about me

Meet the Author

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.

Learn More About Me

6:30 AM

What Genealogists Can Learn from Tax Records

Tax records weren’t created for genealogists—but if you know how to read them, they can be surprisingly revealing. The key is knowing: what kind of tax you’re looking at, the law that applies at that time and place and analyzing it (based on the above two), so you can understand what it m…

6:00 AM

Why Some Records Aren’t Digitized—and What You’re Missing If You Only Research Online

It’s 2025. Shouldn’t everything be online by now? Not even close. Here are four reasons records don't get digitized plus some ideas for how to find them irl. If you've ever felt stuck in your genealogy research, the issue might not be your skills or your ancestors—it might be the limits of the …

6:41 AM

The Two Most Basic Things You Need to Bust a Genealogy Brick Wall

Before you can do anything else to bust a brick wall, there are two things you must have, information and knowledge. This sounds really simple and it shoukd be. But people rush ahead and get stuck for years because they don't START with these absolute basics. Genealogy knowledge is the foundation for bu…

5:56 PM

Stop "Building" Your Family Tree and Do This Instead

Maybe your family tree is stuck because you're trying to "build" it. If you haven't had this genealogy revelation, it might just change the way you research. Initially I started this post with some points about the types of genealogy knowledge you need to bust a brick wall. To quickly reca…

2:27 PM

What to Do Before Hiring a Genealogist [+Checklist]

In this post, we’ll go over what to do with your genealogy research before hiring a genealogist. Why you need to follow some essential steps before hiring a pro. The three things you want to do. What you'll get from this process, regardless if you actually hire someone or not! What to…

12:12 PM

How to Break Through Genealogy Brick Walls

Understanding the concept of genealogy brick walls and more importantly, identifying how to overcome them, is crucial for anyone delving into their family history. Genealogy brick walls can be frustrating obstacles for family historians looking to trace their ancestry. True brick walls are points in a fam…