What did you do for family history month?

I've managed to write three blog posts this month. I haven't done that in quite awhile. I am trying to do better with my posts but there are just so many things going on. For example, since I live in Florida, I have to watch out for hurricanes. We had two hurricanes come through about two weeks apart - Helene and Milton. Milton was definitely the worse of the two for us. We had over 120 tornado warnings in our area - not watches - during the afternoon and early evening of October 9. There were 19 confirmed tornados in the area of the circle where I live, many of them EF2 and higher. There were also multiple deaths caused by these tornados. 

Map of tornado warnings from Hurricane Milton, October 9, 2024.

So, what was I doing as these tornados were coming through? Well, I was doing a live feed for RootsTech to talk about the upcoming RootsTech conference on March 6-8, 2025. If you watch the video, you will notice that the tornado warning warnings go off during the live interview. 

RootsTech Live interview on October 9, 2025.

Speaking of RootsTech, you can still get the early bird pricing of $99 for 3-day RootsTech tickets until October 31. After that, the price goes up to $120. So if you plan on going, now is the time to buy tickets. Additionally, there will be a RootsTech promotional give away between the beginning of November and the end of January. Many of the RootsTech Media, including myself, will each be giving away two free tickets to RootsTech. More details will be forthcoming on this but you should watch the feeds for many of your favorite genealogy bloggers/vloggers including Aimee Cross, Connie Knox, Conference Keeper, and many others. I will provide an updated list when I am ready to begin this give away. One thing to note, you can get a refund on your purchased ticket if you win one of the free tickets so don't wait to buy your tickets.

Now that we have talked about the weather and RootsTech, let's move on to some other topics.

Some of you may know that I am the Education Director for The Family History Guide. Our mission is to greatly increase the number of people actively involved in family history worldwide, and to make everyone's family history journey easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable. The Family History Guide was created in 2015 and debuted at the BYU Family History Conference in Provo, Utah on July 15, 2015. Over the last 9 years, the Family History Guide has helped hundreds of thousands learn more about family history and discovering their ancestors and we continue to grow. Last year during RootsTech we began talks with the National Genealogical Society and this year we formalized that agreement. We are now partnered with NGS to provide educational materials for their members. Additionally, The Family History Guide was asked to be featured on ViewPoint with Dennis Quaid on PBS. The filming was done in September and we are looking forward to the episode being aired sometime after Thanksgiving.

Another thing that happened this month is that OurAncestories Genealogy turned 1 year old. My wife and I licensed our business in October 2024 in preparation for my retirement from a 9 to 5 job next year. We have been doing research for more than 25 years and thought we would start doing it professionally. We have had great support from our clients over the last year and have had a huge amount of research work in addition to our speaking events. We are currently working on 6-generation research projects for several people who are planning a heritage vacation to Germany next year. This research is tracing their families back to the early 1800s and late 1700s to determine the towns their families came from so they can plan their visits. I currently have over 60 German towns identified for the clients as well as towns in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. My wife is heavily into genetic genealogy. She has been helping clients find their biological lines in some very challenging situations. One of the most challenging was a for one client who had a series of father-son relationships where the biological fathers were not know. He was not aware of this until we started his project.

My wife and I also completed our certificate in Advanced Methodology at the International Institute of Genealogical Studies (IIGS). We both received certificates with distinction. This certificate included 14 classes and we had to get A's in all classes to receive the certificate of distinction. 

Certificate of Distinction in Advanced Methodology from the IIGS

In addition to this blog, I also try to write in my other blog, OurAncestories, when I can. Both of my blogs have anniversaries in November. This blog is has been in production since 2008 and OurAncestories has been in production since 2009. I appreciate all of you who have been following me all these years.

One last thing - as we begin the holiday season (yes, the stores have already started putting up Christmas decorations), think of ways to include your family, both the living and those that have passed, in your gatherings and find ways to preserve your family history for those yet to come.

Free Genealogy Education

October is Family History Month, Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Filipino American History Month, and German American Heritage Month (Oktoberfest). It is a great time to celebrate your ancestors and learn more about their lives and your heritage. 

As genealogists we are always looking for free resources and one of those resources are webinars. Since I am still working, I usually am not able to attend live webinars so I hope that they records some of these.

RootsTech Monthly Webinar Series

Did you know that RootsTech has a monthly webinar series? They advertise these on their website under Mini Events. These events are also advertised on FamilySearch. So what is scheduled for October?

• October 8 - 12:00pm EDT - German Empire Research – Understanding Your Ancestors Hometown Using Meyer’s Gazetteer
• October 10 - 12:00pm EDT - Using the FamilySearch Catalog
• October 15 - 12:00pm EDT - How to Build Quick Trees
• October 17 - 12:00pm EDT - Pilgrims, Puritans, and Piecers: Researching Early New England Settlers (1620-1700)
• October 22 - 12:00pm EDT - Registros parroquiales: Una introducción
• October 24 - 12:00pm EDT - Using the FamilySearch Community

BYU Library Family History Webinars

The BYU Library has monthly family history webinars which they advertise on their Family History Webinars website. You can join their email list to receive updates about upcoming events.

• October 10 - 7:00pm EDT - Mayhem on a Manifest
• October 17 - 7:00pm EDT - Mining the Treasures of FamilySearch

They also have Sunday Family History virtual classes. 

• October 13 - 4:00pm EDT - FamilySearch Basics (for Latter-day Saints) 1: Getting to Know FamilySearch.org
• October 13 - 5:30pm EDT - Updated, Untangling a Mess on the FamilySearch Family Tree
• October 20 - 4:00pm EDT - FamilySearch Basics (for Latter-day Saints) 2: Adding & Correcting Info in Family Tree
• October 20 - 5:30pm EDT - How Do I…Find “Missing” Children in My Tree?
• October 27 - 4:00pm EDT - FamilySearch Basics (for Latter-day Saints) 3: Finding People to Add to Family Tree
• October 27 - 5:30pm EDT - Tracking Your Ancestors After a Divorce

Maybe you want to attend a Q&A session about a specific topic. BYU Library has designated times for Q&A Topics.

• Tuesdays & Thursdays - 5:00pm - Computer Tips & Tricks with Elder Van Celaya
• Mondays - 5:00pm EDT - French, French Canadian, Italian, Spanish Research with Sister Michele Templeman
• Mondays & Fridays - 2:00pm - Chinese Research with Elder Franklin West

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

Legacy Family Tree Webinars have free as well as subscription webinars. Their free webinars are usually available for 7 days if you miss the scheduled event. After that they become part of the subscription service. You can find their current list of upcoming webinars on their webpage.

• October 8 - 2:00pm EDT - 5 Ways to Use AI to Involve Children & Youth in Family History
• October 9 - 8:00pm EDT - A History of Calendars for Genealogists
• October 11 - 11:30am EDT - Rubik's Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data
• October 11 - 12:45pm EDT - Probate Power: Parents for Charles, a Father of Phoebe
• October 11 - 3:30pm EDT - Evidence Mining & Context: Powerful Tools to Dig Deep
• October 11 - 4:45pm EDT - Strategies for Resolving Conflicting Evidence
• October 11 - 6:00pm EDT - Applying the Genealogical Proof Standard to Researching Enslaved Families

There are many more webinars that have been recorded and archived on these sites and others. So there is always something to study to increase your genealogy skills.

Also, remember that RootsTech will be live on March 6-8. You can now register for the early bird price of $99 until October 31. And be sure to take a look at the more than 1500 archived presentations from the previous years.

RootsTech Live 2025 and more (British Columbia, Canada and Połaniec, Poland Resources)

RootsTech 2025 registration is now open! (Actually it opened September 25th and I already have my tickets.) Similar to last year, registration is free for those who join RootsTech virtually and it is $99 for in-person until October 31. After that the price for in-person attendance increases. You can watch the RootsTech Live announcement about registration on YouTube. If you are ready to register you can go to the RootsTech website.

There are a couple things coming up in the next couple weeks. Each Wednesday at 2:30pm Eastern, there is a RootsTech Live event on YouTube where you can learn more about RootsTech. During October they will be talking to some of the speakers for RootsTech. I will be one of the guests this week Wednesday (October 9). As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be doing two live webinar presentations during RootsTech. That means everyone, even those watching virtually, will be able to watch live or view the recordings later. The two topics are:

• "The Ayes Have It - Discovering Your Ancestors Through Voting Records"
• "A Deep Dive into the US Census Records" 

You can see more information on these talks and others on the RootsTech Schedule.

Also, beginning on October 31, I will be giving out two RootsTech in-person tickets valued at $99 each. These tickets will be awarded in either December or January. But please don't wait to see if you win before buying your tickets. Get your tickets now while they have the early bird special and you will be refunded the cost if you win. These passes have been provided to me by RootsTech/FamilySearch as part of my participation in the RootsTech Media. (As a member of the RootsTech Media, my attendance at RootsTech is complimentary and I am provided minor compensation in the form of food vouchers.)

Now that I have talked about RootsTech a little - by the way, have I mentioned how great RootsTech is in-person? - let me talk a little about some of the research I have been working on over the last week and some great resources that I discovered.

I helped a researcher discover her British Columbia, Canada ancestors earlier this week. She was not able to find her ancestor on Ancestry or FamilySearch in the British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872-1986; 1992-1993 or Online Index of Deaths, 1872-1985 collections. After a little research I found a great resource with a large number of genealogical records and even the digital images of the death records she was looking for. The resource is the Royal BC Museum Family History (Genealogy) Collection. I would highly recommend downloading the BC Archives Genealogy Research Guide if you have relatives in British Columbia, Canada. That document contains 13 pages of links to various British Columbia resources. You can find digital images of the birth, baptism, marriage, and death records on their Genealogy - General Search page. The search covers the following time periods: births (1854-1903), marriages (1871-1947), deaths (1872-2002), colonial marriages (1859-1872) and baptisms (1836-1888). 

Another researcher was looking for relatives in Połaniec, Staszów, Świętokrzyskie, Poland. We have been using the Geneteka website which provides a large collection of indexed vital records across Poland. But as we know, the indexes are great but not complete. Additionally, the original records (or digital images) provide much more detail than what is covered in the indexes. So FamilySearch to the rescue! I looked up Połaniec, Poland in the Catalog and found that there were digital images for the Catholic (1810-1884) and Jewish (1826-1884) records. All of the images are locked but since we were in the FamilySearch Center, I was able to pull up several of the records that she was looking for.

That's all I have for this post. I hope to be able to post regularly for the next couple months at least. And until next time, good luck with your research.

AI image created by DALL-E 3 - Genealogy researcher researching in an archive.