Lacie's Genealogy Blog

  Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:    It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more   Genealogy  Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list: 1) Write your 2025 Genea-Santa letter. Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy? What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list? They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest. 2) Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post. Dear Genea-Santa, I have been a fairly good genea-girl this year. I have recently started blogging again after taking a break for two years, and  I have occasionally written blog posts in the last five months. I’ve als...

Hey boys and girls, it's time for more genealogy fun. Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!): 1)  Larry Smith invented six-word memoirs (see  https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/ ).   2)  How do you want to be remembered?  What is most important to you?   What six-word memoirs would you write?   3)  Write at least one, on any subject, and the sky is no limit. 4)  Tell us about your six word memoir(s) in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post of mine, or in a comment on Twitter or Facebook in response to this post.    To do this challenge, I tried to answer the question Randy gave:   How do you want to be remembered? To be honest, I found it difficult to answer this because I was thinking about how I wanted other people see me — and that felt weird to me. But discussing it about w...

  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! 1)  You were born and given a forename (first name and middle name(?)) and a surname on your birth certificate. What were they? 2)  How many persons are on the  FamilySearch Family Tree  (with an exact search for a birth name) with your first and, separately, your surname? Are there any other persons with your complete first-middle-surnames? 3)  How many matches do you have when you search the  FamilySearch Historical Records    (with an exact search for a name)  with your first name, and separately, with your surname?  Are there any other persons with your complete  first-middle -surname? 4)  How many person are in the  Public Ancestry Member Tree collection    (with an exact search for a name)  with your first name and, separately, your surname? Are there any other persons with your complete  f...

Currently, I am researching and trying to prove that Rose Mott is my great-grandmother’s mother. This matters because  my great-grandmother, Clara, was adopted by her paternal aunt. I don’t know yet if it was legal, but in addition to that, her brothers were put in an orphanage. In a life story, she wrote about herself and what she knew about her paternal ancestry -but she made no mention of her mother. This makes me assume that she did not know who her biological mother was, or at least her name. Otherwise, I think she would have included her as she did with the other ancestral names. With all that said, it’s challenging to find direct evidence so far to definitively prove their mother-daughter relationship, but I’ve actually made major progress this year, which I’ll share more about in future posts. To get back in the swing of researching this question, I decided to revisit my process. So the first thing I did was review what I have or what I know. From there ,  I created a ...

It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! 1)  Who are your favorite genealogy researchers, speakers or writers?  Who do you learn from?  Please list ten or more genealogists who contribute to your genealogy education and experience through books, magazines, videos, podcasts, social media, websites, blogs, webinars, seminars, conferences, presentations, workshops, meetings, other ways or venues, etc. I know this assignment was originally posted in January of last year. However, I wanted to go back and review the older assignments I missed since I've been away.  I know that Randy calls for ten or more genealogists, but currently, I don't have ten or more favorites, or at least truly favorites, so the list won’t be ten people or more. That’s my adjustment to the assignment today . Crista Cowan - Crista was my first genealogy teacher via her Ancestry YouTube videos. When she is presenting, whether that be at the RootsTech...

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash I haven’t blogged in a while. For two years, I put this blog on private as I’d no longer had the willpower to push out blog posts the way that I did six years ago. I write a little more about this in my blog post Why Do You Do… ?  Recently, I have revamped my blog. I have unpublished posts that didn’t reflect who I was then or who I am now, or those that felt too personal to share ‘out there’. I also removed posts I wrote  just for the sake of posting content and main taining an audience,   even when  inauthentic to me. It means more to me that others feel the value and quality of what I share rather than the quantity. I am not sure how often I will post, all I know is when the inspiration and curiosity strike, that’s when it will occur. My intention for this blog is to lead with more spontaneity than usual, structured content, along with transparency, authenticity, and vulnerability to whatever degree feels right. My inte...

 Photo by DearMyrtle on DearMyrtle Archives I first heard of the news on Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog . The details of everything are linked on his blog post. But, I will say the live event will be on YouTube. As opposed to attending live on Zoom and the recording on YouTube afterwards. (And I know it has been live-streamed on YouTube before on occasions but without viewers in the Zoom meeting). Sidenote:  Last year, I noticed her original YouTube channel or account was deleted for some reason, and I couldn’t find a public announcement saying that had occurred. But on her new channel, past recordings are starting to appear, which is great. So she likely archived hundreds of virtual recordings. * Update : I watched a little bit of the replay on Youtube . It was stated by DearMyrtle herself, that she had Daniel Loftus, a panelist, archive her YT videos and deleted her YT channel, it is now slowly re-uploading them again.

I began blogging five years ago on January 12, 2019. In the last three years, I wanted to write a post about the blog posts I have written that I think are "the best", helpful, thought provoking or just fun. So now I am doing it. Here it is below. Photo by  Guille Alvarez  on  Unplash These posts are not in any particular order.  Why Do You Do...? What Kind of Genealogist Are You Are There Changes to Come?- Find A Grave Ancestry's NEW Changes To Terms & Conditions The Truth May Come Out with DNA Tests   Mapping Out a Family My Document Processing Workflow   Are There More Changes to Come to Find A Grave?   Sharing Photos of Ancestors Online Reopen the National Archives   How COVID-19 is Impacting The Genealogy Community   Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - You Might Be A Genealogist If Local History is Important Too Education is Everywhere Giving Back To the Genealogy Community Creating A Digital Library With Goodreads  Google Books Fo...

Photo by   Kenny Eliason on Unsplash I am asking myself this question, reflecting on what made me start this blog nearly five years ago. What was my intention and purpose, and how can I contribute to the genealogy community?  I think I just wanted to share, to get my voice heard for a hobby I am passionate about. There wasn’t a specific objective, and it certainly wasn’t to get on a trend to become popular.  Sometimes there is a deeper reasoning as to why we do certain things that we may not fully be aware of in the moment, that may reveal itself in the future. I’m also asking what do I want to write about specifically as it relates to genealogy. Because I  think many topics interconnect with genealogy. In the past, I was very achievement-based, posting with very little significance to me. I was trying to maintain a demand with what little supply I had. Which in turn, led me to burnout. What I write going forward, my objective is that it is purposeful and fulf...

    It's  Saturday Night  -  time for more  Genealogy Fun!   Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1)  What is the best or important image or document that you have recently found online? [Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting topics!] 2)  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook Status post or note. When Fold3 had their yearly free access to military records, I jumped at the opportunity to search for my 3rd great-grandfather, Oscar Barton. There I found a muster roll for him during his service in the American Civil War. I had not downloaded the image above yet, though I believe it is also on the National Archives website. 

       It's  Saturday Night  -  time for more  Genealogy Fun!   Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1)  Do you have plans to travel to do onsite genealogy research?  [Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting topics!] 2)  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook Status post or note. I don't have many plans to travel to do onsite genealogy research in the near future. If I could go anywhere, I would love to go to Illinois to meet Jennifer Holik. We made a connection and I see her as a mentor.  I would go to New York to research my NY ancestors and to solve mysteries. I would go to the National Archives in St. Louis and in Washington D.C. to gain military records for my ancestors.  On my mother’s side there are possible traces of English ancestry. If I can prove this, I would like to go to the ancest...

I know that Lorine McGinnis Schulze wrote a blog post on the same topic several years ago, but I feel there are even more categories. So with that said, which kind of genealogist are you? The Grave Hunter - Goes to every local cemetery and takes photos of headstones, then uploads them to FindAGrave. The Reunion Planner - Plan every yearly family reunion. Picks the date, the location, and the place the event is held. Creates genealogy-themed activities. The Learner - Always asks questions, attends genealogy conferences, webinars, and watches many videos. Always excited to learn and use new techniques and tools. The Time Traveler - Questions every aspect of family circumstances. Tries to gather the whole picture. (Social, economic, historical context) (ie, why did so and so do that, how did they feel making that decision, how did it affect them).  The Cycle Breaker - Heals the beliefs, behaviors, and patterns for themselves, their ancestors, and their family. The Traveler/...

    It's  Saturday Night  -  time for more  Genealogy Fun!   Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1)  Who is in your paternal grandfather's matrilineal line (i.e., the mother of your paternal grandfather, and her mother, etc.) 2)  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post, in a Facebook Status post or note. *  My paternal grandfather was Fletcher Pearson (1919-1986). *  His mother was Gussie Gable (1896-1963), who married George W. Pearson (1892-?). *  Her mother was Mary B Burns (1877-1946), who married John Welsey Gable (1872-?). *  Her mother was Rhoda (1842-?), who married William Burns (1834-?).

Do you have a workflow when you find a new document? If you don’t, I will share one you can use. Here are some steps you can follow once you find a document online.   Step 1: Download the image Generally, there is an option on genealogy sites to download images.  On Ancestry, you can click on the tool icon, which is on the right side of your screen once you view the image in full screen, then select "download". Step 2: Name It If you have already established your naming convention for your digital files, you can use that. If you haven’t already, you can use mine. My naming strategy is  Year State Name of Record - Ancestor Name.jpg Step 3: File it Select the file in which you want to put the document in. Step 4: Attach images to your genealogy software program  First, add a fact and details (which may include notes) to the person(s) the document mentions. Then import images into the person's media album. Add a caption, description, and date to the document. Step 5:...

Last week, I watched a video on Lisa Louise Cooke’s YouTube channel about the closure of the National Archives, and it inspired me to write a blog post about the subject. It’s been over two full years since the National Archives fully opened. (It opened briefly this past November in two locations then closed again).  Now, in St. Louis, you have  to request an appointment for a research room or you can’t go inside. Researchers and genealogists, can’t obtain records, photos, and films, needed to complete projects for clients and themselves. Veterans can’t but need to gain access to their military records to apply for benefits. Geoff states in the video he is not saying fully open up, but slowly open up to pre-pandemic level. One of the guest speakers, Jessica Taylor said that a man was told "shame on me for building my business model around relying on the National Archives".  I was looking at a military researcher's services to see if they were available again to potential...