From Paper To People

Well, the landscape has changed a lot since my last episode! I hope that you are well, healthy and stocked and sheltering safely, not worrying about your kin. Today I have some comfort food recipes from my mother and grandmother. We're starting with an apple cake with cream cheese frosting (because on sick days, we can start with dessert), and then we're going Tex-Mex with chili enchiladas, follow...

This episode is both a video and the soundtrack of that video. Normally, my videos are for Patreon subscribers only, but I thought that this quick little how-to about verifying qualifying patriots for the Daughters of the American Revolution , cleaning up their profiles in Ancestry , and using pixlr.com to make each one a unique profile photo would be interesting to a lot of people. But please, if...

Join me in welcoming Katie Andrews Potter as the newest Root-level supporter on Patreon. She's getting a logo shot glass in May! You can join her with monthly support for all of my work at patreon.com/ancestorsalive . Back in October, I had a chat with my dad. I took a few stories from him as we discussed the differences between our childhoods. He gave me some facts, some opinions, and we discusse...

I took a little hiatus so I could get some research done for clients, but I'm back and ready to rock! Let's have a little check in on my new paid services, a few things I think are noteworthy in this new year, and some actions we can all take to hold FamilySearch, Facebook and Ancestry accountable for some unexplained service issues. Time to get LOUD! Oh, and Happy New Year! Please rate and review...

It's been a year, you know? Like, a YEAR. In fact, this has been Year 2 of From Paper To People, and it saw some successes as well as some...shortcomings. This is my chance to mull over what worked and where I fell short, and to thank all of the people who have supported the podcast with reviews, participation, or through Patreon support. I also discuss what's coming in 2020. CLINK! Happy New Year...

Welcome to our newest Patreon patron, Melissa McPherson, who is supporting at the Branch level! I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but I have a lot on my mind as we close out 2019. Highest on the list is this question: How do we participate fully in Reparational Genealogy? I've had a lot of people ask me that question, but until this moment, I think that my answers have been inadequate. Toda...

First, we welcome a new Patreon patron, Linda Sparks, and announce that the podcast is now available on Deezer! And of course, this episode is about food and carrying current or new traditions forward for future generations, but first, we have some business to take care of. Did you know that the Federal agency in charge of immigration records here in the United States is proposing a rule that woul...

Are you familiar with Genealogy Adventures? You should be. They are two cousins (both cousins of mine, actually) who interview different guests about different topics on a weekly basis. This is the audio of our Sunday, October 13th interview about Reparational Genealogy , and we had a lot of fun while having some serious discussions, as well. You can find them on Facebook at facebook.com/genealogy...

I have three quick announcements, all of which are time sensitive, so hey, why not make a quick episode of them? Tune in to watch me be interviewed on Sunday the 13th on Facebook Live, add one of my new Facebook Profile Photo Frames to your photo on FB, and be sure to submit a Skelly Relly recording for the Halloween episode by Saturday, October 26th. Join in the fun! Please rate and review the po...

Mormons, do you have nine 1st cousins, all of whom are named Brigham? Non-Mormons, are you considering Kayden, Jayden, Rayden and iPod as names for your next child? STOP THE MADNESS! Follow your family history pied piper and I will lead you to consider some better sources for baby names. Well, one better source: your own family history. Genealogy can help you to get to know your ancestors in so ma...

My mother's mother, Ga, was a quiet, staid woman. She was peaceful, smiling, a model DAR and Midwestern sorority sister. But underneath it all...she was SAUCY. In this episode, I'll give you some of my grandmother's "International" sauce recipes (because sauce was a staple on her dinner table), and the reasons why I think her self-written attempts at international cuisine reveal a bit about who sh...

It's almost Halloween, my favorite time of year, and that means it's time for stories about your Skelly Rellies! This is your opportunity to be on the podcast without worrying about a full interview - just record a family story on your phone and send it to me at ancestorsalivegenealogy@gmail.com . I'll edit it together with the others I receive and we'll have us an episode all about listeners' anc...

Don't be alarmed, but I'm about to alarm you. A little. Well, I'm going to make you think a bit, anyway. Nothing will happen tomorrow, but it sounds like Ancestry's parent company, Permira Advisers LLP, is willing to take out a very risky loan in order to fund a move that would denude Ancestry of $900 million. Yikes. I learned this from an article in Bloomberg, which you can read for yourself and...

So, have you been wondering where the heck I've been? In 2018 I was publishing weekly, yet I seem to have dropped off the podcasting Earth in 2019. I'm here to give you the reasons why, in hopes that we can hang together as I repair and resume work on the podcast. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast provider, at  https://apple.co/2MLZW4H , at  facebook.com/AncestorsAliveGenealogy ,...

Today we have a new Patron, and new law in New York that will shake up the ENTIRE GENEALOGY WORLD - even outside the United States - the Weprin-Montgomery Law. Oh, and we have two brilliant cake recipes. One is from an Army wife friend of my grandmother's in the 1940s or 1950s, but the other is genuinely the oldest recipe I've been able to find in my family's trove.if you If you like apple cake or...

No, seriously, get out of your head, Whenever you hit a brick wall, a Jeffrey, a Jeffreytina, one of Ancestry's infamous hang-ups, someone who's a 125cM match on AncestryDNA but who won't build a tree (but asks YOU to do it for him/her), or the documents start swimming before your eyes, it's time to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER and get out of your head and into your body. Or, at least, get into a d...

While I truly enjoy meeting my ancestors, I have learned that the greatest joy in genealogy and family history work is the live people I meet and get to know. Melanie McComb is one of those people. I met her first on Twitter, and she taught me by example how to encounter and engage in the world of Genie Twitter. I took on her ways, and now I'm more comfortable there than in any other online platfo...

Did you ever take Home Economics in school? In the 1950s, only girls and women did, all the way through college. My mother ended up taking Home Economics at the University of Hawaii because she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up leaving college, becoming a stewardess, meeting my dad, and having a family. But first, she learned this recipe in class. Enjoy the first Family...

If you are a fan of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you are on Genie Twitter, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you have been to, or seen talks from,  SLIG or  RootsTech , you know who Kenyatta Berry is. And if you're one of the many people who've bought The Family Tree Toolkit, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. But if you don't, this interview is a great chance to get t...

Wow, was this weekend big! Correcting one set of errors about my grand-aunt led me to find an absolutely horrific story about her, her husband, and her children. I'm telling it to you in all its gory glory, ruminating a bit on how my great-grandparents were responsible for parts of it, and drawing what genealogical lessons and morals I can from it and passing those on to you. Honestly, it's the wo...

Happy New Year, and welcome to Season 2! I meet so many people who have no idea about that which should not be a well-kept secret: Twitter is fantastic for genealogists! If you do the right things in the right ways (yes, of COURSE I'll teach you those), you can build a community for yourself in the genealogy section of Twitter. People are funny, kind, helpful, and they will not only help you, they...

In Western culture, what's the most important Christmas food? The Christmas cookie! There are entire baking competition TV series about the creation and decoration of Christmas cookies. There are entire family traditions about families baking and distributing Christmas cookies. There are secret recipes, national recipes, traditional recipes. In fact, it's become kind-of an obsession in the United...

Time for a quick episode of The Genie News, to keep you apprised of a week of good things and some things you might not have known. Listen to the end for the best news of all! The podcast is now on iHeartRADIO - you can catch it on ALL SORTS of devices using the app, or catch it online at goo.gl/YuLTe8 . I give a complete breakdown of all the goodies you can get for giving at all available levels...

Have you ever wondered what an old-fashioned, 19th-century, British-traditioned Yankee Thanksgiving was like? In the land of the original Pilgrims, did they really eat turkey? This episode draws on recipes from a November, 1895 issue of The Boston Globe and in it we'll explore recipes that go all the way back to the 16th century in England. We'll also learn whether mince pies really contain minced...

We're talking folklore again, but this time about the hardest gathering challenge of all: you vs. a room full of your family or friends at holiday celebrations. I'll tell you about my first folklore gathering assignment at age 18, which was me vs. an Irish folk band called Dolores Keane and Reel Union. I was recovering from mononucleosis, and they plied me with Guinness until I couldn't see straig...