home society, the Minnesota Genealogical Society, offers many educational webinars on a variety of topics for free the first time they are presented.

I have seen or received basic questions or statements like these:

  • I can’t find the 1890 census for my state. Which website is the best to check?
  • I know that Aunt Ethel died in Illinois but can’t find a death record?
  • I have searched and searched online but can’t find Uncle Grover Griffin’s obituary from 1935.
  • Where can I find the birth certificate for my great great grandma who was born in 1845?
  • FamilySearch is wrong. I don’t trust it. (Apparently that last one means the family tree part, but ignores all the wonderful digitized and microfilmed original city, county, state, provincial, and country records.)

One long-ongoing outlet for education is Legacy Family Tree Webinars. It’s all online and now they’ve gone past 2,000 webinars in its library! I’ve blogged about it before. A one-year membership is only $49.95. Most presentations are free the first time given and for a week after that. The syllabus (handout) for each one is only available to members. Access to every one of those 2,000+ webinars plus syllabi for each is a member benefit! 
– Unlimited, on-demand access to all webinars
– New webinars every week
– Access to chat logs and speakers’ handouts
– Advanced navigation of videos with playlists and chapters
– Exclusive section for all webinars you’ve registered for
– Option to bookmark your favorites
– Chance to win door prizes during live webinars
– 5% off anything in the shop

My affiliate link to join is http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=1739 The few cents I get if you join via this link goes to help keep this blog going. 


MyHeritage Free Canadian Records Access through July 2

Paula Stuart-Warren  Canada  ,  Leave a comment

In honor of Canada Day, MyHeritage is offering free access to all their Canadian records from June 29 to July 2, 2023! Their vast range of Canadian records includes 176 featuring 103,662,055 records, including immigration documents, military records, census data, and more.

This limited-time free access provides an unparalleled opportunity for those with Canadian heritage to explore their roots and learn more about their ancestors.

U.S. National Archives moving more material from regional locations to Kansas City

Paula Stuart-Warren  National Archives  ,  1 Comment

For several years (some areas even longer), the U.S. National Archives (NARA) has been moving all or parts of Record Groups (RG) from its various locations to storage in Missouri and Kansas. These RG materials are now in high density storage, some of which is underground caves. Yes, you read that correctly.

This means we need to study the NARA website to be sure where the records we wish to research are located today. We may have researched part of a specific RG at a regional location of NARA such as Chicago or in Washington, DC, but now those records may have been moved to the jurisdiction of the NARA Kansas City location. If you had not viewed those records in person but had requested a copy of a record or file, it may have already been in the Kansas City NARA jurisdiction for many years.

Many U.S. District Court records are among those still in the process of moving. Here’s detail on a portion of those now being moved from Chicago to Kansas City:

For more information, here are some links to learn more about records you wish to consult. Not sure about the location of the records you wished to consult in person? Each NARA location has an email posted and that’s a good place to ask your question.

 

 

 

Genealogy immersion for the presenters and the students equals deep education

Paula Stuart-Warren  Education  , ,  Leave a comment

Over the past two weeks, I presented a total of 17 lectures and led several discussion groups as part of two genealogical institutes. Then I rested a bit for a couple days. Watching baseball is one passion that relaxes me. One institute was the Texas Institute of Genealogical Research and the other was the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. TIGR and GRIP are well-known for their level of education. Haven’t attended an in-person or virtual five-day course? Oh, you are missing some excellent education by a variety of excellent instructors. Just reading the brief biographies of the instructors will show their education, experience, and knowledge that they are ready to share with you.

It’s painful when I read a question from someone on social media that begs for some genealogical education. Books, webinars, seminars, institutes, and helpful social media sites are just some of the available education. This doesn’t only apply to those in the U.S. who are researching family roots. We all need to keep learning, but must not overlook the basics.

In a future blog post (once I get caught up with some client reports), I will post a list of educational outlets.

Area historical organizations join to form the Lake Minnetonka Historical Society in Minnesota

Paula Stuart-Warren  Historical Societies, Minnesota  ,  1 Comment

I am happy to see this consolidation taking place this fall. The information is from a Minnesota Historical Society newsletter. Congratulations to the four organizations and the new Lake Minnetonka Historical Society. I’ve long thought this would make sense. Each has been effective and jointly, the history will be even more effective.



For the full story please see: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dWl5kiJe1TXcxQlEwejQfaKCkqfczO4k4hcdcls6dWI/edit#heading=h.g4jvt4l9g1jk


June is my busy genealogy month

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences/Institutes    1 Comment

I began blogging on June 2, 2007. I had already been blogging for several years about the Federation of Genealogical Society’s conferences. I was hoping to do an overview post about past posts and changes in this blog over the years. Instead, we are busy gearing up for the graduation party for my youngest granddaughter. My other hours have been filled with creating and updating a long list of presentations in three genealogical institute courses for this June. I created a list of my titles and a time grid for myself and thought I should just post the list here. I may not do much blogging in June, but I will still be busy with client reports and teaching. I’m not the only faculty member in these courses. Each has some fantastic, knowledgeable, and experienced presenters.


June 12-16, TIGR (Texas Institute of Genealogical Research) “Researching Families of Mexican Descent on Both Sides of the Border.” Course Coordinator: Colleen Robledo Greene, MLIS. My presentations in this course:

  • Developing Step-by-Step Research Plans (Joint session with Course 6 – Researching African Americans Before and After the Civil War in the U.S. Coordinator:  Ari Wilkins)
  • Incorporating Manuscripts into Your Research
  • Working in the United States: Railroads
  • Working in the United States: Farms and Ranches

June 18-23 “Digging Deeper: Records, Tools, and Skills.” Course Coordinator: Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA. My presentations in the course:

  • Analyzing Documents Workshop: Parts 1 & 2
  • The WPA Era: A Free Boon for Research
  • Vital Records Data and Substitutes: More than Names and Dates
  • Original Manuscripts: Finding Aids Online and Off
  • Twentieth‑ and Twenty‑First‑Century Research: Rich Resources 
  • Going Deep into State Archives and Historical Societies 
  • Civil & Criminal Court Records 
  • Institutional Records: The Good, The Bad, and The Painful
  • Post Military Service: Often Overlooked 19th & 20th Century Records 
  • Student Group Project Reporting and Analysis  


June 18-23 “The Spirit of the Inland Seas: Research in the Great Lakes Region.” Course Coordinator: Cari Taplin, CG®. My presentations in this course:

  • Naturalization and Citizenship in the U.S. & Canada 
  • Tracing French Canadian Ancestors and Their Connections 
  • Researching in Ontario


Every Memorial Day

Paula Stuart-Warren  Memorial Day    1 Comment

I’ve posted before about grieving for two military casualties. I was typing today’s stories and deleted my words. Maybe it’s my need for more sleep or my age but thinking about Jerry and Tom seemed sadder today. I kept the stories brief. I am grateful that my Army Air Corps father and Army father-in-law survived WWII and that my husband survived the Viet Nam era.

I was 2-years old when my Uncle Gerald J. Mueller was captured and killed in February of 1951 in a North Korean POW camp while serving in the Army. Jerry was only 21 and married to my mom’s sister, my Aunt Jeannie. They had already suffered the loss of their newborn son. I don’t remember Jerry, but his story came back to life in 2017 when his remains were identified and returned to Minnesota. Jeannie never stopped asking me if I could research any more information on him. https://www.kesslermaguire.com/obituaries/Gerald-Mueller

The other loss was a grade school classmate. Our 8th grade graduating class at St. Therese here in Saint Paul only had 45 students so a loss early on had extra impact. I was living in California in January of 1968 when another classmate sent me a letter telling about Tom Kingston’s death in Viet Nam. Tom was a 20-year-old Marine. Another reason it hit hard was that I was a Navy wife and living just off a military base, not knowing the path forward of my husband’s service. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/28088/THOMAS-L-KINGSTON/

MyHeritage

Paula Stuart-Warren  DNA, MyHeritage  ,  Leave a comment

A few days ago, MyHeritage announced an update to its Theory of Family Relativity™ which “is a groundbreaking feature that can save you hours of work trying to understand your connection to your DNA Matches. It harnesses billions of data points across MyHeritage’s huge database of family trees and historical records to provide you with plausible theories about how you and your DNA Matches are related. In addition to this update, we’ve made some improvements to the DNA section of the website, all of which are detailed in the blog post.” That blog post is worth reading. I spent a bit of time this week on my matches and the Theory of Family Relatively. I found some nice links to Danish and Swedish cousins.

One included a link to a man whose ancestral Carlsen family one lived in a building in Saint Paul now owned by someone who I visited yesterday. I visited that building for a haircut. Yes, I have told my hairdresser the connection. I have to remember to tell her about my many connections to the cemetery across the street from her building.

Now, if I could get some DNA connections to my German and Scottish ancestral families. The Irish, English, French Canadian, and Scandinavian connections are growing. C’mon relatives.

The 1931 census of Canada debuts June 1st.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Canada, census, Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

It’s likely I have relatives scattered across Canada on the pages of the 1931 Canadian census. Many will be in Quebec and Ontario. Some I am particularly interest in, were back and forth between Massachusetts, New York, and Quebec. Among the family names are Connolly, Reinhardt, Copping, Jones, Dow, Daoust, and others. I’m almost as excited as I was for the April 1, 2022, release of the 1950 U.S. census on which I was enumerated with my parents.

From Library and Archives Canada, “By law, the personal information in this census can only be made public 92 years after the census was completed. As a result, access will be made available on June 1, 2023.”

I have paid attention to the form used in enumerating the residents of Canada and what each column will contain. The form below is taken from https://ccri.library.ualberta.ca/assets/schedulesen/1931_form_1a.jpg

Use that link to enlarge the image. To learn more about the census, the progression of work to make it appear online for us, the indexing plans, and other details, check the links below the form.

Library and Archives Canada: https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/corporate/website-updates/pages/census-1931.aspx

Library and Archives Canada Blog: https://thediscoverblog.com/2023/05/11/why-we-are-excited-about-the-1931-census/

Manitoba Genealogical Society: https://mbgenealogy.com/2023/05/05/1931-canada-census-comes-available-june-1/

University of Toronto: https://mdl.library.utoronto.ca/collections/numeric-data/census-canada/1931