Life for women in 19th century USA was not easy. Gail Zona has transcribed family letters and turned them into a book "Dearest Clara". We talk about the letters themselves, the writers (her 2 x great grandmother Nell Nichols and sisters Clara and Alice, the life they lived (a hard and quite restrictive one) and the world they lived in with society's expectations of them including the effects of coverture.

Lene Kottal and I talk about unique Danish records, naming conventions, spelling, censuses, military records, wills, estate administration, Danish history, the Danish National Archives, emigration and much more.

Else takes us on a journey through her own family history and then the Society of Genealogists. We talk about the wealth of records available including some quite unusual ones like civil service applications, school records, trade directories, teachers, customs and excise and apprenticeships for the London Guilds and Livery Companies. The SoG has just launched their new website so it will be easy to navigate. The transcript is in Journeys into Genealogy on Substack.

Duff Wilson from Family Tree Maker (FTM) shared details of FTM history, what's in the latest version, new features, examples of charts and reports, opportunities for beta testing and the most underused parts of FTM.

Plus a special offer for listeners to Journeys into Genealogy starting on 11 February. Full details in the transcript/post on Journeys into Genealogy on Substack.

Lucy Reynoldson shares tips about making the most of Rootstech 2026 (coming 5-7 March) including the preparation to do beforehand (hint: start as soon as possible), Relatives at Rootstech, searching for content and creating schedules and customised playlists. The transcript is available on Journeys into Genealogy on Substack.

Find out more about Canadian research and what's available at Library and Archives Canada and elsewhere and how Canadian records work in this interview with François Simon Wathier and Marie-Eve Robert. Transcript with links available at https://journeysintogenealogy.substack.com

It's been 5 years since I setup the Journeys into Genealogy podcast. In the final episode of 2025 I include some clips from the most popular interviews of the year, details of the most downloaded overall plus details of what's to come in 2026. The transcript is available on Substack.

What does it mean to be Cuban American? Barbara Caver shares family stories, her visit to Cuba, connecting with ancestors, visiting ancestral places and her book "A Little Piece of Cuba: A Journey to Become Cubana-Americana"

Graham Holton of Strathclyde University talks about genetic genealogy, autosomal and Y-DNA testing, his book "DNA: a Guide for Family Historians", the 2026 online conference, potential future developments in DNA and much more. The transcript with links is available on Journeys into Genealogy on Substack.

Emma Maxwell tells us about the wealth of records available on Scottish Indexes including criminal databases, paternity indexes, mental health, deeds, sasines, tips for searching and much more. We also talk about the Scottish Indexes Conference (next one is on Sat 22 November 2025). Transcript available on Substack.