The Significance of Research Planning in Genealogy

In this episode, Nicole and Diana discuss preparing for onsite research, focusing on the critical importance of thorough locality research and detailed planning. They explore Nicole's contrasting experiences with Love County, Oklahoma, where she conducted comprehensive research into the county's 1907 creation from Chickasaw Nation, clerk responsibilities, and record locations, versus her rushed approach to Hardin County, Kentucky, which led to challenges with the Kentucky Department of Library and Archives' broad catalog system and difficulty pinpointing specific materials. Through these examples, they emphasize the necessity of understanding jurisdiction formation dates, previous jurisdictions, extant records, and repository catalog systems before visiting archives. The discussion concludes with strategies for creating focused research plans that incorporate specific objectives, timelines, and locality guides, with Nicole sharing how newspaper clues and established timelines guided her Love County deed and tax record searches, while noting how she would improve her Hardin County approach by first reviewing index volumes to better prioritize useful records for onsite research.

This summary was generated by Google Gemini and Anthropic's Claude.

Links

How to Prepare for an Onsite Genealogy Research Trip – Family Locket 

Sponsor – Newspapers.com

For listeners of this podcast, Newspapers.com is offering new subscribers 20% off a Publisher Extra subscription so you can start exploring today. Just use the code “FamilyLocket” at checkout. 

Research Like a Pro Resources

Airtable Universe - Nicole's Airtable Templates - https://www.airtable.com/universe/creator/usrsBSDhwHyLNnP4O/nicole-dyer

Airtable Research Logs Quick Reference - by Nicole Dyer - https://familylocket.com/product-tag/airtable/

Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide book by Diana Elder with Nicole Dyer on Amazon.com - https://amzn.to/2x0ku3d

14-Day Research Like a Pro Challenge Workbook - digital - https://familylocket.com/product/14-day-research-like-a-pro-challenge-workbook-digital-only/ and spiral bound - https://familylocket.com/product/14-day-research-like-a-pro-challenge-workbook-spiral-bound/

Research Like a Pro Webinar Series - monthly case study webinars including documentary evidence and many with DNA evidence - https://familylocket.com/product-category/webinars/

Research Like a Pro eCourse - independent study course -  https://familylocket.com/product/research-like-a-pro-e-course/

RLP Study Group - upcoming group and email notification list - https://familylocket.com/services/research-like-a-pro-study-group/

Research Like a Pro with DNA Resources

Research Like a Pro with DNA: A Genealogist's Guide to Finding and Confirming Ancestors with DNA Evidence book by Diana Elder, Nicole Dyer, and Robin Wirthlin - https://amzn.to/3gn0hKx

Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse - independent study course -  https://familylocket.com/product/research-like-a-pro-with-dna-ecourse/

RLP with DNA Study Group - upcoming group and email notification list - https://familylocket.com/services/research-like-a-pro-with-dna-study-group/

Thank you

Thanks for listening! We hope that you will share your thoughts about our podcast and help us out by doing the following:

Write a review on iTunes or Apple Podcasts. If you leave a review, we will read it on the podcast and answer any questions that you bring up in your review. Thank you!

Leave a comment in the comment or question in the comment section below.

Share the episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest.

Subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive notifications of new episodes - https://familylocket.com/sign-up/

Check out this list of genealogy podcasts from Feedspot: Best Genealogy Podcasts - https://blog.feedspot.com/genealogy_podcasts/