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.

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Let's bust your brick wall!

Do you keep going off-track while researching your brick wall? Do you need to find more sources to continue your research? The Brick Wall Solution Roadmap can help.

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2:35 PM

How to Take Genealogy Notes

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 names, dates, and places to an online tree OR do more than record names, dates, and places in genealogy …

6:00 AM

Why You Need to Take Genealogy Notes

I've been working on answering this question for months now. Why take genealogy notes? A computer can make things so much simpler for you, recording facts automatically. There's one quick and compelling answer (and a lot of not compelling answers I'll skip for now).

10:35 AM

Are Genealogy Books a Good Source?

Are you using genealogy books as one of your sources? If you're not, you're probably making your genealogy research harder than it has to be. Books are an easy starting place to learn the vital skill of "evidence evaluation" and an often overlooked starting place in this digital world. When yo…

8:30 AM

The Worst Genealogy Mistake

Are you frustrated with your genealogy progress? Maybe you feel stuck. Maybe you feel confused. Maybe you feel impatient. There's a really good chance you're making the worst genealogy mistake. It's a really popular mistake that will leave you stuck, confused, and not progressing for YEARS.

2:23 PM

How Do I Know a Genealogy Source is Correct?

How do you know a genealogy source is correct? You have to learn to evaluate your evidence. It's not as easy as "this is a good source." But it's not rocket science either! This post aims to explain the basic differences between asking "is this source right" and evaluating evidence. I…

12:02 PM

Make the Most of Back to Genealogy Season

Five ways to make this your best back to genealogy season, ever. Not surprisingly, back-to-school season is also back to genealogy season. I'm sure it has to do with all those years we all spent going back to school in the fall. And also like back to school season, you can follow some best practices to make t…