Philip John

Discover how to work your way through the courthouse records of the county where your ancestors resided. Using the two most common types of courts (circuit and chancery), you'll examine how to read courthouse materials, including probate packets, vital records, tax rolls, and even colonial-era records such as indentures and apprenticeships.

You've learned how to build context and write an engaging narrative. Now, examine the best ways to organize your material and assemble a lasting account of your unique heritage. What are the fundamental questions you'll need to answer before writing? What are the five elements essential to any multigenerational account?

Conclude the course with a peek at how to research records outside the United States. Focusing on his experiences in Europe, Dr. Colletta reveals what essential facts you need to know about your immigrant ancestors, and how to overcome six major challenges to accessing and using historical materials in foreign countries.

It's unthinkable to do genealogy today without the Internet. But not all online sources are reliable. First, take a look at the benefits (and drawbacks) of government, nonprofit, and commercial online sites. Then, learn how to make sense of U.S. population censuses - the most important record for constructing lineage in America.

Good genealogists always take advantage of local sources outside the courthouse as well, including state archives, which hold records that resulted between the administration of state laws. Here, you'll learn how to tap into the information found in original sources (such as census and military records) and derivative sources (including maps and newspapers).

At some point during your detective work, you'll have to actually visit where your ancestors lived. In this helpful lecture, discover how to use key local resources you'll need to rely on for success in your research: cemeteries, records of churches and synagogues, city directories, local libraries, and historical societies.

Step away from research and explore how to use historical content to transform your facts into engaging life stories. Dr. Colletta reveals seven steps for building effective historical context, including examining your sources in light of local history, and using history to test a hypothesis about how an event transpired.

Genealogy is a journey of self-discovery that can teach you as much about yourself as about those who came before you. But there's an obstacle that holds many of us back from unearthing our family history: uncertainty about how to go about it. With Dr. Colletta's 15 lectures, you'll learn the same skills and methodologies the experts use to solve genealogical mysteries, to create compelling nonfiction narratives, and to uncover information from

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Provides information on searching passenger ship lists and indexes, naturalization and immigration records, and genealogical Websites to find records of ancestors who came to the United States on ships.