Weather and Family History
Maureen discussed how weather events such as droughts, dust storms, floods, etc. impacted our ancestors. These examples caused immigration, migration and sometimes deaths. Her handout included a list of historic weather events in both the U. S. and Canada for us to consider.
She also demonstrated several websites where we could learn more about specific conditions for a particular time period.
Very interesting, Maureen! Thanks for the presentation.
During our first meeting of 2026 we explored many online resources for adding to our knowledge of genealogy research.
FamilySearch: find your ancestors using the "find" selection under "Family Tree"
Webinars: Legacy Webinars, BYU YouTube and RootsTech all provide free videos
Genealogy on Facebook: Google the term to find a long list of links
Cyndi's List: another resource for links to all sorts of genealogy-related information
Blogs and Podcasts
Google: Use a name or location "+genealogy"
U.S. GenWeb
We talked about copyright and food this week.
The brief presentation covered the bare bones of copyright and we stressed how it affects genealogy in particular.
During the Holiday Roundtable we shared foods that we remembered from family gatherings during Thanksgiving or Christmas. Here's a list of various group memories.
Lefse
Mince and pecan pies (and various other varieties)
Krumkake
Stollen
Fruitcake or Christmas cake
Candy, particularly caramels
American food!
We played Ancestor Bingo during Tuesday's workshop. Mary Anne and Maureen filled the most squares. Here are the totals from the group:
My Ancestor...
was a homesteader - 7
lived in Nova Scotia - 2
played the piano - 9
immigrated to America before 1800 - 6
married more than once - 8
celebrated 50 years of marriage - 8
was a census taker - 3
was born in Ireland - 8
arrived in Baltimore - 1
served in the Revolutionary War - 4
lived in Iowa - 4
created a brick wall for me - 10
traveled the Oregon Trail - 0
had more than ten children - 8
was a carpenter - 5
Before the Meeting
Alisa gave us a multitude of suggestions for research when we have only a short time to spare. Many of the ideas were either for the FamilySearch or Ancestry websites.
Some of the "Family History in 5 Minutes a Day" hints were to create a FamilySearch account, upload pictures to Memories, work on hints for sources in either website, or watch a short video from Roots Tech or YouTube.
Alisa also reminded us to register for Roots Tech 2026, which is a free online event produced by the Family History Library and scheduled for Marth 3-5, 2026.
