The census is one of our basic research tools, but basic doesn’t equal simple. Often a census record can raise as many questions as it answers, and some of those questions may seem unanswerable. Learn how an understanding of who the enumerators were, what their instructions prescribed, and some of the many ways they deviated from the instructions can answer many of the questions raised by census research.

Most researchers stop at the population schedule, but census records also include valuable schedules that document farms, businesses, deaths, and community life. This session explores agricultural, mortality, and industry schedules, showing how they can be used to add depth to family history.

Census records often contradict one another. Ages change, names vary, and places of birth are inconsistent. This session demonstrates how to analyze and reconcile those conflicts through timelines, correlation with other records, and case studies that show how to draw conclusions from imperfect evidence.

The U.S. federal census wasn’t designed with genealogists in mind; it was created to meet the changing needs of a growing nation. This session takes you beyond the names and numbers, exploring the historical context behind each census from 1790 to 1950. We’ll examine how shifting questions, enumeration methods, and national priorities have shaped the records we rely on today. By understanding the “why” behind the census, you’ll gain tools to interpret your ancestors’ entries with greater accuracy and uncover richer stories hidden in the data.

Learn the principles, tools, and responsible practices for using AI in your genealogical research.

An overview of home resources and outreach to family members whose memories and insights can help start the process off right—how things on a bookshelf or a storage box can be of especial use, and a source of clues…if not outright answers.

If you have Eastern European ancestors, you are probably wondering how to begin your family history search. Come and learn about how MyHeritage can get you started in your family history challenge.

Catholic nuns and sisters ran some of the U.S.’s earliest schools, orphanages, and hospitals; nursed on Civil War battlefields and during disease outbreaks; and served millions of Catholic immigrants and their families. Today, those nuns and sisters are mostly forgotten. Many changed their names and moved far from home, making it difficult for genealogists to recognize them in records. But those who can trace a woman into religious life may discover a rich trove of records about the sister and perhaps about her family. Sometimes records even survive for a religious order’s academy, hospital, or other ministry. Come see what you may be able to learn from the many archives of Catholic nuns and sisters from the author of the newly-published Searching for Sisters: Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States.

Overcoming the 1870 brick wall in African American genealogy is challenging, but possible. This session presents a clear, step-by-step roadmap for tracing formerly enslaved ancestors using the Genealogical Proof Method. Learn how to reconstruct the freedmen generation, identify potential enslavers, and mine enslaver records for hidden ancestral clues. We’ll explore records on Ancestry and FamilySearch, including census and vital records, Freedmen’s Bureau files, cohabitation records, and estate records. If you’re ready to move beyond 1870 and build a fuller picture of your family’s past, this webinar will equip you with the tools and confidence to begin.

Turn your research into a meaningful family narrative that meets BCG certification requirements. This session will demonstrate how to write a structured narrative lineage that both proves kinship and details the history of each couple. Topics include selecting an appropriate family line, placing families in context, organizing and analyzing evidence, meeting BCG’s standards, and documenting biographical details.

The series begins with sound genealogy methodology and principles and then explains their logical extensions when using autosomal DNA as a source of information to answer focused research questions. Karen will use a case example to prove the documented ancestors are consistent with the genetic evidence on a selected ancestral line. This lecture focuses on methodology and decision-making.

Yorkshire was an area of great migration, those who moved within the county, those who moved in and out of the county and those who left Yorkshire and England. Most Europeans who emigrated travelled to America with more than 2 million English moving to America in the 1800s. The changes during the 1800s through the effects, and aftereffects, of the Industrial Revolution created great change in Yorkshire as well as the decline in lead mining and farming in rural areas and the Yorkshire dales. As people lost opportunities to earn a living in these areas they were pulled to the opportunities further afield, the mills towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire and further afield to America then later to Canada and Australia. As a member of a family emigrated this created a greater pull for friends and family to join them creating communities in another country. This was the case in New Diggings in Wisconsin where many people from Swaledale and Wensleydale left the declining lead mines to start new lives in the growing mines of America. This talk will explore the people who emigrated, the villages they left and the communities they joined along with the Yorkshire surnames which are now part of American life. Oral histories documented in the book ‘Those Who Left the Dales’ by the Upper Dales Family History Group are referred to as well as immigration records and original documents held at North Yorkshire Archives including the publication ‘History of New Diggings’ and a Dakota ‘recruiting’ lecture given in Wensleydale. The talk will provide an insight into the reasons for leaving Yorkshire, particularly the Yorkshire Dales, and the lives of those who emigrated.