It has been calculated from the 2000 U.S. Census that there are over 4.5 million people of Norwegian descent living in the United States . [i] Therefore, many genealogists do not have to go back very many generations before they encounter a Norwegian immigrant ancestor, since the largest numbers of Norwegian immigrants have come to the United States since the Civil War. Fortunately, Liv Birgit Christensen and Margaret Strand have compiled a guide to help us. The book follows families from a farm that may have been established around 500 AD. Written records are available from about 1615. Using these individuals to illustrate research examples provides continuity and increases understanding of the research technique the author is illustrating. For those who are just beginning Norwegian research, an overview of the history and geography of the country provides a foundation for understanding the types of records available and their ...

Key in a door; public domain. Courtesy of Picryl. In genealogy and family history, context is "the examination of individual lives within the framework of a broader history" [1]. Context is Key Context is key because  context unlocks meaning in the records we uncover , and leads us to more (and better) records and collections. For instance, finding a land description and platting it is step one, then when the plat is on a map along with the neighbors, we can see who the ancestor knew, worked alongside, attended church with, and who the singles might have married. Learning the geology of the area leads to understanding what crops were grown, and so how the land shaped the daily lives of those living and working on it. Life on the Great Plains is very different from the hollers of Kentucky or the coastal plains of the East. People often migrated in groups, and in general chose to move to an area where their skills and knowledge would be useful.  Context for land acquisitio...

The Family History AI Show The Family History AI Show recently discussed " the year's top AI breakthroughs for genealogists, " analyzing what we genealogists can do now at year's end which we could not on January one. Steve and Mark presented their list:  #5. Chatbots Learn How to Reason (OpenAI’s o1-preview)   Because it is still in "preview," this does not have widespread use yet, but both hosts agreed that it will be great for multi-step big projects.  #4. Content Creation Within Chatbots (Artifacts, Canvas)  Work entirely inside the chatbot, not hopping over to Word, Excel, Photoshop, or other tools for parts of your project. Changes, additions and corrections can happen real-time, not over in another tab, enabling a sense of flow and ease. #3. Collaborative Research Spaces (NotebookLM, Claude Projects, Perplexity Spaces) Chat with and query your own written work, documents for use in your ongoing project, research plans, and collaborate with workmates ...

AI generated by Pixlr 30 November 2024 The Tingle Don't you love that moment in your research when you realize, that YES, you were right when you went out on a limb, and found something not in other public trees? And then, when you find that some of the supporting research work ahead has already been done? O f course you soon also realize that that means you are probably related to this family in multiple ways, which is why some of the work has been completed. Filling In The Map Or is that just me who forgets research from a year or more ago? This is the mixed blessing of pedigree collapse [intermarriage in small communities], FAN research [ f amily, friends, a ssociates, n eighbors], and tracking down DNA matches [people with whom you share significant sized DNA segments]! I dare you to add intriguing DNA matches to your tree, and figure out how you connect. There are so many rewards to taking the chance. One of them is revisiting old research. Tool Kit With this Burnett line, I ...

Generated with Bing Image Creator AI, 21 September 2024 A recent article which I can't seem to find again got me thinking, mostly about the title, which was something close to " coming together in order to disengage ." As I recall, it might have been about dissipating political tensions post-election. But it got me thinking about why we gather together in genealogy and historical societies and associated groups. Research and writing can be lonely. Just yesterday I spent hours imaging and downloading the 100+ pages of my third-great-grandfather's Revolutionary War pension application. Both my son and husband clearly didn't understand why I bothered! But I bet all our readers here DO understand, and maybe that is why we gather so often, even just to chat with other researchers.  I found one article on the web about children's education which says, Children & adults must first feel safe in order to feel connected enough to learn. The adult’s job  is to keep ...

Renton Highlands Library:  https://kcls.org/locations/renton-highlands/ Starting a new endeavor is magic! Recently, we ( SKCGS ) were asked to open a Genealogy Help Desk at the Renton Highlands Library, pictured above. Two of our newer volunteers have been there on the second Thursday mornings beginning this September. I was privileged to be there last Thursday and help a brand new genealogy researcher get started. He walked in with a copy of GenHelp Desk flyer which he picked up at a local senior center.  When I asked what his interests were, he said, his whole family. And I know that when starting something new, there are a lot of hard ways to do it. Please show me the best way. It is not often that I'm asked for advice! It was a pleasure to walk with him over to the KCLS computers, where he navigated to Ancestry.com , to create a new free tree. Ancestry really does make it easy to get started when some basic facts are known. Along the way, I explained that while he may ge...

Sankofa bird; public domain image. "The “Sankofa” is a metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana, generally depicted as a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg from its back. It expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress."  https://sankofa.org/about   Looking Back; Looking Forward Thoughtful week here. For many reasons, I've been looking back—and forward, and thinking deeply about both.  My term as president of the South King County Genealogical Society ends May 2025. If you are considering stepping up to ask the membership to entrust you with that responsibility, please contact me or another Board member for help to prepare you. Read about the duties of the President here .  Term Limits According to our Bylaws  Section 5.4.3: "No President or Vice President shall serve more than two consecutive terms in the same office." I want to choose how...

Best Reason to Throw a Party The best excuse to clean your house , I once read, is to ready it for a party . While cleaning house, I thought, is the same true about "writing it up"? Writing the stories of our ancestors and relatives is the culmination of our work. When we know that our place is welcoming to guests, we feel free to celebrate; telling stories of the past unlocks the lives of our families to all who hear them. Writing the stories is t he best excuse to research. Write while researching so that that your thoughts have somewhere to go‒directly into the notes, before they evaporate. Writing soothes the itch in the brain instead of sending us down rabbit holes. Now is a great time to get started writing, in preparation for Family History Month in October . Courtesy of the National Genealogical Society Writing tests our research and thinking It is while writing that holes in the story are exposed, inconsistencies glare, and leaps of logic fall flat. If our analysis...

  Tree of Life by lilipilyspirit.deviantart.com Not All Stories Need Words Art can speak to us in photos, plays, poems, skits, dioramas, quilts, songs, photographs, even maps and diagrams.  Family trees are stories, too . When you view a timeline of an ancestor's life, does a story spring to mind? Those who think they can't write, can record their story on their phones, or computers. Both Word and Google Docs have voice transcription power.   Tell Your Own Story The magic moment is when a person realizes that they have a story to tell. Is it one of walking hand in hand down a dusty road with great-grandmother? Whether or nit she told her story, your memory is yours; tell it! Sometimes it is the little moments, such as after the ghost story is told around the campfire, when all the kids suddenly feel the urge to get back to the cabin and out of the dark night. Or the feeling after catching your first fish, proudly walking past the crowd to clean it so you can eat yo...