Keeping In Touch With The National Institute For Genealogical Studies

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 is how: #1 By email to the National Institute NOTE: When contacting us please include your FIRST & LAST NAME and the COURSE TITLE, including the COUNTRY the course applies to. It is also helpful if you include the module number and section title you are referring 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 By email to a fellow student When you view a fellow student’s public assignment SUBMISSION/ANSWER and you would like to contact them about something in their posting, simply click on the envelope icon to the right of the student’s name. A new window will open where you can type your message. For privacy reasons, you will not see the recipient’s email address and they have the option to reply or not. #3 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. When attending virtual meetings, please…

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Friends, Associates and Neighbors

Your FAN Club  FAN is an acronym that stands for Friends, Associates, and Neighbors. The “FAN Club,” coined by Elizabeth Shown Mills, represents a person’s network of people to whom they connect. You may also hear the term “cluster research,” which is essentially the same thing. The idea behind using the FAN principle or cluster research is to identify and research the people involved with your ancestors, as those other people may have left a trail or clues that your ancestor did not. For example, you could be looking for the maiden name (and perhaps the parents and/or siblings) of a female ancestor. Studying the people in her FAN Club, as well as those in her husband’s, may provide clues or may even reveal the answer. Oftentimes, the FAN methodology is implemented when all resources have been exhausted and there is still no answer to our research question. Instead of throwing in the towel, we turn to the people around our ancestor and explore their lives.   Keep in mind that studying an ancestor’s associates will add more work to your plate, but the benefits are usually well worth your time and energy. With our Skill-Building: Breaking Down Brick Walls course you will learn more about applying the FAN principle to your research.  

Please Join us for Student Presentations!

We have a couple of student presentations coming up. We hope you can join us to show your support! The National Institute for Genealogical Studies course, Lecturing Skills Including Preparation, teaches the skills needed to present genealogical-related lectures. It is a “hands on” course where the student presents a lecture via our Virtual Learning Room. We invite you to participate and hear your fellow student. This is a 30-minute lecture, followed by a 10-minute Question & Answer period and a short poll to provide the student with feedback on their skills. Please come and support your fellow students! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join us on Thursday, February 28th at 7:00 PM EST when  Victor Corrales presents “Hispanic Naming Conventions”. Presenter: Victor Corrales is a genealogist with more than 25 years of experience in South America and Spain. He is a member of OGS, Hispagen, and UGA. Presentation Description: An introduction to the naming conventions in Spain and Hispanic America. Learn about the origin of surnames, the double surname system and challenges in the immigration records to North America. Time zones: Wednesday, November 8th – 7:00 PM Eastern; 6:00 PM Central; 4:00 PM Pacific; Thursday, November 9th – midnight in London, England; 11:00 AM in Sydney, Australia MEETING LOCATION: http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/lecturing/ (NOTE: No user name or password required. Please type in your first and last name; then click “Enter as a Guest”.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join us Thursday, March 7th at 5:00 PM EST when Brian Maclachlan presents “My journey researching ancestors”. Presenter: Brian Maclachlan is a qualified genealogist, retired statistician,…

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Timelines are Important

Why Use Timelines  A timeline is a visual representation of events in sequential order. Timelines are often used in genealogy to place an ancestor in a historical context giving us a better understanding of their lives and how they fit into the world around them. Timelines can help break down brick walls allowing us to see:  Where a person was and when.  Gaps in time where information is missing.  Instances where two people of the same name might be combined.  Possible scenarios (for example, finding a large gap in the birth of children during the Civil War period).  But also keep in mind timelines are a great basis for writing biographies and genealogies, as well as a visual component to share with others. Timelines are great tools to help us put our research in a different perspective. The visual nature of a timeline often reveals clues for additional research. There are three general types of timelines: basic, comparative, and historical.   With our Skill-Building: Breaking Down Brick Walls course you will learn more about building your own timelines and how to use them in your research.    

Ancestors Associates

Tracking Your Ancestors Associates   So how do you keep track of all your ancestor’s associates? First, you will want to create a list that represents each of the three categories of the FAN Club (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors). You should incorporate connection details and research notes and maintain this list as a master. Keeping this master list will pay dividends in the future when the same associates become a recurring theme in your ancestor’s life. While a list is great (and a highly-recommended starting point), you may also want to create a visual representation of your ancestor’s network. Many people like to use the idea of a mind map when dealing with cluster research. The possibilities are endless, so experiment and find something that works for you. It is also important to show connections between associates. When you see the same person involved in the life of your ancestor and his other associates, this could be a person high on your priority list to investigate. With our Skill-Building: Breaking Down Brick Walls course you will learn even more on the methods for tracking your ancestors’ associates.