Stories in Our Roots

#10  Iris began researching her family history when she was an adult to discover the story of her Abuela (Grandmother) Faustina, whom she never met.  Iris’ story is about the gift she received by learning the story of Abuela Faustina and other relatives.  But the gift wasn’t just for her.  She saw firsthand how much what she learned was a gift to other family members.

In this episode Iris shares:

• She knew so little about her father’s family that she didn’t know the woman she called Abuela (Grandmother) wasn’t related through blood [5:21]
• She started researching family to know Abuela Faustina and as Iris did Faustina became real [6:13]
• The experience with her grandfather when she realized the true gift of sharing family stories [10:26]
• How learning about her father’s childhood helped her better understand him [13:48]
• Her advice for those beginning their research, especially those who are afraid of what they may find [21:59]

About Iris:

Iris, originally from Puerto Rico, has lived in Massachusetts since she was 8 years old. She is the oldest of six children and is now married with two amazing kids, who literally were her inspiration to finally follow her dream. Iris always loved history and research, but life took her in a different direction. Six years ago she made the decision to start finding her story and really explore her love for history. In this journey Iris discovered the gift of giving someone a piece of their story. She discovered the healing that can come from knowing more of your family story and how important it is for Latinos, Latinas, LatinX to know more about their history. Iris knows how empowered you can feel from knowing your history and that is how she knew her purpose and her mission came to fruition, Descubre Tu Historia was born.

 Connect with Iris:

Website: descubretuhistoriablog.wordpress.org
Instagram: @descubretuhistoria
 
 

Also Mentioned:

Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Genealogía - Website and Facebook page

Tips:

• Searching for “Puerto Rico Genealogy Society” will not bring up their website as a top result.  If not using the link provided, search for “Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Genealogía.”
• There is a bar at the top of their website with flags, click on the flags to change the language of the website.

Episode Sponsor:

 Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's signature 1:1 service, Stories in Your Roots.

Get a free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history. 

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#9  Today’s episode features the story of Tamara Hallo, a native of Miami, Florida.  Hear how a box of inherited family information grew her interest in learning about her family and also strengthened her relationship with her mother.  Tamara’s family has a strong matriarch on her maternal line that inspired generations of her family.  We also discuss the imbalance some families have between their maternal and paternal lines and how the stories we pass down influence how connected future generations will feel with certain ancestors.

In this episode Tamara shares:

• How her family history journey began with an inherited box of family information [6:52]
• The ways researching brought her closer to her mother [9:12]
• The story of her Swedish great-grandmother who continues to inspire generations [11:01]
• Not everyone in the family wants to know right now about their history [19:09]
• The stories passed down to her affected how connected she felt to her maternal family in comparison to her paternal side [21:58]

About Tamara:

Tamara Hallo is an educator, librarian and professional genealogist. She has over 25 years of experience as an educator and holds a Master in Library Science degree. She has earned a certificate of genealogical research from Boston University and has completed ProGen, an 18-month professional genealogy study program. Genealogy is her passion and a perfect complement to her repertoire.

Connect with Tamara:

Website: www.hallogenealogyservices.com
Instagram: @hallogenealogyservices
LinkedIn: Tamara Hallo
Facebook: hallogenealogyservices

Also Mentioned:

Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)

Episode Sponsor:

Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's signature 1:1 service, Stories in Your Roots.

Get a free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history. 

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#8  Amy Harris explains the concept of genealogical consciousness, which goes beyond information and instead influences the way we see not only our ancestors, but people in our world now.  Genealogy has evolved over the decades and Amy sees a need for it to evolve even more in order to help make our world a better place as we are less judgmental and more forgiving.  Coming to know the stories of our ancestors and thinking of them as real people instead of names and dates can change how we see people we meet everyday.

In this episode Amy shares:

• The difference between genealogical consciousness and genealogical knowledge [7:25]
• How genealogy has evolved from a British and American perspective [11:48]
• Why we need to be careful when looking at ethnicity results [14:54] 
• A student’s experience deciding she didn’t know a relative’s whole story [ 21:06]
• Not judging an ancestor’s sister from a modern perspective [23:51]
• Her simple advice for those beginning their family history journey [28:22]

About Amy:

Amy Harris, PhD, AG®, is the current Family History Program Coordinator at BYU. A native of Ogden, Utah, she was lucky enough to be raised by spectacularly good parents and particularly stellar siblings. Her research focuses on families, women, and gender in eighteenth-century Britain, though she has also written on the history of genealogy and Mormon history. She is particularly interested in the way family and social relationships inform one another. Her first book, Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England (2012) explored sibling relationships and their connections to political and social ideas of equality. Recently her article “Early Mormonism’s Expansive Family and the Browett Women” received the 2018 Mormon History Association Best Article Award. She is in the early stages of a book, There is Only Us, which explores genealogical consciousness. Amy is a tenured professor in the BYU Department of History where she teaches history, genealogy, and women’s studies courses.

Connect with Amy:

Instagram: @familyhistoryprof
LinkedIn: Amy Harris

Also Mentioned:

2017 Speech – Of Dead Cats and Dead People: How Family History Can Save the World

Episode Sponsor:

 Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's signature 1:1 service, Stories in Your Roots.

Get a free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history. 

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#7  The way you approach your family history research matters.  Heather advocates for moving away from the traditional genealogy that focuses on data collection.  Instead, she encourages mindful research to open your mind and heart to understanding your ancestors, and yourself, as completely as possible.

In this episode Heather shares:

• What matters most to people researching their family history [1:39]
• What happens when you do “slot machine” genealogy [6:22]
• How making a plan changes your research experience [8:17]
• How to be more mindful in your research [12:36]

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to chose your beliefs moving forward.

About Heather:

Heather Murphy is a family history coach and educator and host of the Stories in Our Roots podcast.  Her family history journey began at age 11 and through high school and college she learned to love history through the lens of family.  She holds a bachelors degree in Family History and Genealogy from Brigham Young University.  Heather focuses on teaching researchers at the beginning of their journey how to connect with their ancestors in a mindful and organized way that decreases frustration and increases understanding of self, family, and community.

Connect with Heather:

Website: heathermurphygenealogy.com
Facebook: @HeatherMurphyGen
Instagram: @heathermurphygen
LinkedIn: Heather Murphy

Episode Sponsor:

Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's signature 1:1 service, Stories in Your Roots.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#6  Katherine Willson knows that learning about your family history gives you a different perspective of family members and events that happen in the world beyond family.  Hear how she started her genealogy journey as a Junior Girl Scout, how knowing the stories of her immigrant ancestors helps her be more resilient, and her unusual tip for those beginning to explore their family roots that is important for researchers at any level to remember.

In this episode Katherine shares:

• How a Junior Girl Scout badge led to a life-long love of discovering family [4:02]
• Researching as an adult helped her to see the situations and patterns in her family that contributed to difficulties later generations of her family faced [8:13]
• Seeing her ancestors weaknesses gives her strength as she sees they were doing the best they could [11:30]
• Her ancestors’ immigration experience in the 1850s [15;16]
• How knowing those stories helps her to have a different perspective of immigrants today who are looking for a better life for their families [21:41]
• Her unexpected advise for someone beginning their genealogy journey [26:41]

About Katherine:

Katherine R. Willson of Dexter, Michigan, is an engaging & dynamic genealogy lecturer at local, regional, and national events; an educator teaching beginning, intermediate, and advanced genealogy classes in Michigan since 2001; the author of The Genealogist’s Guide to Grand Rapids, Michigan (published in 2018 by The In-Depth Genealogist), and a professional researcher for private clients. Her genealogy interests began as an 8-year-old Junior Girl Scout working towards the now-retired “My Heritage” badge, and her passion was fueled when, after college, both her mother’s and father’s relatives gave her binders containing generations’ worth of family information. Read more about Katherine's roles as an Army wife and volunteer for the Department of Defense, and as an artist/owner of MoonSwings Studio at SocialMediaGenealogy.com

Connect with Katherine:

Website: SocialMediaGenealogy.com
Facebook: @moonswings
Instagram: @katherine.r.willson
Twitter: @moonswings
LinkedIn: Katherine R. Willson

 Also Mentioned:

• Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program
• FamilySearch.com
• Ancestry.com

Episode Sponsor:

 Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy's signature 1:1 service, Stories in Your Roots.

Get a free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history. 

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#5:  Schuyler Carter is a PhD candidate in Urban and Regional Science who began researching her genealogy when she was eighteen years old.  What began as a search for scholarships evolved into a way has she connected not only with her ancestors, but also her living family as she shares what she learns and with her community as she strives to honor the legacy of her ancestors.

In this episode Schuyler shares:

• Looking for ways to fund her college education got her started researching her family tree [2:43]
• Why she considers herself a millennial kin keeper [5:17]
• The story of her great-grandfather, Reverend L. W. Thomas, who founded the community of Summit, Oklahoma, and why she particularly connects with him [8:55]
• What she did that combined preserving a community’s heritage as well as preserving her great-grandfather’s story and how that continued his legacy [15:29]
• Her family’s long-standing relationship with African American fraternities and sororities and their mission of community building [18:13]
• Her advice for those beginning their genealogy journey [22:34]

About Schuyler:

Schuyler S. Carter is a native of Muskogee, Oklahoma. She holds a Masters degree in Urban Planning from Alabama A&M University. There she completed her thesis which focused on planning process engagement of Historically Black Towns within Eastern Oklahoma. She is currently a first year student pursuing a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science at Texas A&M University. Her major research interests include historically black settlements, museum curation and heritage/place preservation specifically related to the historic communities settled by former slaves, black indigeneity and Afro-Native American culture, rural/unincorporated area planning, museum curation, archive management, grassroots archives, black placemaking, museum curation, African American museum curation and advocacy. She has been acknowledged on multiple occasions for her ongoing preservation projects in Oklahoma related to historically black communities. 

Despite her young age, Schuyler has been doing family research since 2009. Prior to entering into her doctoral program, Schuyler has dedicated a significant amount of time researching her family history and was able to successfully nominate her great grandfather, Rev. L.W. Thomas’ home in Summit, Oklahoma to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In effort to expand the narrative of African Americans in America, Schuyler established the online Millennial Archivist brand. This platform is aimed at acknowledging the diversity in African American heritage as well as encouraging younger generations to take interest in researching their own histories to see how they impact their own lives.

Also Mentioned:

• FamilySearch.com
• GenWeb (usgenweb.com)
• Dawes Roll
• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated

Connect with Schuyler:

Facebook: @themillennialarchivist
Instagram: @themillennialarchivist
YouTube: The Millennial Archivist

Episode Sponsor:
Get the free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#4:  Melissa Knapp didn’t think researching her family history was something she would do until her kids were grown and she needed a hobby to fill her time.  Life doesn’t always go as planned and she is currently working toward two university degrees in Genealogy with several of her children still at home.  In this interview Melissa shares the moment her journey started, the love her great-grandfather has for her and her family (even though they never met), and why she is so thankful she followed through on the thought to learn about her ancestors.

In this episode Melissa shares:

• Deciding to follow up on a thought to learn more of her great-grandfather led to a special message from him [5:40]
• How researching family history became a form of self-care during her son’s illness [11:33]
• Finding a single photograph was evidence that God was aware of her and her family [14:32]
• She felt a closeness to a great-grandmother and later discovered they shared the same medical condition [21:53]
• Her great-grandfather may not have felt his life amounted to much, but she has the benefit of seeing how much his life and example meant to future generations [25:32]
• The simple advice (2 words!) she shares with those beginning their journey of family history discoveries [29:33]

About Melissa:

Melissa Knapp is a family historian currently completing an undergraduate degree in family history research from BYU-I and a Master's degree in Genealogy, Paleography, and Heraldry from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. She loves to solve genealogical mysteries and help others discover the fun and joy in family history. Her dream is to travel to Scotland and Ireland to explore her ancestral homelands. Melissa was born and raised in Mississippi but currently lives in Utah with her husband and five children, where southern food, manners, stories, and music are still a big part of her family's lives and heritage.

Connect with Melissa:

Website: www.KindredGrove.com
Facebook: @TheKindredGrove
Instagram: @kindredgrove
YouTube: Kindred Grove

Also Mentioned:

• FamilySearch.com
• Ancestry.com
• MyHeritage.com

Episode Sponsor:
Get the free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history.  Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy Genealogy.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#3: This week I talked with Cheri Hudson Passey about family history in her life, which started playing a role when she was about 10 years old.  She shares with us the ancestor she looked back on to gain strength when she faced a difficult time in her life.  We also talk about choices her ancestors made that weren’t positive and the project she started to help the descendants of persons who were enslaved find their ancestors.

Cheri Hudson Passey is a Professional Genealogist, Instructor, Writer, and Speaker and the owner of Carolina Girl Genealogy, LLC. Cheri is the host of the genealogy chat show GenFriends on YouTube and is a genealogical researcher, subcontracted by Eagle Investigative Services, Inc., for the US Army Past Conflict Repatriations Branch.

Also mentioned:
MAAGI: Midwest African American Genealogy Institute  www.maagiinstitute.org

Connect with Cheri:
Website: carolinagirlgenealogy.com
Facebook: @CarolinaGirlGenealogy
Instagram: @carolinagirlgenealogy
YouTube: GenFriends on Carolina Girl Genealogy

Episode Sponsor:
Get the free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history.  Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy Genealogy.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

#2: In this episode Miya Jensen shares how learning about her ancestors, especially those who had hard lives, helped her through a difficult time in her early 20's.  She's learned first-hand that not everything we learn in our family history is positive and tells us her strategies for processing those things.  Miya also shares what she is doing to help others learn their family stories, especially those with Oceania heritage.

Miyamoto Loretta Jensen of Laie, HI is a young professional genealogist pioneering Polynesian genealogy. She was the first to graduate with her BA in Polynesian family history from Brigham Young University. Along with learning, Miya enjoys teaching others how to research their Polynesian ancestors and performing client research. Her biggest dream is to create research methodologies for all Oceania cultures and peoples. Miya’s ancestral background includes Samoan, Tongan, Hawaiian, Japanese, German, English, and French.

Instagram  @thepolynesiangenealogist
Facebook @thepolynesiangenealogist
Find Miya at www.thepolynesiangenealogist.com

Episode Sponsor:
Get the free guide, "7 Ways You (Unintentionally) Sabotage Your Family Tree" and have more success as you research your family history.  Episode sponsored by Heather Murphy Genealogy.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy

Welcome to the premier episode of Stories in Our Roots.

In this episode I introduce myself, Heather Murphy, and share how looking at my family history differently, even after 25 years, led to a breakthrough in my business and the creation of this podcast.  Hear my story of how looking at my family tree in a different, yet simple, way allowed me to uncover my limiting beliefs about what I could accomplish and instead move forward in my purpose.

Get a free workbook, "Release Limiting Beliefs by Understanding Family History " to help identify your beliefs, where they come from, and how to chose your beliefs moving forward.

Are we connected on Instagram or Facebook yet? Find me @msheathermurphy