Class Highlight: Advanced Genealogical Methods with Tom Jones

Today's 2016 Class Highlight is Advanced Genealogical Methods with Tom Jones, Ph.D., CG, CGL, FASG, a SLIG favorite!

Crista Cowan took this class in 2014 and said:

"I took Advanced Genealogical Methods with Dr. Thomas Jones. He used examples to show us how people don’t appear in records together at random. We need to determine how everyone named in that marriage record, deed, will or land transaction are related, because they usually are. I also learned to track every piece of land my ancestors ever owned. Who did it come from and where did it go? 'Blood often follows land.' I was reminded that I need to use spreadsheets more often to compare and correlate the information I find BEFORE I put it into my family tree."

This is an excellent class for the researcher looking to take their skills and knowledge to the next level.

Students in “Advanced Genealogical Methods” will learn how to use and assemble evidence to rediscover ancestral origins, identities, and relationships that have been forgotten in the passage of time. The course will address advanced use of evidence from a variety of genealogical records and research in populations for which the usual records are in short supply (including female, enslaved, and impoverished ancestors). Students also will learn how to develop written proof summaries to show their conclusions’ accuracy and create a credible record of their findings for present and future generations of family historians.

This intense course is targeted to “high intermediate” genealogists who have completed an intermediate-level methodology course or who have equivalent experiences, and whose research includes original land and probate records or digital or microfilmed images of land and probate records.

Below is a list of the topics that will be covered:

* Introductions; Developing an Evidence Orientation (Tom Jones)

* Developing Research Questions and Hypotheses; Planning an Exhaustive Search (Tom Jones)

* Archival Research (Pam Sayre)

* Federal Research: Government Documents (Rick Sayre)

* Homework 1 (Gov Docs) (Rick Sayre)

* Military and Pension Records Strategies: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Rick Sayre)

* Transcribing, Abstracting, Extracting, Quoting, and Documenting Sources (Tom Jones)

* Census, Census-Substitute, and Name-List Strategies: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Tom Jones)

* Probate Strategies: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Tom Jones)

* Homework 2 (transcribing) (Tom Jones)

* Local Land Records: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Tom Jones)

* Tax Roll Strategies: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Tom Jones)

* Bringing Law to Bear on Complex Genealogical Problems (Judy Russell)

* Special Problems I: Identifying Landless, Enslaved, Peasant, and Other Impoverished Ancestors (Tom Jones)

* Homework 3 Assignment (Cammack case) (Tom Jones)

* Special Problems II: Finding Immigrant and Migrant Origins (Tom Jones)

* Special Problems III: Identifying Female Ancestors (Tom Jones)

* Federal Land Records: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Rick Sayre)

* Resolving Conflicting Evidence (Tom Jones)

* Homework 4 (Buss case) (Tom Jones)

* Rural and Urban Map Strategies: Analysis, Interpretation, and Correlation (Rick Sayre)

* Correlating Sources, Information, and Evidence to Solve Genealogical Problems (Tom Jones)

* Writing Genealogy (Tom Jones)

* Continued Advancement (Tom Jones)