International Institute of Genealogical Studies

LEADERS IN ONLINE GENEALOGY EDUCATION

International Institute of Genealogical Studies - LEADERS IN ONLINE GENEALOGY EDUCATION

Category Archives: Certificates

Congratulations to – Colleen Murray, PLCGS!

Colleen Murray. Used with permission.

Colleen Murray. Used with permission.

By Colleen Murray, Student

Last week marked a major milestone in my genealogical education. I finished my 40 courses required to earn the PLCGS (Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies) from the International Institute of Genealogical Studies! Though immersed in celebration this week, I have returned to my computer to write this account of my experiences and reflect on how I got here.

I was always a business-minded individual. I initially thought I’d be an accountant, and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree. But finding myself at a soul-sucking job after graduation, I quit to follow my dream of opening a retail tea shop in Edmonton, Canada. Six years later, I sold it when our family moved to Ontario. Small children took up most of my day, and I happened on genealogy as a hobby that I could do in spare moments to maintain my sanity.

In 2010, having moved back to Edmonton, I started researching genealogy educational programs. I wondered if perhaps my hobby could be translated into a career?  I settled on the Interational Institute of Genealogical Studies because of its Canadian stream of courses. It was very important to me that my education be relevant to my location. It also allowed me to take Irish courses, which is where my cultural heritage lies. Best of all, I could work at my own pace.

I started out the program very slowly, trying out Methodology parts 1 & 2 before moving on to the beginner level Canadian package. I look back with some amusement on that first year, I did not usually tackle more than one course at a time, and did not usually submit more than one module per week.  Part of this was due to being a bit of a perfectionist, and part due to family commitments. My slow start may explain why it took me five more years to complete my 40 courses!

By 2011, I was fully committed to becoming a professional genealogist, and I decided to pursue the PLCGS.  The 40-course requirement would allow me to finish up to the advanced level of Canadian courses, and up to the intermediate level of Irish courses, while of course still taking the methodology, analysis and other required courses.  I still completed my classes slowly, but really picked up the pace when my family spent a year travelling on sabbatical in Ireland and Australia.  With few other obligations, it’s amazing what you can get done!  I also spent a lot of time upgrading my previous research, using practices I had learned in class — fixing source citations, producing reports, and implementing a better system to organize my online documents.

The advanced courses that I took in later years were the toughest, but in retrospect, the most valuable. The Canadian: Geography & Maps challenged me, but the result was a different way of tackling research.  The Palaeography: Reading & Understanding Historical Documents class took a LOT of  time, but by the end my skills had really improved dramatically. I still refer back to those notes regularly.

Having finally completed all of my PLCGS courses, I know that my education is not finished.  In fact, I know that professional genealogists have an obligation to keep current and continually upgrade their knowledge of record sets, methodologies, business and technology, and also study journals that include the work of others.  I do plan to do all this, and am on the waiting list for ProGen, as suggested by my instructor Brenda Wheeler (who put up with me through all three of my Analysis and Skills classes!)  The International Institute’s Professional Development courses will also no doubt be useful to me.  Right now, I am going to spend some time working on my business plan and use some of those Bachelor of Commerce skills to map out where I want to go from here.

I want to say thank you to all my instructors, especially to Brenda Wheeler & Ruth Blair, who have been great mentors to me.  I want to say to all the prospective and current students out there to keep at it!  Even if it takes you longer than you’d hope, when you finish, it feels so sweet.

You can contact Colleen and keep up with her genealogical adventures at www.cmgenealogy.com

Join Genealogist Kirsty Gray in Canada!

Director of English Records Kirsty Gray is on a speaking tour of Canada. Don’t miss the chance to see her present on some great English research topics.

November 1: The Ontario Genealogical Society, Toronto Branch Workshop “Industrial England.” Come hear Kirsty provide the keynote address on How the Industrial Revolution Changed the World. For more information, see the OGS website.

November 2: At the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa she will be presenting two lectures, Searching for Names: Challenges, Pitfalls and the Downright Ridiculous and Solving Problems Through Family Reconstruction.

To check out a calendar of Kirsty’s presentations, see her website.

Blogging about German Courses: Meet Michele Simmons Lewis

Michele Lewis. Used with permission.

Michele Lewis. Used with permission.

We are happy to announce that Michele Simmons Lewis is joining The National Institute as a blogger. She’ll be blogging her thoughts as she proceeds through the German Records Certificate program. Before you read her posts, we thought we’d sit down and ask her a few questions.

The National Institute: How long have you been doing genealogy? What got you started?

Michele: I have been doing research for 23 years. My dad accidentally let a family skeleton slip and I was determined to either prove or disprove what he said. I ended up disproving it and I haven’t stopped researching since. What amazes me is how much things have changed in those 23 years. When I first started everything was done on paper and the only way you found information was by doing onsite research.

The National Institute: Do you have a favorite research project ?

Michele: One of the biggest projects I am working on is determining the parents of James Simmons of South Carolina. He migrated with his family to the Mississippi Territory in about 1798. Right now I am plotting out all of the original land owners in Perry County, Mississippi. I am tackling it one township at a time using the records at the Bureau of Land Management. James had three parcels of land and I want to analyze all of his neighbors to see if I can find any sort of familial links. Perry County is a burned county as was its parent county, Greene County. It goes downhill from there because Greene County’s parent county, Wayne County, is also a burned county. There are very few records to go on. Getting James back to the correct county in South Carolina is a challenge. There are several James Simmons’ in South Carolina in the 1790 census. I am hoping that the people I uncover in the land records also migrated from South Carolina (people tended to travel in groups). If I can associate James’ neighbors to a particular county in South Carolina I might discover which of the James’ in the 1790 census is the correct one.

The National Institute: Why did you decide to take courses from The National Institute for Genealogical Studies?

Michele: I was born in Germany as was my mother so we are the first immigrants in her line. All of my relatives, both living and dead, are in Germany. Most of the research I have done has been on my father’s side because it was just easier to do (US and UK). Even though I speak German and can read the records I am not very familiar with the types of records that are available nor the laws that affect the vital records. When I first started doing research the only German records available were on microfilm and this only included a very small percentage of the German records that existed. Traveling back to Germany to do research was out of the question because I was raising five children. My mother was able to get some documents for me from her relatives and from the local government office when she went back to Germany for a visit. She is not a genealogist and I had to limit what I asked for to things that would be easy for her to find. Today there are many more records available online and I have better access to German repositories via the Internet. I am also not as well-versed in Germany history and geography as I should be. I left Germany when I was only 6 years old so my formal German schooling stopped there. I am taking the German courses to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of German research so that I can research my German side more competently.

The National Institute: Where can others find your writings?

Michele: My Ancestoring blog is at http://ancestoring.blogspot.com/ . I also write articles for various genealogical magazines. I am active on Facebook, Google+ and Linkedin and I always love connecting with researchers from all over the world. I work for Millennia, makers of the Legacy Family Tree software program. I do a fair bit of writing for them as well.

Thanks Michele! Look for Michele’s posts starting next week.

 

Happy Graduation!

Join us for our 2014 graduation ceremony, on Friday the 2nd of May as we honor Graduates of the Certificate in Genealogical Studies program. This year, it will be held at St. Catharines, Ontario at the start of the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference between 3:30 and 5:30 pm (Eastern Daylight Savings Time).

 

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our students and graduates are from all around the world. Naturally, because of the far away distances, many graduates have difficulty attending this ceremony. For the last two years, through the use of our Virtual Meeting Room, we were able to reach a much greater number of students and graduates virtually. Again this year, we will use the Virtual Meeting Room for those who cannot attend locally.

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies invites you to come celebrate with us,  our students, our graduates and our instructors. Everyone is invited.

May 2, 2014 at 3:30pm (EDT)
Brock University
500 Glenridge Avenue
St. Catharines, Ontario (90 minutes south-west of Toronto)

If you would like to attend virtually :

MEETING LOCATION:  http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/graduation/
(NOTE: No user name or password required. Please type in your first and last name; then click “Enter as a Guest”.)

If you have never attended a Virtual Meeting, see the Instructions link on the right hand side of the Virtual Learning Room page.

Hope to see you online or in person on Friday, May 2nd.

——————–

OGS CONFERENCE

Canada’s largest annual gathering of family historians, the Ontario Genealogical Society’s Annual Conference will be held in St Catharines, Ontario from May 2nd to the 4th 2014.

This year’s theme, “Genealogy Without Borders,” is based on the simple idea that genealogical research can be done almost without ever having to leave your home. Whether you’re looking for a headstone picture in England or a 1921 Canadian Census data image, the Internet provides access to thousands of documents to thousands of people. More recently, there has been an explosion in the use of social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, to connect family researchers to both sources of information and family members – around the globe.

Hear some of The National Institute instructors ‘How can I Create an eBook to Share Family History in no Time’ with Luana Darby from Utah; or ‘Local History Online-Adding Social Context to your Family History’ with Marian Press from Toronto; Kirsty Gray, Director of the English Records program will present ‘Child Migration to Canada’ and Glenn Wright from Ottawa will discuss ‘Silence No More: Researching Canada’s War Dead’. And naturally, there will be many many more lectures on a variety of topics.

Come by and say hi to us at our booth and find out what’s new at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies.