Learning More About US Court Records

  by Shannon Combs Bennett, Student Who doesn’t love a good court record?  If you haven’t researched this type of record set, by the end of this blog post I hope you will investigate it more. While the amount of genealogical information can be overwhelming, the rewards are numerous. Due to the amount of information I have found over the years in court records I was very excited to take the course, U.S. Court Records authored by Ann Staley, CG.  I am always on the lookout for new information that I may have overlooked in the past, or something I simply didn’t know about. Some of my favorite records to search are Chancery records, a type of court record relevant in states with a colonial past. These are the courts where you would go to have something divided, such as in the case of  a divorce, business dissolvent, or arguments over an estate.  Let’s face it, when our ancestors argued they left great records!  While these types of records were covered briefly I did learn a lot more about the types of records available across multiple jurisdictions. By the end of the course I realized you could easily spend years studying court records looking for all aspects of your ancestor’s life!  Remember, they didn’t have to be a criminal to be mentioned in these records. Naturalizations were done on the local level for many years before becoming a federal process as were vital record registrations in many places. Thinking you will…

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Planning a Research Trip: Salt Lake City

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student The Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah is one of those dream research locations for genealogists. Many people plan for years to take just one trip to this world famous library. Others are lucky enough to go on a regular pilgrimage to this repository. I thought having a section on researching in Salt Lake City was a wonderful addition to the Planning A Research Trip Including Preparing for Salt Lake City course. Once again, there are tips and tricks in there that I wish I had known about before I made my first, or even, last trip! I have gone to the Family History Library (FHL)  twice, and I am getting ready to go for my third trip in February 2017.  In my past trips  I had only 1 day at the FHL, but this time I am excited to put what I learned in this course to good use and spend multiple days there. When I  go also corresponds with the  RootsTech conference, so it is a crazy time in the area. Other times of the year are less packed, but at other times of the year you cannot run into so many people from the genealogy  community all doing what we love…research.  While my experiences may not match yours (from the past or in the future) I hope you can see why I think the last two modules of this  course are so valuable. Not only do the course instructors walk the students…

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Starting Planning a Research Trip

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student When I started out on this genealogy path I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what it took to visit a research facility. Boy, was I wrong!  True, I knew how to use most search features on the computer, plus a card catalog, but there was so much more to a trip than I realized. I wish I knew about the course Planning a Research Trip Including Preparing for Salt Lake City  before I took my first major research trip. That is not to say that if you think you are an old hat at research  this course won’t be useful. Far from it. I am sure this blog post will prove to you that there is something for everyone in this course. My  first big research trip (away from home) was to the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne, which was also at the same time as the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference that year. I was making it a comprehensive trip, since I am from Indiana, which meant that not only did I visit large and small repositories, family members, and dozens of cemeteries.  It was a great time, but it could have gone so much better. How do I know?  Well, I am still working on processing the data from that trip since I saved information in so many different ways and places. The first two modules of this course were fantastic in walking you through what to expect, how to…

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Did You Know??

In the genealogy world we need to communicate with each other to keep abreast of the constantly evolving research methods and resources. The same is true within The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. As a student of The National Institute, there are various ways you can communicate with us and your fellow students. Here are just a few: #1. By email to the National Institute When contacting us please provide your first and last name and the course title, including the country the course applies to. i) admin@genealogicalstudies.com – for general questions; ii) alert@genealogicalstudies.com – to advise us of broken links in your course materials and assignments–please be specific as to where problem is; iii) exam@genealogicalstudies.com – questions pertaining to your course exam. #2. Attend a Virtual Meeting VIRTUAL MEETINGS ARE THE BEST PLACE TO COMMUNICATE with an instructor and fellow students. Anyone can participate! You do not have to be registered in the course to attend. Watch for our emails outlining upcoming virtual meetings dates and times. Or visit our website at www.genealogicalstudies.com, click on Information in the top menu bar, and then Virtual Learning Room for the full schedule. #3. Follow this  Blog On the right hand side of the blog  you will see Subscribe to Blog via Email. In the text box, enter your email address and click on the Subscribe button. Once subscribed, you will receive an email each time we post an article. Each blog article includes a link to write a comment or share…

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The Importance of Analysis and Skills Mentoring

By Shannon Combs-Bennett, Student If you are working towards a certificate at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies,  the Analysis and Skills Mentoring 1, 2, and 3 courses are required subjects. However, as you will read below, they are also great ways to test if your genealogy methodology and research skills are up to par. I wrote previously about Analysis and Skills Mentoring 1 in this blog post so you can get an idea about that course. This blog post takes a look at both Analysis and Skills Mentoring 2 and 3 because they have the same elements and each one builds upon the other. The main difference between Analysis and Skills Mentoring 1 and the other two courses is that Analysis and Skills Mentoring 2 and 3 require you to transcribe and abstract a document. This can be one of the more difficult assignments for students.  Many feel it is because everyone has a different style of how they transcribe or abstract.  And, while this may be aesthetically true for abstracts, a transcription is a true-to-life copy of the original.  That fact by itself means that if you adhere to the guidelines taught in the course you will be fine.  Abstractions are the ones that I feel can be more difficult.  To me, beyond deleting the boiler point information, it feels almost subjective as to what you should leave in or take out. Beyond the transcription and abstraction, your assignments  include a series of research questions that test the skills you…

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