Accurately Reviewing and Attaching Record Hints in FamilySearch — Learn how to carefully review record hints on FamilySearch. Learn when to attach, declare “not a match”, or do more research before you can decide.
After the Scan—Online Preservation Your Family Can Find — Old family photos, letters, and other artifacts are great treasures. But once we scan them, what do we do with the digital files? How do we make sure that they are easily found and enjoyed by all of our close, distant, and non-genealogist family members? We will consider storage, preservation, and sharing options. We will learn the OHIO principle — Only Handle It Once — and discuss how we can do it right, do it once. We will explore simple ways to use social media to help our family see these treasures a bit at a time and regularly feel connected to their ancestors. Attendees will leave feeling encouraged to ensure that their preservation efforts will last for generations.
Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers — Do you have French ancestors but don’t speak French? The record collections for France and Québec are extensive and readily available online but many of these collections are not indexed, or not indexed well. This class will teach you the importance of knowing the exact place your ancestors lived and some tips for identifying that place if it is currently unknown; basic terms and other resources for “reading” French records; strategies for paging through church books; and understanding the importance of tracking godparents and witnesses. Even as a beginning French researcher, you can be successful without being a French speaker.
Brick Wall Smashing with DNA — Your best DNA matches are the ones that don’t make sense. Learn how to analyze your matches in a new way to help break through brick walls, identify unknown parents, and bring miracles to your research. 90-minute class
Creating Dazzling Cousin Bait — Drawing Key Cousins to Your Digital Doorstep — The answers to our greatest family mysteries often lie in the albums, attics, and family lore of our unknown cousins. But if those cousins are unknown, how do we find them? Learn what cousin bait is, how to create it, and how to make the most of your cousin connections to help you grow your family tree.
DNA Basics — Have you wondered about using DNA in your research? Come and learn about the different types of DNA tests, the different companies you can test with, what genealogy problems can be addressed with DNA, and a few examples of what DNA can do to knock down those brick walls.
Finding Hidden Records on FamilySearch — Did you know that FamilySearch has several different types of record collections? Come and learn how to find them all as we explore indexed collections with images, indexed collections with no images attached — and how to check the catalog for potential corresponding images, partially indexed collections with additional browse images, browse only collections, digitized microfilm found in the catalog that can be accessed from home, and digitized microfilm that can only be viewed at an LDS Family History Center. Don’t miss out on any hidden gems — learn how to find them all!
Google Drive for Genealogists On-The-Go! — Google Drive is packed with tools to help you create and organize your genealogy logs, lists, charts, and more. Learn how to upload audio, photo, and files. Learn how to collaborate through shared albums, documents, and commenting. See examples of clean, organized charts and sheets that will give you ideas for organizing the information about your most challenging genealogy problems. Learn how to access all of your work online or through the app on your smart device. Learn how to maximize your use of this powerful, free tool to keep your work organized at home and easily accessible when you are researching on-the-go.
Gifts That Turn Hearts — Help your loved ones turn their hearts to their ancestors by giving meaningful family history gifts. Examples will include both simple, and more complex gift ideas that will help you find ways to invite connections between the generations of your family.
Low-Stress Memory Keeping, One Precious Memory at a Time — Documenting our lives and the lives of our loved ones can be overwhelming! Should you scrapbook, ChatBook, digitize, organize, or something even harder?! Learn some low-stress ways to preserve your most precious memories one at a time so your family can enjoy them now and in the future. You don’t have to be perfectly organized to preserve some perfect memories!
Making the Most of Ancestry.com — Come and learn how to supercharge your research on Ancestry.com by understanding the website and collections better and learning some fantastic smart search strategies that will help you find the records you are looking for more quickly.
Making the Most of Ancestry.com Trees — Why have a tree on Ancestry.com? Is public or private better? Learn how to create and use Ancestry.com Trees from scratch, by uploading a gedcom file, or by importing from FamilySearch. Learn how to use that magical FamilySearch button to easily send data back and forth between FamilySearch and Ancestry. Give your research a boost by adding the power of an Ancestry Tree.
Scottish Research — Learn about Scottish record types and where to find them. Learn how to use ScotlandsPeople, Ancestry.com, and FindMyPast together to get the most bang for your buck.
Using Timelines to Untangle Same Name Individuals — Same name individuals often get tangled up in online trees. Learn how to use timelines and other charts to carefully analyze and separate same name folks for good. Learn how to document your work in FamilySearch so that your cousins will stop merging “your” James Young with that “other fella.” Learn how to take a few extra steps in online trees that will help your good work last.
Walking Away From the Rabbit Hole — We’ve all fallen into the rabbit hole in our research. Sometimes it’s fun. But if all of our research time twists and turns through crazy tunnels with an overwhelming amount of data, we need to learn to walk away from the crazy and be more purposeful. Learn how to ask the right research questions to keep you focused, drive your research, and be more successful. Learn how to save those “rabbit hole finds” for later without forgetting about them.
What’s APPening? — Family History discoveries are waiting for us right at our fingertips. Learn about apps that will appeal to all ages and experience levels and bring the joy of genealogy to everyone.
What Are the Records Really Telling Me? Learning to Use Indirect Evidence — We all love direct evidence — records that explicitly tell us the very thing we want to know. But for many of our ancestors, there are no records about their lives that offer the direct evidence we are seeking. So how do we prove their details and relationships? By collecting and carefully analyzing indirect evidence! Learn what indirect evidence is, how to search for it, analyze it, correlate it, and use it to prompt new research questions that help you answer your overall research question. Learn to harness the power of indirect evidence to solve your most stubborn brick walls.
Why DNA? — Have you wondered about using DNA to help your research? Learn a few basics that can help you decide which test to buy and who to test to help solve your brick walls.
If you are interested in having me give a presentation for your organization or event, please contact me at:
amberlysfamilyhistory {at} yahoo {dot} com.