Educating Yourself in Genealogy

Educating yourself in genealogy is essential to your success in “Finding Your Folks.” As you progress on your genealogical journey, you will need to continually develop your research and methodology skills. For the past 15 years, I have continually educated myself and developed my genealogy research and methodology skills by doing the following things.

• Reading how-to genealogy books, pamphlets, published and unpublished family histories, magazines, and Internet articles or blogs. Many of these resources were found at my local public library.


• Watching genealogy and historical VHS videos, DVDs, and online videos. I found some genealogy and historical VHS and DVDs at my local public library. I have also discovered genealogy and historical videos on online websites such as YouTube and Roots Television.


• Attending workshops and conferences, both local and national. Workshops and conferences are not only a good source for information, but are also a place to meet and network with other genealogist who share your common interest.


• Taking genealogy classes (online and face-to-face). Some colleges and universities offer face-to-face or online genealogy courses. I haven taken online courses through GenClass. There are also other Online and Home Study Courses offered by various organizations.


• Joining genealogy societies. In my local society, we have monthly speakers whose lectures enhance my knowledge in various historical and genealogical topics. Other societies, whose meetings I am not able to attend because of distance, provide newsletters and journals which further my knowledge in history and genealogy.

Angela Walton-Raji of African Roots Podcast and The Beginning Genealogist website shares her thoughts on “Educating Yourself” in one of her latest videos.