Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the story of Eliza Ann Isenhour (1850-1898) and the family lore that claims she was a full-blooded Cherokee. The conversation starts with the 1884 incident that left Eliza a widow with four young children and another on the way after her husband, William Henderson Shults, died following an accident. Faced with the challenges of widowhood, Eliza remarries Jacob Meek, and they eventually move to Indian Territory, where she dies in 1898. Despite family stories, evidence suggests Eliza was not Cherokee. Diana and Nicole talk about Eliza’s early lif ..read more

Do you have instances of multiple relationships, such as double cousins, or pedigree collapse, in your family tree? If so, the new third-party DNA tool BanyanDNA can help you analyze the amount of DNA you share with your cousins. Leah Larkin introduced Banyan DNA in December of 2023, and in that blog post she wrote: BanyanDNA is unlike any other tool for genetic genealogy. Not only can it help you identify an unknown parent, grandparent, or great grandparent, it can alert you to places in your tree where shared DNA does not support the documented relationships. Best of all, it is completely ..read more

In this episode, we discuss breaking up complex research projects into phases. This is a great way to make progress on a research question that might otherwise seem daunting. We’ll talk about how to identify the mother of Elsie, a woman born in 1820, as an example of how to set up phases for research. We’ll also discuss how to determine which phases are necessary and how to write research objectives. We wrap it up with a discussion of Diana’s Clemsy Cline project phases. The Clemsy Cline project sought to identify the father of Mary “Clemsey” Cline. Clemsy was born about 1817 in Alabama and ..read more

Exploring the use of artificial intelligence chatbots for creating written content is the new frontier – full of uncertainties and unknowns. Organizations that once prohibited the use of LLMs for research papers are now allowing them, as long as authors are fact-checking the output and attempting to cite potentially copyrighted materials included in the output. In 2023, International Conference on Machine Learning prohibited the use of LLMs in their call for papers. In 2024, they are allowing LMs as a general-purpose writing assist tool, but authors should take full responsibility for the con ..read more

Have you wondered how DNA segment data could help with a research project? I have been working on a chromosome map in DNA Painter for several years and gradually added matches that I’ve identified descending from one of my ancestral couples. For my Cline DNA research project, I’m seeking genetic evidence confirming my hypothesis that John C. Cline is the father of Clemsy (Cline) Weatherford. Using the segment tools that are part of GEDmatch’s Tier 1, I found a DNA segment I inherited from one of my 3rd great-grandparents, Clemsy Cline and Henderson Weatherford. The next step will be researchi ..read more

In episode #300 of Research Like a Pro, Diana and Nicole discuss the evolution of their genealogy research methodology, Research Like a Pro (RLP), over the years, focusing on past, present, and future perspectives. Past Developments: Technology: Initially, Diana and Nicole utilized tools like PAF and Ancestral Quest for family trees, Google Sheets for research logs, and Evernote for notes. They also used a lot of paper files and some digital files for organization. Genealogy Methods: Early methods included using FHL book indexes, census research, and writing letters to courthouses. DNA: Dia ..read more

In this episode of Research Like a Pro, we discuss strategies for researching ancestors who emigrated to the United States after 1820, emphasizing the wealth of ship manifests and other records available for identifying individuals among those with the same name. We explore immigration trends from the 19th to the early 20th century, the impact of U.S. immigration laws on the process, and the roles of key immigration stations like Castle Garden and Ellis Island. The episode highlights various record types, including passenger lists, naturalization records, and more, and offers guidance on usi ..read more

Diana and Nicole discuss tracing ancestors back to the Colonial Era in the United States, emphasizing the scarcity of immigration records before the establishment of the U.S. Federal Government in 1789. They highlight strategies such as cluster research and the use of DNA testing to overcome the challenge of limited documentation, particularly for those who emigrated from England, Scotland, France, Germany, and other regions. They explain the significance of creating a locality guide based on historical context and settlement patterns to identify an ancestor’s original colony. Through exampl ..read more

Every family has many stories that could be told. Some stories are easy to write, and others are difficult. Sometimes, you may need to travel to the location and immerse yourself in the history and land. Such is the case with Kelly Rimmer’s The Things We Cannot Say.”  Rimmer faced the same challenge that many descendants of family members who lived through World War II face – a lack of family stories. Rimmer’s grandparents were Polish emigrants to the United States after World War II. Caught up in learning a new language and culture, they didn’t speak of their lives in Poland under the N ..read more

This episode of Research Like a Pro focuses on the intricacies of tracing immigration records in genealogical research. Diana and Nicole discuss the common challenges faced when trying to locate an ancestor’s passenger list and the various entry points into the U.S., such as New York, New Orleans, Boston, San Francisco, Canada, and Mexico. They emphasize the importance of combing through U.S. records for clues about an ancestor’s home country, ship’s name, date of immigration, and family relationships, highlighting the role of naturalization records, military records, passports, ethnic churc ..read more