One James C. Ward was born in the 1820s and his life is documented in Massachusetts and New York. One James C. Ward served in the Mexican War and left sketches and a diary detailing his adventures in California in the 1840s. Could they be the same man? A case of identity solved through correlation.

Research on formerly enslaved people is difficult by its very nature because enslaved people were classed as property prior to the Civil War and faced the challenges of marginalization in the segregated society that developed after the War. Crucial to uncovering information on enslaved people prior to emancipation is studying their lives as freedpeople after for clues as to who their families were and who their former owners might have been. As with any family, clues regarding identity, relationships, and ownership during slavery, are often uncovered as the result of applying the FAN principle and piecing together potential family groups.

When records are scarce—or names are all too common—cluster research can be the key to unlocking your genealogical puzzles. By examining the people who surrounded your ancestor—the friends, associates, and neighbors—you can separate individuals with the same name, untangle multiple families in one place, and uncover biographical details you might otherwise miss. Join us to explore practical strategies and real-world examples that show how powerful the FAN principle can be.

What happens when all evidence cannot possibly be correct? The process of assembling evidence may reveal inconsistencies and the Genealogical Proof Standard emphasizes that resolving conflict is essential for credible conclusions. Through case examples, this lecture will help genealogists recognize conflicts and provide strategies to resolve them in order to build family stories that are authentic and accurate.

Brick walls stymy our research when we can go no further. The video presents a methodology for organizing all the evidence you have acquired, re-reading it as if you have never seen it before, and creating a written biographical profile based on what you know. You’ll identify important gaps that must be researched, conflicting evidence, and begin to think like your ancestor. You will add other people’s information, events at the local, national, and international levels, and personal details. You will learn how to effectively build a biographical context and then identify information to develop an expanded research plan. Say farewell to many brick walls and hello to completely new insights. This webinar was first released 14 November 2019 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

In 1906, Nellie Langevin married Frank Henry Hill in Penacook, New Hampshire. Frank vanished three years later, leaving Nellie to fend for herself. Despite her efforts to divorce him, Nellie died in 1914, still officially married. Who was Nellie’s elusive husband and what happened to him? This case study resolves conflicting direct, indirect, and negative evidence to uncover Frank’s identity and highlights the importance of including the FAN Club in reasonably exhaustive research.

When Yvette found a line to Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204), Queen of France and England, in online trees, she quickly realized the existing research did not meet standards. She set about verifying the line one generation at a time, to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard. In this presentation, she will take you on her journey, sharing the skills, methods, and documents she used to verify her royal line back to the 1100s.

Les sous-titres et la voix de cette vidéo ont été doublés en français à l’aide de l’IA. Lorsque Yvette a trouvé une lignée vers Éléonore d’Aquitaine (1124-1204), reine de France et d’Angleterre, dans des arbres en ligne, elle a rapidement réalisé que les recherches existantes ne répondaient pas aux normes. Elle a commencé à vérifier la lignée une génération à la fois, afin de respecter la norme de preuve généalogique. Dans cette présentation, elle vous emmènera dans son parcours, partageant les compétences, les méthodes et les documents qu’elle a utilisés pour vérifier sa lignée royale remontant aux années 1100.

The laws our ancestors lived by can tell us much about life in earlier times. Finding those laws, and the stories they tell, can be a daunting task, but—from colonial statutes to today, from the halls of Congress to the statehouses of 50 states—the choices legislators made about what laws were needed give a rich and deep context to family history.

Thinking about becoming a Certified Genealogist? This presentation walks through the 2025 BCG Application Guide, focusing on the required portfolio elements, the rubrics used for evaluation, and common questions from applicants. Attendees will gain a realistic understanding of the process, timeline, and expectations involved in submitting an initial portfolio for BCG certification.

Analyze Your Findings discusses important ways to collect and analyze genealogical evidence in multiple ways, develop hypotheses, and document your conclusions. This webinar was first released 15 December 2020 on the Genealogy Guys Learn website.

To correlate evidence, you must have evidence to correlate. Typical researchers stop too soon in their evidence collection, believing they have found all there is to find about a soldier. There is more to military research than the compiled military service record or the pension application file. A reasonably exhaustive search is not limited to the two or three typical record sources.