What New Learning Are You Applying?...

So, this week’s question is just that. This blog started in January 2025 and there have been 8 speakers, 9 counting this week. What are one or 2 ideas that you have applied to your family history research from all the speakers or from the ideas for beginners? If you couldn’t attend the class or get the recorded version, did you read anything in the Blog that helped?

Let’s look specifically at the week. The class was by Daniel Horowitz from MyHeritage. Have you ever tried MyHeritage before this class? Did you try it from the library or from home. One of the extras from this site is that if you are an HQRL member, you can get onto the library edition from home.

I have heard people say that it is for European ancestors. It is true that it has that but also US information. All my new information has been for the US. I am anxious to discover new techniques and resources from the speaker that will help me learn more. I know that I haven’t scratched the surface yet.

I learned about the catalog on MyHeritage and how to search on that, the translation technology that they use, and that while you are browsing the data that pertains to your ancestor, they are finding more documents that apply the that ancestor and other related people. COOL!

But the initial question wasn’t just about this class. We are all busy doing life! If we all truly enjoy family history, what can we learn from these resources available through HQRL be they speakers, librarians, or books? I read something in a recent newsletter from the “Occasional Genealogist,” that many times we are not stuck on our tree for lack of information but for not doing the detective work to learn from the resources that we have found. I know that is true for me. When you do find something on Google, MyHeritage, in R/E Deeds, Kentucky research, Fille Du Roi, Mapping or other places; do you look at it carefully or just for what you wanted in the first place?

Reading books, talking to your research buddy and taking classes only helps if you apply the learning. For me, it is helpful to try new ideas sooner rather than later before I forget what I was taught. I don’t have to become an overnight expert, just try something new and see what sticks, what you find.

After you try something from MyHeritage get ready to learn about your railroad ancestors, New England ancestors in a double opportunity from New England specifically and then from the American Ancestry data base. And there is more after that….get signed up.

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com