Digging for genealogical gold Archives — Page 2 of 3

Jul 23 2016

Photo context: treasures in the details

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 6 minutes of reading

In a photo of my great-grandparents, I happened to notice on the dresser behind them what looked like a tobacco container. Was I seeing a throwback to childhood pranks? Prince Albert in a can? I scanned the photo at high resolution and zoomed in. It was Prince Albert. I began to wonder what else I might see in the photo context. In one detail after another, my ancestors’ world came into focus.

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Jul 20 2016

Narrowing birth dates — a free tool does the math for you

13 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 5 minutes of reading

A census record offers you a moment in time when your ancestor was, say, five years old. That gives you a potential birth date range of 365 days, plus a possible Leap Day. If you use multiple records, however, you can use the overlaps to whittle down that range, getting closer to the real date. Doing this math in your head, unfortunately, can launch a headache. But I have a solution: the Date Narrowing Calculator. My gift to you.

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Jul 16 2016

Genetic genealogy: why more DNA is better

5 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 4 minutes of reading

Genetically speaking, my sisters and I are all half Mom and half Dad, right? DNA 101. So, only one of us needs to do a DNA test, and then we’ll all know our ethnic origins, correct? . . . OK, I confess I never took DNA 101. But thanks to AncestryDNA, I have learned the answer is no (at least when it comes to autosomal DNA). The more family members you test, the fuller the picture of your genetic genealogy will become.

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Jul 10 2016

Citing sources: the Desktop Dilemma series

5 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By Donna Cox Baker / 7 minutes of reading

This newest installment of the Desktop Dilemma series takes up the question of how the Big Three genealogy desktop software packages handle citing sources. How easy do they make it to leave an effective bread-crumb trail back to where you found your facts?

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Jun 26 2016

Junior, senior, and the perils of assuming they’re kin

2 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 3 minutes of reading

It’s clearly a junior-senior kinship, right? Only two Tom Whatsits in the whole county–Tom Whatsit Sr. and Tom Whatsit Jr. You have moved up another branch in the family tree, right? Not so fast. . . .

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Jun 17 2016

Techniques, archives & graduation: IGHR Friday (6 of 6)

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 4 minutes of reading

The classroom buzzed this morning as we turned in our class projects and absorbed a few more hours of vital education. Earning our certificates of completion, we departed eager to practice what we’ve learned. Proudly, we are at last qualified for the coveted Advanced Methodology course. Hopefully many of us will meet again there next July. (This diary began at Sunday’s Orientation.)
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Jun 16 2016

Newspapers, land, and courts: IGHR Thursday (5 of 6)

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 6 minutes of reading

Thursday at IGHR, we learned to get smart about finding clues in newspapers. We examined the acquisition of lands and the federal, state, and local records that emerged. We explored wills, the intestate, and the path through probate — a path to some of genealogy’s most valuable gems. (This diary began at Sunday’s Orientation.)

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Jun 15 2016

Death, taxes & the “reasonably exhaustive” standard: IGHR Wednesday (4 of 6)

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 6 minutes of reading

Wednesday at IGHR brought a breadth of instruction. The intricacies of tax records, creative substitutes for the “vital records,” the layers of military records, and that question that plagues all GEGs: what is “reasonably exhaustive” research? (This diary began at Sunday’s Orientation.)
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Jun 14 2016

Immigration, naturalization, and genetic genealogy: IGHR Tuesday (3 of 6)

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 5 minutes of reading

The GEGs of IGHR Course 2 became very animated and inquisitive as two of genealogy’s most respected thinkers gave today’s lectures. John Philip Colletta taught us about ship travel and naturalization records. Blaine Bettinger took up the question of DNA in genealogical research. We had questions and more questions. (This diary began at Sunday’s Orientation.)

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Jun 13 2016

Genealogy skills to FAN clusters: IGHR Monday (2 of 6)

Leave a Comment / Digging for genealogical gold, Golden Egg Genealogist / By Donna Cox Baker / 4 minutes of reading

Today we gathered for the intermediate course at IGHR 2016 — a genuine GEG fest. A room full of people who want to do genealogy right. Our lectures included genealogy’s essential skills, power search techniques, and the now-universal FAN concept — or “cluster research.” (This diary began at Sunday’s Orientation.) …

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