Join Crista Cowan for a quick look at the new features and tools available to help make your family history easier and more fun. She'll also review the databases full of new content released in the past month and show you how best to search them to find the stories of your ancestors' lives.

From 1836 to 1869 more than 400,000 settlers used the Oregon Trail to head west. Join Crista Cowan for a quick look at the history of the Oregon Trail. Were any of your ancestors adventurers and pioneers across this 2000 mile wagon road?

Join Crista Cowan for the third in our series on the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). The second element is a complete and accurate citation of your sources. You will learn both WHY this is such an important step in your research process and HOW to im prove your source citations.

If your family lived in New Jersey in the 1800s or early 1800s, chances are they were Quaker. Join Crista Cowan for a case study in researching available records to uncover the story of one family.

There are lots of ways to reach out and collaborate with other genealogists and distant cousins who might be researching some of the same families you are researching. Join Crista Cowan for a quick look at how you can use Twitter to enhance your family h istory research.

Do you have ancestors who lived in Colonial America at the outbreak of the the Revolutionary War? You might be surprised to learn that not all of them were on the side of the Patriots. Join Crista Cowan for a look at where to find Loyalist records to de termine which side of the battle your ancestors were on.

Join Crista Cowan for a quick look at the new features and tools available to help make your family history easier and more fun. She'll also review the databases full of new content released in the past month and show you how best to search them to find the stories of your ancestors' lives.

Revered genealogist, Elizabeth Shown Mills, coined a phrase that explains a genealogy methodology we should all be familiar with - "FAN Club." Join Crista Cowan for a look at how the study of your ancestors' Friends, Associates and Neighbors can help you learn more about your own family history.

The California Gold Rush. The Civil War. The Influenza Epidemic. There are so many major historical events that shaped our ancestors' lives. Join Crista Cowan for a look at how to determine which historical events may have affected your ancestors and where to learn more about them.

You may have seen the double dates recorded in some family trees - a birth date listed as 1743/1744. But, do you know WHY it is recorded that way? Join Crista Cowan for a look at the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar and that aff ects your family history research.