The Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Family Tree DNA's family matching and bucketing system, which is part of the Family Finder autosomal test. After linking a DNA match to your family tree at their website, the family matching algorithm uses phased matching to assign maternal and paternal icons/buckets to your matches. Adding close matches and up to third cousins helps you take advanta...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about what to do if you have a brick wall genealogy problem that you can't break down, or if you have a document in another language you need translated. These and other scenarios are perfect times to hire a professional genealogist to assist you with your research. We discuss how to find a genealogist that will fit your research needs, credentials, and ti...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about ProGen Study Groups. This volunteer-led study group is a wonderful way to study with peers for becoming a professional genealogist. Join us as we discuss our experiences with ProGen, the prerequisites for joining, and the benefits.  Links Becoming a Professional Genealogist: Participating in a ProGen Study Group - https://familylocket.com/becoming-a-...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is our final interview with Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse member, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lesson 9 in the course - writing the research report. She shares her tip for getting started wit...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about using DNA evidence to help further research on 19th century German ancestors. Heidi Mathis returns to discuss her experiences using ethnicity estimates from AncestryDNA, segment data, and MyHeritage filtering of matches. She discusses some of the challenges for using German DNA, including less clear ethnicity estimates for those with German ancestry...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is a continuation of our series on tracing 19th century German ancestors. Heidi Mathis is back sharing about what to do next after you find the hometown of your ancestor in Germany.  We discuss Archion, the German website for Protestant records and how to find baptismal records there. We also talk about the German mega-site, CompGen.de which can be used to lo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is another interview with Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse member, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lessons 7 and 8 in the course. Allison tells about creating a research plan that includes both DNA...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lessons 5 and 6. Allison tells about doing locality research for her project in Alabama and...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This first episode covers the assignments for lessons 3 and 4. We discuss creating a timeline, source citations for documentary sou...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This first episode covers the assignments for lessons 1 and 2. We discuss pedigree analysis, assessing close matches, clustering wi...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about researching German ancestors who immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century. Heidi Mathis shares the importance of getting the surname right and learning enough German to be able to understand the records we find. She shares tips for doing wildcard searches in databases where names may have been transcribed incorrectly or spelled differently than we...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the challenges of German research when focusing on 19th century Germans who immigrated to the U.S. Heidi Mathis shares several questions to ask when beginning to research them, like "when did your Germans arrive?" and "what did German mean in the 19th century?" Join us as we discuss the answers to these questions, helpful record sets, and more. Links...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is the second half of our discussion about Nicole's proof argument for Barsheba Tharp's father. Join us as we discuss the documentary and DNA evidence that went into making the case for Barsheba's father. The DNA evidence seemed to point to one of Lewis Tharp's wives as the mother, but correct interpretation of that DNA evidence led another way.  Links RLP 15...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Nicole's proof argument for Barsheba Tharp's father. Join us as we discuss the documentary and DNA evidence that went into making the case for Barsheba's father. Several Tharp men lived in Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1830 and 1840 - so which one was the right man?  Links Who was the Father of Barsheba Tharp? - Proof Argument and Supplementary Materi...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the non-population schedules of the U.S. Federal Census. We also discuss the Veteran's Schedule of 1890, which is technically a special schedule. Alice Childs joins us again to discuss census records and shares examples from her own research in the mid-Atlantic states. We talk about how these census records can help add historical context to our ance...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about state census records. We talk with Alice Childs, one of our researchers at Family Locket Genealogists, and discuss a state within her area of specialty, New York. New York has some incredible state census records that provide helpful clues for researching ancestors in the 1800s. We also discuss where to find other state census records and how those r...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the second part of Diana's research on John D. Isenhour, her 4th great grandfather. Her objective was to learn more about his migration from North Carolina to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In this episode, we discuss Diana's research plan, Airtable research log, and findings. Read her plan and report linked below. Links John D. Isenhour Research Plan - b...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana's recent project for the study group. She researched to discover more about her 4th great grandfather, John D. Isenhour, and his migration from North Carolina to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In this episode, we discuss her objective, timeline, analysis of known information, and locality guide. Her objective was as follows: Discover why and when Jo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the influx of German immigrants in St. Louis, Missouri in the period prior to the Civil War, and how it influenced the outcome of Camp Jackson Affair. Heidi Mathis returns for more discussion of St. Louis and German immigrants. Join us as we learn about the different beliefs of southerners and German immigrants in St. Louis in 1861. Links Mid-19th Ce...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about German immigration to St. Louis, Missouri in the 1840s-1860s. We discuss the reasons for immigration and the cultural differences between Americans and newly arrived Germans. Heidi Mathis shares the historical context she learned when researching her ancestor, Burkhard Schlag, who arrived in St. Louis in 1854 from Hesse.  Links Mid-19th Century Germa...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with co-founder of The Family History Guide, Bob Taylor. The FH Guide is a free website that aggregates learning resources for beginner and intermediate researchers to learn about genealogy research in step-by-step modules. Bob talks with us about the resources available at the FH Guide and walks us through the website.  Links The Family Histo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about using 23andMe DNA matches with Ancestry's tree-building capabilities to make connections and discoveries. 23andMe provides haplogroups and X-DNA matches for autosomal testing which can help in identifying whether a DNA match is on the maternal or the paternal line. Join us as we discuss Fran Shockley's organizational method for adding 23andMe match i...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about exploring the major state repositories for Missouri research. We discuss some of the major record collections at the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri Historical Society, and State Historical Society of Missouri. We look at the Missouri Digital Heritage website and offerings there as well. If you have any ancestors who could have lived in Missour...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the geography and history of the state of Missouri. We also discuss how understanding the land and geography will help in researching Missouri ancestors. Diana shares some of her takeaways from the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) course she took with Pam Sayre on Missouri. Links Research in Missouri: The Land and the History - blog post by Di...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Nicole's ProGen study group assignment to write a family narrative about one generation in a family. We discuss Nicole and Diana's ancestor, Thomas Bradley, his life in Lincolnshire, England, and his four illegitimate children. Join us as we discuss the process of acquiring records about his life, organizing the information into a narrative, and sele...