Genealogy In Action Blog

Learn about various record types, methods and strategies, references and resources, and tools and technology to help you grow your genealogy skills. Articles also include a take-action prompt so you can immediately put into practice what you learned.

FamilySearch Catalogā€™s Best Kept Secret references & resources tools & technology Sep 05, 2020

>>Video Transcript<<

Today I’m going to share with you one of FamilySearch catalog’s best kept secrets.

The FamilySearch catalog is a great tool to use when planning out your research. Because the Family History Library has such a vast collection of records, books, periodicals, maps, and other materials, you can usually find something useful for your research project. The catalog is usually the first place I look when I begin adding to my research plan (or building a...

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3 Types of Timelines for Genealogy Research methods & strategies tools & technology Aug 26, 2020

Timelines—one of my favorite genealogy research tools! Just the process of building a timeline can help your research immensely, as you will typically start to see patterns, discrepancies, or missing information that need further investigation. And, if you're a visual person like me, timelines provide a visual tool for you to better analyze the data you’ve collected.

Let’s take a look at the three types of timelines and how they can help you in your research.

1. Basic

This...

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6 Places to Look for FAN Club Members methods & strategies Aug 19, 2020

Before we dive in, let's address the question: What is the FAN Club?

FAN Club is a phrase coined by Elizabeth Shown Mills. FAN represents family/friends, associates, and neighbors—the people that were part of your ancestor’s social network. By including these people in your research, you may uncover clues that can help answer questions of identity, relationship, origin, and more.

So, where do you look for these people? Here are six of my favorite records to get you started.

1....

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How to Cite a US Census (1900ā€“1940) records Aug 13, 2020

Last week, we covered some of the items that are often overlooked in the 1940 US census. I hope you learned at least one new thing and took some time to go back and review at least one 1940 census to make sure you gleaned everything that this particular census has to offer.

This week I thought I’d keep it simple :)

But Julie, your title indicates that we’re diving in to citations…that’s not simple!

Don’t worry, I’ve got you!

Citations for censuses are...

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8 Often Overlooked Items in the 1940 US Census records Aug 06, 2020

Eight years ago, when the 1940 US census was released to the public, genealogists dove right in to find their relatives. For some, it was finding their parents enumerated for the first time! For others, it might have been finding themselves enumerated for the first time! Whatever the case, it was an exciting time.

But…in our haste, we may not have read all of the wonderful details or may have missed some of the data that was collected for the first time in this census. That said, the...

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