Tag Archives: RootsTech2026

#RootsTech Roundup Part 3

by thehistoryinterpreter

Ok so it was Saturday but I am still on Friday’s talks. I was relieved to reduce my watch list by three as I had put reshowing of talks that I’d already seen on my list. Wanda Wyporska’s excellent ‘Caribbean and African Enslaved People and their British Enslavers: A look at sources’, was a great  but sobering start to the day. As far as I know, I do not descend from the enslaved or enslavers but along with everyone with European heritage, I have no doubt that some of my ancestors benefitted from the trade in enslaved people.

Having swapped to Paralympic coverage for a while, I went back to Friday’s Rootstech presentations with Kelli Bergheimer’s ‘DNA Misconceptions’. I found the information about inferred matching very interesting. This was the DNA talk that was most relevant to me, that I had listened to so far, even though it extolled the undeniable benefits of sibling and first cousin matches, which I will never have. Then it was time for ‘FamilySearch Full-Text Search – Your Golden Path to Ancestral Discovery’, an amusing and informative session from David Ouimette. I have used this before but there were some suggestions to make searching more efficient. This is still not fully accurate or refined but it is definitely a game changer. ‘Avoiding Research Pitfalls’ with Jana K Greenhalgh and Mindy Taylor came next. Once again, lovely to find US speakers using UK examples. This was packed full of possible pitfalls and worked examples. Another must watch for those starting out.

After that it was time for my own live presentation about researching English Family History 1900-1952. This is important even if you don’t have any British ancestry, as you may need to trace the trees of DNA matches in Britain. I was hugely relieved to find that the technology was working, it was fun to do and the feedback was positive. It was also great to find friends and online acquaintances in the live audience. If you missed it, or indeed any of the other talks, you can access the recordings.

There was still time for Diahan Southard’s ‘DNA Swim School – Part 2: Treading Water with Your Matches’, which built on part 1, with handy tips for working with groups of DNA matches.

Eighteen sessions down (including two of my own) fourteen to go.

#RootsTech Roundup Day 1

by thehistoryinterpreter

For those who don’t know (and if you don’t, you’ve not been reading my blog long enough) RootsTech is the largest genealogical event in the world, with thousands of people attending live in Salt Lake City and many more taking part virtually from all parts of the globe. Many of the sessions are recorded and you can access these for free here. These remain online after the event, so you can watch presentations from this year and previous years at your leisure. This is a brilliant opportunity to learn more about research methods, sources, genealogy related technology, DNA, social history and much more. There really is something for everyone. Including a few talks from me!

I started the day with a 5am talk from UK researcher Davina Wilcock ‘Considering Location When Researching Your Ancestors’, a great introduction to the importance of place and as a One-Place studier, who am I to argue. Then at 6.30am my own pre-recorded session ‘Timelines for Genealogy; a powerful research tool’ went live. Excruciating as it is to listen to oneself, I did, thinking that I could comment and answer any questions in the chat. I could see other people’s comments but my screen lacked the blue ‘join chat’ button that others had.

At 3pm I had a clash, so I started with ‘The GPS in Practice: Examples of Reasonably Exhaustive Research’ with Angela Packer McGhie. The speaker gave worked examples of verifying evidence and analysing the reliability of records, defining reasonably exhaustive research. I appreciated that an English example was included. A very minor niggle, the speaker did refer to Bolton le Moor as a county. British geographical jurisdictions are confusing, particularly for those overseas and getting confused about them is common. She needs my session from 2025 ‘Where am I?: Are You Searching in the Right Place?!

Then it was back to catch up with ‘Poor, Pauper, or Pragmatic? Victorian Burial and Identity: interments in Philips Park Cemetery in Manchester 1866-1900’ with Dr Micala Hulme and I finally solved the lack of a join chat button. It seemed it was because my Family Search profile lacked my date of birth. It would have been handy to have been warned of this somewhere obvious. Interestingly, my own talk is suggested as a related talk alongside Micala’s. It was an interesting overview of Victorian burial practices with Manchester as a case study.

The first part of Diahan Southard’s DNA Swim School was next on my list. The session was very well presented and interesting but not relevant to me as she was focussing on looking for a 2x great grandparent. I don’t have any missing 2x great grandparents and only have one missing 3x great grandparent. The use of ancestral journeys, which she talked us through, is also less helpful to someone with 100% English ancestry. Nontheless, Diahan is a very entertaining and knowledgeable speaker.

Then I listened to a panel discussing Guidelines for the Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Genealogy in 2026. The panel members and others are part of a Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy, who advocate for accuracy, transparency and privacy. A very balanced discussion, with the take away ‘Don’t let AI make the final decision for you’. Definitely a must watch. There were six more evening sessions on my schedule for day 1 but I decided to swap for Crufts and watch those later, one of the great positives of RootsTech. More tomorrow!

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