Aug 2019
Determining and Expressing Dates
The topic of dates and how to estimate or calculate them has been addressed in NGS Monthly before. In Laura Murphy DeGrazia’s “Calculating Dates and Date Ranges,”[1] qualifying terms like “about” and “calculated” are referred to, but the article appropriately focuses on the actual calculations. Now we revisit the topic, but with a focus on how […]
Aug 2019
Chronologizing As a Research Tool
When I started in genealogy, I thought I was being organized and mindful if I saved a record I discovered to the appropriate folder with an appropriately descriptive file name. But I didn’t abstract those records as I went along. Big mistake. In certain instances, I’m still trying to dig myself out from under a […]
Jul 2019
Some Resources (and a New Roadblock) in African American Research
On 19 June 1865, Major General Gordon Granger and his regiment landed at Galveston, Texas, to announce that the war had ended and the previously enslaved were free. “Wait,” you might think. “Wasn’t that 2½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect?” Yes; yes, it was. Texas had not had a significant enough Union presence […]
Jul 2019
In Defense of the Curious Meander
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) —Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” 51 In May’s issue, I wrote about the importance of starting your research plan with a focused question based on known information.[1] Doing so significantly increases the chances you’ll achieve your research goal as […]
May 2019
What’s Your Problem?
In the first “Editors’ Corner” for their first issue as editors of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Nancy Peters and Allen Peterson give some fundamental research advice to their readers: Start with a plan. More pointedly, start your plan with a focused question based on known information.[1] The first real step for any research project, […]
Mar 2019
Getting to the Source of a Family Record
I’ve mentioned this record before. It’s the family record my great-grandmother Anna created and distributed in 1979 that identified the children, siblings, parents, and grandparents of her and her recently deceased husband. Being twelve years old and having never wondered about any of these people, I was thrilled to suddenly consider them. Being twelve years […]
Mar 2019
What DNA Can (and Can’t) Do for Your Research
by Meryl Schumacker, CG In a toolbox, each tool serves a specific purpose. If you venture beyond a tool’s purpose—try to drive a screw into a piece of wood with only a tape measure—it’s not going to go well. Genealogy’s newest, shiniest toolbox—DNA—is no different. Today, we will parse the DNA-screw from the DNA-tape measure […]
Feb 2019
Living Family Interview Questions
Sometimes the exigencies of life preempt the most well-laid plans, and genealogical plans are no exception. I had planned out what I wanted to accomplish in 2019 for my own (non-client) family history. But then my Uncle Bob was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer, and all those plans were thrown out the window. As the […]
Feb 2019
Self-Publishing: Books, E-Books, and PDFs
by Meryl Schumacker, CG In the September, October, and November 2018 editions of NGS Monthly, Aaron Goodwin offered his suggestions for how to begin writing your family history. I have been following his series with enthusiasm, and I am thrilled to contribute this installment. I am fairly comfortable as a writer; my first career was […]
Nov 2018
How to Start Writing: the Word File
For most of us, we’ve already gathered some information and records before we decide that we want to write. Once we make that decision, though, the amount of data, paper, and electronic images in front of us can be overwhelming. Where do we start with this? The first thing to do is to decide exactly […]