This last month was pretty intense with the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, the Association of Professional Genealogists – Professional Management Conference, and RootsTech.  I also finished working with editor Karen Mauer Green to publish part one of my article in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, “Joseph and Daniel Chaplin of the Town of [...]

I’m sure you’ve played the waiting game … You planned for things to go wrong, so you left home in plenty of time to get to the airport.  Once there, you checked your luggage, sailed through the security screening, walked down the endless corridor to your gate, verified your departure, sat down, and then waited [...]

On a hot Sunday in southern France, Bruce and I munched on peanut butter sandwiches as we sat in our rental car.  We had gone to church that morning.   After church we drove to a vacant parking lot, changed our clothes, and made our sandwiches. Suddenly, a young man came from behind our car, opened [...]

September 1997.  I had just begun a two year Master’s Degree program at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  My home was in Portland, Oregon, and my husband Bruce was still a firefighter for the City of Portland, so he stayed in Oregon while I went back to school in Provo.   (We did get together [...]

Something stirred me from a sound sleep, I glanced at the clock, closed my eyes for more rest, realized the time, and groaned, “Oh no.” My husband, a firefighter, instantly awoke, “What’s wrong?” “The alarm didn’t go off!” I had thirty minutes to catch my flight, and we lived twenty minutes from the airport! (This [...]

Bruce and I traveled to England for a week of genealogy research in London and Derbyshire. The flight over the Atlantic was long and we arrived at Heathrow Airport in the early morning. Though it was June, cold and fog seeped into our bones. We rented a car. It was tiny.  After loading our bags [...]

On a hot summer evening, Bruce and I packed our bags for a six week trip researching in England and driving around Europe.  Bruce donned shorts and a t-shirt and put his jacket in his suitcase.  We boarded the plane late at night and landed at London’s Heathrow airport early the next morning.  Of course [...]

My secret is out. I am a workaholic AND a genealogist. I prefer staying in town, going to libraries, conducting research for a book and finishing projects. My dream is to spend unlimited hours in the Family History Library, cracking tough genealogy puzzles. My dream is to sit by the fire and educate myself with [...]