I'm Jennifer, and I'm an Occasional Genealogist... sort of. For over ten years I've been a professional genealogist. I started researching my own family nearly 30 years ago. Like many of you, I started as an Occasional Genealogist. I had to squeeze research in while in school and while working full-time. Then I got my first genealogy job and for awhile, it was genealogy all the time. Now I have two kids. I do other people's genealogy constantly but my own? Coming up with ways to do great genealogy, despite all the interruptions, is now mandatory.
I'm Jennifer, and I'm an Occasional Genealogist... sort of. Like many of you, I started as an Occasional Genealogist. I had to squeeze research into my free time. Then I got my first genealogy job and for awhile, it was genealogy all the time! Now I have two kids. I do other people's genealogy constantly but my own? Coming up with ways to do great genealogy, despite the interruptions, is mandatory.
Where was he born? Why isn't he in the 1860 census? Is this record for the same man or a different man of the same name? These are the questions every genealogist is constantly trying to answer. Would you spen…
How do professional genealogists accomplish so much more? Is it simply knowledge? Do they know more than you? Is it just experience? Have they been clued-in to some secret or magic formula? The magic theory seems to b…
UPDATE: I no longer recommend testing at AncestryDNA. Currently, there are severe limitations to the tools they offer and your options for third-party tools are now being limited. If you've already tested at Ancestr…
This is the follow-up to the post " Why to Take Genealogy Notes ." That post explained why everyone should take notes, not just record "facts" (i.e., why you need to do more than just attach name…