As researchers, family historians, compilers, bloggers, or writers of other ilk, genealogists face legal and ethical perils they often do not anticipate. This crash course offers practical guidance to enhance your skills and keep you safe as you explore history, reconstruct lives, and “write up” your findings. While the issues are serious—from the legal issue of copyright to the ethical issue of plagiarism—the lessons are taught with a light heart and humor.

Research reports are not just for professionals, but are a great tool for anyone who wants to answer their research questions. Write a research report to yourself to organize your thoughts, analyze the evidence, document your findings, and solve your puzzles. Using an example from the Netherlands, this presentation demonstrates how you can organize a research report to spot more clues in records, discover and resolve discrepancies, and build reliable conclusions.

Découvrez les outils photo indispensables de MyHeritage ! Depuis 2020, MyHeritage est le leader mondial pour les technologies des photos. Lors de cette session, Elisabeth Zetland, membre de l’équipe de Recherche chez MyHeritage, vous expliquera tout sur les outils photo les plus récents et comment ils peuvent enrichir vos recherches généalogiques grâce aux photos de famille.

Follow a case study where a 1770 brick wall was solved using the 1880 census. Learn tips and tricks to use sources creatively.

This lecture will discuss how to get started in African American research. The objective of this presentation will be to research African Americans before the Civil War – either as an enslaved or free person. It will introduce Antebellum Era records such as: newspapers, slave schedules, church records, tax records, free people of color registers, plantation records, and probate records. It will also cover methodology for enslaved research.

This presentation takes the viewer through the results of 5 full brothers who have done a DNA test. It covers the comparison of their ethnicity estimates through to the various differences in their DNA matches including the variance in the sharing amounts. It helps people understand why testing siblings can really enhance their genetic genealogy, even more so if they can not test a parent or parents. The talk will also include a look at some advanced sibling topics, such as utilising X DNA results to establish if two females have the same father, through to advanced tools like visual phasing and creating lazarus kits.

Learn about apprenticeship, freeman and guild records and how they controlled your ancestor’s trade. Identify sources to put your ancestor into a true occupational context.

This class will briefly explain the different types of DNA (autosomal, Y-DNA and mtDNA) and provide helpful tips for analyzing your DNA matches to identify your strongest matches to help you go back to your immigrant ancestor. A few examples of using this approach will be shown through mini case studies.

This presentation discusses the turbulent history of the former German states of East Prussia and West Prussia, now part of Poland and Russia, and introduces resources for genealogical research in the region. The evolution of German culture in these two neighboring Prussian states was surprisingly divergent. Insight into the social and political history of these states is essential for successful research in the area.