Howdy,

I’m writing to you from Arkansas, where I’m on vacation with my in-laws and enjoying a last little bit of warm weather before returning to late fall and winter in Wisconsin. It has been a busy couple of months around here, but I wanted to share a brief update.

Client Work

I have been busy to the point of considering a waitlist lately, but we are not quite there yet. Research for clients considering applying for Canadian citizenship by descent remains the largest part of my business at the moment.

Most recently, I wrapped up phase one of a research project for a client who has Quaker ancestors and is trying to prove her connection to Canada. I hadn’t done a ton of work with Quaker records before this, and through this process, I learned that in certain eras, Quakers considered civil registrations of things like marriage to be against their religion, which is fine if the religious records still exist, but can be quite a complicating factor if you are trying to prove relationships and locations for folks. In addition, some of the key ancestors needed for her application were born or married during time periods where civil registration in places like Wisconsin wasn’t as enforced. It has required a lot of creative thinking for how we can prove these relationships, names, and locations. Thankfully, records like probate files, Social Security SS-5 forms, and Civil War pension files have offered the necessary information. This has definitely been a case that felt a little like mining as I dug through the layers of obvious options for records proving these things and pivoted frequently.

Presentations

Reminder that I will be at the Minnesota Genealogical Society’s North Star Conference on October 30 and 31, presenting “Manage Your Digital Family Archives” and “Researching LGBTQ+ Ancestors.” You can still register here! In addition to being a great in-person conference, if you do attend, don’t miss the Hoffman Research Library at the Minnesota Genealogy Center. As the Marketing Committee chair and a member of the Board of Directors for the Irish Genealogical Society International, I’m obligated* to tell you that our collection of Irish books and materials held at the library is one of the largest in the entire Midwest!

*No real obligation, just a genuine fondness for the organization.

Writing Resources

Related to the talk I gave at the Appleton Public Library in September, I created this page on my website with resources for improving your writing. I thought it might be useful to everyone.

Blog Updates

I have had some recent blogs that I’m really proud of, so please check out the entire blog. But some highlights you shouldn’t miss include:

• 52 Ancestors: What Wasn’t Written Down — I wrote about my 6x great grandfather, James Wilkie, the brother of Scottish artist Sir David Wilkie. He had an intriguing life, and there are so many questions in my head about the events I discuss in the blog.

• How Probate Records Reveal Your Ancestor’s Story — I find probate records to be an incredible source of information, and I think they get missed by a lot of beginner genealogists. I wrote this blog to help folks learn about what they can find in probate files and why they’re valuable.

• What I Wish I Knew Before Starting Genealogy: 7 Lessons From a Professional — this blog is just a collection of tips and tricks that I wish I could go back to tell myself 20 years ago!

• 52 Ancestors: Long Lasting — When I saw this theme, the very first thing I thought of was the marriage of my paternal grandparents. They were married for 72 years, and built an incredible life together. They also both had quite long lives, with my grandpa living to 94 and my grandma passing just 3 months shy of her 100th birthday. This blog is a little bit of an ode to two people who had a big impact on my life and my perception of marriage.

That’s all for now. Having just attended the Association of Professional Genealogist’s Professional Management Conference, my head is full of ideas and plans, but I’m on vacation and trying to force myself to relax (she says as she drafts a newsletter).

As we head into the fall and winter, what family traditions are on your mind? Any spooky Halloween routines or winter adventures you inherited? Hit reply and tell me all about it!

💖Janelle