The Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Nicole's research findings about Joanna West. This is a continuing of episode 216, where Nicole shared her preparatory steps for using DNA evidence to test the hypothesis that Barsheba Tharp was the daughter of Joanna West. She tells about the deeds and estate records she found for Humphrey Arnold linkin him to his children and heirs. She also shares...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Nicole's research to test the hypothesis that Joanna West was Barsheba Tharp's mother. She worked on this project for the 4th Research Like a Pro with DNA study group and shares her progress on each step. In this first part, Nicole shares her objective, clustering with Gephi, collaborating with a West researcher, the limitations of using DNA evidence...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is a discussion with Lisa Stokes about the Accreditation course she and Diana are teaching in 2023 for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Academy. Diana also talks about the requirements to renew the AG credential and how she fulfilled those. Lisa talks about her plans to renew as well. Links Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) - https://slig.ugagenealo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Roberta Estes, author of DNA for Native American Genealogy. We talk with Roberta about strategies for discovering if the myths in your family about nativer american heritage are true. We talk about federal recognition of tribes, documentary research, Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA testing, and using ethnicity paintings of autosomal DNA segme...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is a discussion with Lisa Stokes about the Accreditation course she and Diana are teaching in 2023 for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy Academy. Diana also talks about the requirements to renew the AG credential and how she fulfilled those. Lisa talks about her plans to renew as well. Links Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) - https://slig.ugagenealo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about using DNA evidence to help with your Pennsylvania German research. We talk with Heidi Mathis about her experience using DNA with her colonial German ancestry. She noticed that her recent German side has fewer DNA matches than her colonial German side. We discuss differences in match lists, using autosomal DNA for more distance research questions, and...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is a discussion with Alice Childs, AG, about additional record types that can help with Pennsylvania German research, including tax records, military records, naturalization records, court records, German Newspapers, and family records. We go over Fraktur and Taufschein and where those can be found as well.  Links Part 8: Pennsylvania Germans: Additional Reco...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is a discussion with Alice Childs about finding probate and church records for Pennsylvania German ancestors. We discuss the probate process and the resulting records. We also talk about using FamilySearch to browse to probate books at the county level. Pennsylvania was known as a place for religious tolerance, and many Germans of different denominations sett...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about acquiring land in Colonial Pennsylvania and subsequent land transactions. Alice Childs, Accredited Genealogist Professional, shares how colonists received the first title to land in a five-step process. We review the steps to finding your ancestor's land and an example from Alice's family. We talk about deeds and using various types of deed indexes....

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the emigration of Pennsylvania Germans from their homeland. We talk with Alice Childs, Accredited Genealogist Professional, about the steps required for a German emigrant to leave Germany. We also talk about the voyage and ship records. This episode also includes a discussion of the guiding principles to follow when researching Pennsylvania Germans,...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the history of Pennsylvania Germans. They came in the colonial American period and have millions of Americans as their descendants. Join us as we talk with Heidi Mathis about important factors for finding records about Pennsylvania Germans and factors for Germans leaving Europe and coming to Pennsylvania colony. Links Part 1: Pennsylvania Germans: Th...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana's research log and report from the Shults project. She discusses her Family History Library research trip, how she logged her results, and her findings. We also discuss how she selected DNA matches to help verify the connection between Hickman Monroe Shults and his proposed father, Martin Shults. Links Proving a Parent-Child Link Using Ancestry...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana's Shults research project to determine if the parent-child link between Hickman Monroe Shults and Martin Shults is accurate. Today is part two of this series and we talk about her research plan to incorporate DNA evidence and documentary evidence into the report. We discuss Thrulines, locality research in Alabama, AncestryDNA communities, explo...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about setting up a web page to share with potential DNA test takers. Nicole talks about the Daniel Arnold project to find Daniel's parents. Daniel was born 6 August 1806 and married Lydia Willey. We discuss autosomal DNA coverage, making living people in reports anonymous, and targeted testing of people from independent child lines. We also review the curr...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana's RLP with DNA 4 Study Group project to prove the parentage of Hickman Monroe Shults, her 3rd-great-grandfather. Long standing documentary research has shown that Hickman was the son of Martin Shults, but Diana shares how she wanted to test this research with DNA evidence. She shares the first four steps of the research like a pro with DNA proc...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an answer to a listener's question about an immigrant ancestor who came from Norway to North Dakota in the 1880s. We invited Jenny Hansen, AG, who is an expert in Scandinavian research to come help us answer this question. We discuss name changes, sources to consult in the U.S., what to expect when looking at immigration records, and records to consult in...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Suzanne Campbell Lowe. In 2005, Suzanne learned from a white cousin about her Campbell family's connection -- through slavery -- to a black man named James Meredith. Over the course of the next several years, Suzanne's white and black families have built their relationships and explored their descendancy from their common ancestor: a prom...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Lisa Stokes, Accredited Genealogist Professional. Lisa shares how she was frustrated the first time she created genealogy source citations and how she overcame the frustration. We discuss tips for creating clear source citations and talk about Lisa's new citations course. Links Genealogy Source Citations Simplified by Lisa Stokes, AG at F...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Rick Wilson. Rick joined us in Research Like a Pro Study Group 7 and is a skilled researcher and writer. In episode 198, he shared how Y-DNA and autosomal DNA pointed to John Wilson's origins being in County Fermanagh, Ireland. In this episode he shares how historical context and additional documentary evidence aided his research. Links h...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Rick Wilson. Rick joined us in Research Like a Pro Study Group 7 and is a skilled researcher and writer. He shares his research to identify the origins of his 6th great grandfather, John Wilson. The Big Y-700 test was helpful in pointing to a specific county within Ireland. Then, Rick used autosomal DNA of a cousin two generations closer...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with Debra Hoffman, a professional genealogist specializing in Maryland and Germany and member of our Research Like a Pro with DNA online course. Debra recently took the Proving Your Pedigree institute course at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and shares her takeaways from the course. The purpose of the Proving Your Pedigree intermediate...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about how the Republic of Texas and State of Texas issued land to the thousands of settlers that poured in after independence from Mexico in 1836. We discuss the land application process, headright grants, colony grants, Texas statehood and changes in governance, preemption grants, and military land grants. We also discuss the Texas land survey system and...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the era of Mexican rule over Texas and the Mexican colonization policy through the empresario system. We discuss Austin's colony and the three indexes for finding colonists - the original Register of Families, the Index to Land [Applications] compiled by George W. Glass, and the Villamae Williams translated/typed index which is available on Ancestry....

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Texas land grant system. This is the first part in a series of Texas land grant episodes based on Diana's blog post series. We talk about the history of Texas from the Spanish period to the Mexican period and beyond. This particular episode focuses on the Spanish period and the lasting influence they had on Texas's unique land grant system.  Link...

Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about what Nicole learned at the SLIG course, DNA Dreamers in Action: Writing Proof Arguments in January. Karen Stanbary coordinated the course and was assisted by Tom Jones, Nancy Peters, and Scott Wilds. The course was a chance to practice writing a DNA proof argument while learning essential skills. Peer review was included as part of the course as well...