Announcing! Due to several requests, we’ve developed this class on using Notebook for Genealogy. Notebook for Genealogy–A Four Session Pick Your Own Problem Course With Michael John Neill Our focus is on being practical, exhibiting sound genealogy methodology, and demonstrating responsible use of Notebook (Google’s suite of AI tools) in genealogy research. This course is for those who would like guidance and suggestions in how to use Notebook and have a place to get feedback and additional direction. Course Prerequisites & Required Materials You should have digital records for one ancestor or a father-mother-children family, including every extant record available. Course Format & Zoom Sessions Class Focus & Weekly Assignments Community Discussion & Communication Important Dates Registration & Tuition Develop your AI skills today!
If your ancestor states that he is aged 60 on 2 April 1900, that doesn’t mean he was born in 1840. Someone who says he was 60 on 2 April could have: Or anywhere in between. That is assuming an age of 60 on 2 April 1900 was correct. The accuracy of his age is another story altogether.
This is not a tip about Oklahoma or phrases that rhyme. Do you track favorite sayings of your relatives–particularly those who were a part of your immediate family? Some of them might not be quite as short as “okie-dokie” which my Mother often used. There might have been ones like: These phrases can provide some insight into the person for those who never knew them. And for those of us who did know them, occasionally seeing the phrases or being reminded of them can bring back fond memories. It’s not always about preserving memories for those who will come after us. Sometimes it’s good to preserve memories for ourselves. Recording these (or other memories of our own) can be a good genealogy activity when you have tired of […]
My 3rd great-grandmother’s sister had a baby a few years before that same sister married her husband in the 1860s. Court records from the estate of the baby’s grandfather (the father of the sisters) make it clear that the grandparents raised the baby–not the baby’s father nor the baby’s mother and her subsequent husband. The child grew to adulthood and have children of her own. One researcher decided to change the child’s date of birth, the couple’s date of marriage, and the baby’s last name in order to make it appear to be the husband’s child. Report what you find, but don’t change what you locate in order to present a different story from the reality.
Unlock your family history with the power of AI! Michael John Neill’s presentation, “Genealogy Problem-Solving with Notebook,” provides a comprehensive guide to using Google’s free NotebookLM platform to revolutionize your research.The presentation is down-to-earth, practical, and…not full of AI hype and exaggeration. This session explores how genealogists can upload up to 50 diverse sources—including PDFs, Word documents, spreadsheets, and even audio files—to create a centralized research hub . Neill demonstrates practical applications such as analyzing 1860 census enumerations to identify family structures and migration paths, as well as synthesizing complex War of 1812 bounty land files . Participants will learn to generate high-quality outputs like family history monographs, infographics, and interactive slide decks directly from their documents. Beyond technical setup, the presentation emphasizes responsible AI use. Neill offers […]
In your quest to find genealogical information, artifacts, photographs, and the like have you reached out to living relatives? Or has your search concentrated on what is online–either in databases or trees of other researchers? You may think you have no relatives, but if you are looking for pictures or the like from your third great-grandparents, chances are that you are not the only descendant that couple has. Any of them could have information. And while it may be impractical to reach out to all of them, reaching out to some with the simple question “do you or anyone in your family have old pictures?” may be worth the effort. Everything is not online. Your may have a relative with undigitized photos just waiting to be discovered.
It’s always important to analyze genealogical information as you find it…instead of waiting until you have that big pile stacked with “exciting” discoveries. It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement and sometimes overlook other discoveries or make mistakes along the way. Taking time to analyze helps to reduce the chance of making those errors. That’s one of the things we talk about in “Is Your Process the Problem?” Analyzing and comparing as we find is one of the best ways to prevent heading into an incorrect lineage, connecting people to incorrect spouses, or making other errors. Don’t wait to analyze what you’ve found.
My mother has approximately 12 years of daily calendar entries in various day planners and other similar fill-in notebooks. How to preserve them is a concern. The entries are short and usually revolve around the weather, farming, who called, who visited, and other short snippets of daily life. They are not diaries with long, detailed entries. So how to preserve them? I’ve decided to take pictures of each page instead of scanning them. I realize that scanning can create higher quality images. I also realize that I’m not reproducing photographs here. My goal is to preserve the text and taking photographs will be much faster than scanning. That makes the likelihood that I actually complete the project higher. And to me actually getting it done matters. That time […]
We’re updated and revised this presentation from years ago. Are your family history searches hitting frustrating dead ends? In Is Your Process the Problem?, professional genealogist Michael John Neill breaks down the unseen research traps—from unexamined assumptions and target “grazing” to missed source details—that keep researchers stuck. Discover how to transition from passive data gathering to active analysis—this presentation is practical, easy-to-follow, and down to earth. Whether you need to streamline your source citations or break through long-standing genealogical brick walls, this practical session will help you refine your methodology, eliminate costly research habits, and get clear results. We will look at common research pitfalls, ways to avoid those pitfalls, and a research process to provide structure to your family history searches. Genealogical breakthroughs require shifting from passive […]
From a while back: Many marriage records give no hint that one of the parties had been married before. This 1852 marriage certification gives nary a clue that the bride was a widow, over forty, and the mother of several children. Assume nothing. Lack of a “Mrs.” or “Miss” before the bride’s name usually means nothing.
No Monkeying Around! Our August 2026 version of this very popular webinar has been released and is now available for immediate download. ** FamilySearch Full-Text Webinar August 2026 Version Released We’re excited! We have finally released our updated webinar on using FamilySearch’s full-text search. If you pre-ordered this presentation and did not get your download link, please let me know. This updated presentation is an hour long, includes discussion on full-text search strategies and options and includes an extensive handout. Presentation style is clear, informal, and practical. We discuss keywords, formulating searches, filtering vs. searching, what to search for, how to change your searching paradigm to take advantage of full-text search and more. Learn how to get the most from full-text search and what search options are available. Full-text search is […]
Remember that pre-1880 US census records do not provide information about relationships within the household. Be careful inferring relationships only based upon placement with one census household. What you think is father, mother, and their children may be something else. It could be husband wife, his kids, her kids, and theirs. It could be husband, wife, his kids and theirs. It could be husband wife, her kids (with his last name because that’s what the census taker wrote down and then theirs. One of what you think is a child, could be a grandchild, nephew, younger sibling, etc. Use additional records to try and determine what the relationship actually is.
If your ancestor was a local businessman, an advertisement in a newspaper or other publication can confirm where the business was located, dates on which the business was operated, business partners, etc. Advertisements may even include biographical information on the business owners (check out the comments on this Rootdig post to see a reference to an advertisement in Kansas that generated quite a bit of information).
While analyzing a document to determine if I had the right person, the comparison of signatures became a crucial part of my analysis. I had several copies of the person’s signature from other documents I had located on him. As I worked on my analysis, I remembered that I had seen his signature somewhere else. Fortunately I also remembered where that signature was at: as a witness on an affidavit his cousin made in her 1880-era homestead application. Now to decide if it’s worth the time to include signature references in “file” on an ancestor so I can find them easily if needed. Signatures on their own records are easy to find. It’s when they appear in the records of others that they can be overlooked.
7ber, 8ber, 9ber, and Xber may be noted in dates in 17th and 18th century documents. These references refer to September, October, November, and December. In the modern calendar 7ber is not the 7th month, 8ber is not the 8th month, 9ber is not the 9th month, and Xber is not the 10th month. That’s a reference to their original positions. There’s more on the calendar on Wikipedia.
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