Marian Pierre-Louis, owner of Fieldstone Historic Research in Massachusetts, talked about house histories on the Forget-Me-Not Hour show last week. I was fascinated by what she told us. Did you know there are actually three ways that the history of a house can be done? Marian specializes in the social history of houses–the history of the occupants and owners, as well as the property history which she finds in deeds and mortgages. This is the one that uses genealogy research to tell the story. She shared a few methods that … Read More
Arthur C.M. Kelly, publisher of Kinship Books, and his wife Nancy Kelly, Rhinebeck Town Historian, are almost synonymous with Hudson Valley , New York, genealogy and history. Arthur has been intimately involved in the church records of the mid-Hudson Valley since 1968, and Nancy with the Starr Library in Rhinebeck for years. Arthur founded Kinship Books when he started researching Nancy’s early Hudson Valley and Dutchess County family history. There were no transcriptions of the early Hudson Valley church records at the time, so Arthur dove in and started doing transcriptions himself. … Read More
I missed my post last week because I was at the National Genealogical Conference in Cincinnati. The week before we had an excellent Forget-Me-Not Hour when Joan Koster Morales joined me to talk about German genealogy in New York and in general. She shared some techniques for working with unfamiliar handwriting–especially the old German script found in early 19th century German records–that I had not heard of before. I can use the techniques when I work in the early 17th century Puritan records in Connecticut, which often look like a … Read More
Last week on The Forget-Me-Not Hour, Jessie Davis, manager of recruitment for indexers at FamilySearch.org, joined me on the show. She talked about how the indexing project called the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project was coming along after two weeks in operation. After 72 years, on April 2 the 1940 U.S. census was released, and now it needs to be indexed for all us genealogists and family historians! I was astonished at how many new indexers joined the FamilySearch indexing team just for the 1940 census. You’ll have to listen … Read More
McKelden Smith, President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, joined me on The Forget-Me-Not Hour last week. He had a lot to share about what is happening with one of the oldest genealogical societies in the country. The NYG&B, as it is widely known, has downsized and refashioned its focus for the 21st century. Today the society manages the website www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org, where you can access all of the New York G&B Records from the first issue published in 1870. The NYG&B Record contains a wealth of genealogical and … Read More
Dr. Christina Clay, an M.D. who is board certified in hematology, oncology and internal medicine, joined me on The Forget-Me-Not Hour last week. She explained how genetic testing is used in the doctor’s office today, as well as commented on health genetic tests like the one my previous radio show guest, 23andMe.com, perform today. Genetic testing can be beneficial to cancer treatment because it allows the doctor a more in-depth picture of a patient’s body. It can help determine the course of treatment in oncology. If there is a family … Read More
Last week on The Forget-Me-Not Hour Joanna Mountain, Senior Director of Research for 23andMe, joined me and talked about the different results that can be found with 23andMe’s genetic testing. 23andMe tests for both health and genealogy. With the health results, you can find out how your genes may make you more likely to have certain diseases, what diseases you carry genetically, and what traits you may have. With the disease risk results, you find out if your risk is elevated, average or below. With carrier status, you find out … Read More
Last week’s Forget-Me-Not Hour radio show focused on the National Genealogical Society (NGS) and its annual conference. NGS Vice President Julie Miller joined me on the show and talked about NGS’s long history of genealogy education. Among the educational tools the NGS uses to help genealogists trace their family history are the NGS Quarterly with its focus on research methodology, the NGS Magazine with its articles on various types of records, and webinars that can be accessed right from your own computer. The annual Family History Conference is the pinnacle of the … Read More
Erica Wolfe Burke, archivist and special collections librarian at The Center for Folklife, History & Cultural Programs at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, N.Y. , joined me on the Forget-Me-Not Hour last week. She talked about this award-winning gem for genealogists tucked between the Adirondacks, the Hudson River and Vermont in upstate N.Y. The Folklife Center collects items that our ancestors used in their daily lives — from kitchen utensils, to tools, to posters, to music and instruments — to put on display in the exhibit hall of the … Read More
Bernice Bennett, host of the Research at the National Archives and Beyond radio show on BlogTalkRadio.com, joined me on The Forget-Me-Not Hour last week. She gave a great introduction to NARA I, also known as Archives I, in Washington DC, telling us what to expect when you arrive, what items to bring with you (and what not to bring with you), and how to prepare for research there. As a volunteer working with Civil War pension records at the National Archives and Records Administration, Bernice has some insider information for … Read More
