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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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Showing posts from 2017

Posts contain affiliate links. See my disclosures page for details.

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Setting Genealogy Goals

As I write this (which is obviously well before you're reading it), there are three weekends until Christmas. Do you think it's time to start planning for the new year? As an Occasional Genealogist, someone that doesn't have a lot of time for their own family history research, setting genealogy goals…
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Evernote for Digitizing Genealogy Records

Do you want to bring home copies of genealogy records to reference later? This is a great strategy to save time at a repository you don't get to visit often or even to bring home finding aids. Maybe you know there's something you don't know. Referring to a copy rather than just your own notes can help yo…
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Digitizing Genealogy Records: DIY

Last spring I wrote a post about subscription savings , digitizing records, and Evernote . It was actually a combo post of three topics/ideas that segued from one to the other but that I didn't think each had sufficient material for a post. I'm more verbose than I thought. Now there are three posts. Here i…
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Why You Need a Genealogy To-do List

Should you create a genealogy to-do list? Yes. I think you should and there's a surprising reason it's so important for Occasional Genealogists AND often genealogists (in other words, a reason for ANY genealogist). Decision fatigue. That phrase was actually the note I made to myself, so I'd kn…
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Make Your Genealogy Skills Go Pro

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 be pretty popular. In fact, it seems to be the belief held by many people that hire a professional ge…
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The most under-utilized offline source you should try today

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 spend an hour identifying a record that could answer these questions? Of course you would. After s…
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How to Do Genetic Genealogy on the Cheap

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 AncestryDNA, this post will help with suggestions for transferring. For new tests, consider a site with mo…
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Interested in DNA for genealogy?

I love using DNA for genealogy. That means I talk to a lot of people about DNA, whether they are "genealogists" or not. One thing I constantly tell people is DNA tests go on sale regularly. And right now (see update below for when is "now") is one of those sales. And this is a pretty big sale becau…
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How to Do Genealogy on the Cheap, the Right Way

Ten years. Over ten years. I was stuck at a 4th great grandfather for that long. Most of that time I was pretty sure who his father was. But why wasn't there any proof? I was so afraid it was because he was NOT the father. Surely there should have been enough clues to put together (if no direct evidence). I …
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Genealogy Newspaper Research : Saving on Subscriptions

I mentioned in last week's post  that one way to save while doing more genealogy is drop a more expensive subscription in favor of a cheaper one (even if that is just a temporary option). This post is going to give you one specific example, newspaper subscriptions (paid AND free options!) This post has been upda…
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The FREE DNA Tool You Need to Know

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 (like in this post) are now being limited. Some suggestions in posts may no longer be available for AncestryDNA results. This is too massive and changing too fast…
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How to Save Money on Your Genealogy Subscriptions

There is really only one way to save big bucks on your genealogy subscriptions. To get BIG savings you have to apply this method. The method works and is possibly the best way to do high-quality online research, too. The great thing is, there aren’t any complicated coupons, discount codes, or special websites…
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Declutter Your Genealogy

Do you know how to identify genealogical clutter? Do you have systems in place to avoid creating clutter in the first place? Genealogical clutter isn't piles of physical papers. Learn how to identify and stop it! Recently I posted on " The Lunchtime Genealogist " series about decluttering your genealo…
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Are You Stuck in Your Research?

Have you been doing genealogy for a while? Are you asking yourself, "why is my genealogy research stuck?" Do you need new ideas for how to find more genealogy records? Maybe you've been trying to learn more but you keep hearing the same information over and over. Do you simply lack the time to fin…
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Finding Female Ancestors: The Importance of Siblings

The importance of siblings is a topic that can be discussed for any genealogical problem but sometimes it may be the best or only way to research a difficult female ancestor. How Do You Find a Woman's Maiden Name? A Grayscale of Social Interaction There are lots of suggestions for identifying records about…
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Cemetery Photography: The Best Supplies

This post contains affiliate links. Supplies for an Awesome Cemetery Photography Kit How do you take great photos in the cemetery?
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Always Be Prepared, even if you're an Occasional Genealogist!

This post contains affiliate links. A link to my disclosures can be found in the upper right. Today is the anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. By chance I have a post ready that's all about being prepared. No really, it's by chance. This post suggests a system I've been thinking …

Evaluating Evidence: Books

This post is being updated and has been split into two posts, use the links below to get to the information you're looking for: using and evaluating books as a genealogical source how to know if a genealogy source is right (not just about books)
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The #1 Tip to Help Anyone Use Evernote and Be More Productive

This post is a bit different because it's not genealogy specific (so if you got here and aren't interested in genealogy, no problem). Anything that can save you time is related to being an Occasional Genealogist which is why I'm including it. I've heard this tip many times and didn't use it un…
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Finding Aids vs. Library Catalogs

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day and I recently learned about a new finding aid that is appropriate to share today. Last week Upfront with NGS  shared a notice they had received about the newly released online inventory of the International Tracing Service (ITS). You can read the post (with the link …

Quick Reads: Recovering Lost Links, Welcoming Newbies

I often find posts I'd like to share with readers but they don't warrant me writing a whole post about them. So, I'm going to try the "round-up" style post with bits of information from around the Internet. Right now, I don't expect to publish this regularly but we'll see. This is also …
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Cousin Baiting: What is It, Should You Do It?

Cousin baiting is exactly like deer baiting in its purpose which is why the term is used. Not from a long line of hunters? Confused? Wondering if you should you put out a pile of grandma's cookies to lure your cousins in (you'll understand this in a moment if you don't already)? And why would you want …
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Resolve to Do More Research

This post is a follow-up to last week's "resolutions" post. I suggest heading over to read it first , if you haven't. This post is specifically about resolving to do more research, not just more "genealogy" which involves more than just research. If you want to do more research, you need …