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Fruit of the Earth: Using Deed Records to Uncover Your Ancestors
20 June 2026, 1-3:30 PM, EST
Join me as I present one of my most popular webinars! Deed records are one of genealogy’s most trusted and voluminous record sets. But the legal jargon can be confusing, and besides, what if your ancestor didn’t own land? Come and learn how to use deed records in new and exciting ways and unlock brick walls about your family and the communities in which they lived. This lecture also includes content about researching potential slaveholders in deeds and African-Americans after emancipation.
The first hour will be an introduction to using deeds. After a short break, in the second hour Robyn will demonstrate how to use FamilySearch to find and research deeds. Attendees will also receive a link to re-watch this webinar for three months in about a week. This event is $10. Zoom only utilizes Paypal,which will let you use a credit card). If you want to pay by Zelle or check, please email me at msualumni33 at gmail dot com, with "REGISTRATION" in caps in the subject line.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND SAVE YOUR SEAT!
[PAST] Workshop: Using AI to Write Your Family Story,
July 11th, July 18th, July 25th, 6 p.m. EST
Do you want to preserve all the research you’ve done for future generations, but aren’t sure how to begin writing? If so, this workshop is for you. I will show you a way to get past all that by using the power of AI to give us a starting point. This workshop will require hands-on, real-time engagement from you. At the conclusion of this workshop, you will have an article about your family. Please read carefully the requirements for this workshop before registering. The workshop is $75. Zoom only uses Paypal registration and it will also let you use a credit card. If you want to pay by Zelle or check, please email me at msualumni33 at gmail dot com, with "REGISTRATION" in caps in the subject line.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND RESERVE YOUR SEAT!
[PAST] Proving Identity, Not Matching Names, 7 September 2024, 2-3:45 pm EST: Genealogical sources are full of people living in the same place with the same name as our ancestor. How can we distinguish our ancestor among others of the same name? We can’t rely on just names; we’ve got to prove identity. Join me as I discuss strategies and present guidelines for ensuring that we've got the right person.
As always, attendees will receive a link to re-watch this webinar for three months; it takes me about a week to get that link out. This event is $15. Zoom only utilizes Paypal and will let you use a credit card, or you can Cash App me at $msualumni33, but please email me with CASH APP in the Subject line so I can know who to add. Please register early; several people couldn't get in when trying to register on the day of the webinar.
CLICK HERE TO SAVE YOUR SEAT!
[PAST] Beyond the Search Box: Finding Family Relationships, 3 August 2024, 2-3:45 pm EST: While online databases have been a boon to genealogists over the past decades, they can obscure the analysis all researchers must do. In this session, Robyn illustrates how turning our focus away from the computer and focusing on the sources and evidence we have can lead to uncovering family relationships.
Attendees will receive a link to re-watch this webinar for three months in about a week. This event is $15. Zoom only utilizes Paypal, but if you would like to send me a check please email me using the contact form below. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND SAVE YOUR SEAT!
Hi Robyn:
I’m so glad I found your blog. I’ve been researching my Jewish g-g-grandfather, Phillip Barnett Isaacs and other relatives, who was born in England and lived part time in Jamaica in the early 1800s. He was a slaveowner of four slaves and received money for each when Jamaican slavery was abolished in, I believe, the 1830s. I also have Gentile slave owner ancestors who lived in Virginia fought for the Confederacy and anti-slavery Ohio relatives from the same line, who fought for the Union. It’s very evident that the Virginia relatives owned many more slaves than did those in Jamaica and had large farms. I am related to a few De Pass and Isaacs individuals who had mothers who were slaves and white slave owner fathers. I have only seen evidence of one other family tree connected to mine that has attached evidence and sources for tree members that owned slaves, and the information is not that difficult to find. Any way, thank you for sharing your information and tips – I’ll continue to visit your site.
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your very kind words. Your family history is illustrative of so many of us–its all over the place. Kind of the beauty of this research, in my eyes, is that we can’t choose any of our ancestors. We can only try to document & understand their lives. I appreciate that you are doing that so well, especially with regard to documenting their slaveownership. ITs som important that we tell the truth about our history. Part of why we are in such a bad place as a country is that we havent done that. When we tell the truth, we can grapple with it, and maybe make new & better choices going forward.
Keep doing this work and I’m glad you found my blog–I have lots of posts that will interest you.
In Kinship,
Robyn