Prairie Roots Genealogy

06/08/2026

The National Genealogical Society () posted an article listing the top LGBTQ+ archives (primarily from the United States) in celebration of Pride Month. These are great resources if you are researching someone who was known to be part of the community but can also help add context to the experiences of others in a certain time or place. You can find the article at this link or at the NGS UpFront blog:

https://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/2026/06/join-national-genealogical-society-ngs.html

🌈

06/04/2026

What happens when an ancestor seemingly vanishes from the historical record? Or when two "lifelong bachelors" purchase land and live on it together for decades?

As family historians, it’s easy to look at our trees and assume every branch follows a traditional, heteronormative path. But statistically, q***r history is woven directly into our collective heritage.

This Pride Month, I’m breaking down how to read between the lines of standard genealogical records to discover our LGBTQ+ ancestors. From spotting clustering patterns in property deeds to understanding the archival silence of sudden name changes, we can find the trails they left behind when we prioritize evidence over expectation.

✨ Head to the link in my below or to the Prairie Roots Genealogy website to read the full guide on the blog!

Have you ever uncovered an unexpected living arrangement or a unique legal bond while researching your family tree? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!

https://www.prairierootsgenealogy.com/blog/prioritizing-evidence-over-expectation-researching-lgbtq-ancestors

05/30/2026

TODAY!

It's not too late to register for my talk "Irish in the Great Lakes" hosted by the Wheaton Public Library and DuPage County Genealogical Society on Zoom. Registration is free and the talk is at 1pm Central today. You can register at the link below or I have a link in the blog on prairierootsgenealogy dot com. Hope to see you there!

https://www.wheatonlibrary.org/event/irish-great-lakes-142304

[Photo in graphic is my great grandparents Thomas O'Rourke and Mary Dubuque O'Rourke, standing in front of Lake Superior]

05/25/2026

Behind every military record is a story waiting to be told.

For some family historians, a name on a World War I draft card or a final resting place in a European cemetery is where the trail ends. But when we look closer, the archives hold so much more.

Through the National Archives' incredibly detailed files related to the World War I Gold Star Mothers and Widows Pilgrimages, I was able to trace the deeply moving journey of my great-uncle, Emile, who died in France in 1918, and the stepmother (my great grandmother) who traveled across the Atlantic years later to stand at his grave.

It’s a reminder that genealogy isn’t just about collecting dates—it's about honoring the sacrifices, the grief, and the resilience of those who came before us.

Read the blog at prairierootsgenealogy.com.

05/20/2026

If you're looking for motivation to take on some gravestone cleanup, how about the satisfaction of watching dirt, moss, mildew, and general grime pour off of an old stone? This wasn't even one of the worst ones.

Video from last week's clean-up at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Ecorse, Michigan, with the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, the Archdiocese of Detroit, and a lot of determined volunteers, featuring the stone of my 3x great grandfather Thomas LeBlanc and my little hand pump sprayer. This is in between spraying with D/2 and scrubbing a LOT. (And yes, his surname is La Blanc here, but he used LeBlanc throughout his life, and this stone seems to have been placed much later than another stone for him on the same plot. Who knows why!)

05/12/2026

For this week's , I wrote about the LeBlanc family graves that are at the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Ecorse, Michigan -- the same cemetery that ACGS - American-Canadian Genealogical Society is hosting a cemetery clean-up at this Friday from 2pm to 7pm. At the link, you can learn a little bit about my ancestors who are buried there and what the cemetery helped me learn, and in the comments you can find the sign-up for the cemetery clean-up!

This week’s theme for the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is well-timed, as on May 15th, I’m participating in a cemetery clean-up for St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Ecorse, Michigan, where some of my ancestors are buried. This may sound odd, but I’m a big fan of old cemeteries, because I think there....

04/28/2026

When you're a genealogist who is too amused with herself for adding Schitt's Creek gifs to your template for following Robert Charles Anderson's genealogical analysis methods...

I have to be silly somewhere, and it's not going to be in how solid my research is. 😁

If you're curious, this is my attempt at tracing linkage bundles according to Anderson's methods in Elements of Genealogical Analysis using Lucidchart, a sort of mindmapping/whiteboard app. Much of this I do internally already, however I am trying to track it overtly for a while to strengthen my recordkeeping and analysis.

Fellow genealogists, do you record these things in notes, spreadsheets, forms, etc? Anything you keep track of like this that helps you stay organized?

04/20/2026

I'm excited to present at the OGS 2026 Virtual Conference: From Steamships to Microchips. We’ll be discussing the historical ties, immigration movements, and specific research strategies for families who moved between Michigan and Canada.

As a genealogist with deep personal roots in both regions, I can’t wait to help you bridge the gap in your own research. Head to the link below or our website for more info. See you there!



https://www.prairierootsgenealogy.com/blog/speaking-at-the-ontario-genealogical-societys-virtual-conference

04/14/2026

The Library of Congress' Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity for Government plus Libraries, Archives and Museums (C2PA for G+LAM) released a new white paper titled "Content Authenticity and Provenance in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: A Call-to-Action for the LAMs Community." Given the role that libraries and archives in particular play in family history research, this is relevant to genealogists as well.

Covering four foundational pillars for this community, the white paper doesn't advocate for or against AI, simply for responsible use of it and preparation from libraries, archives, and museums for how to protect the authenticity of their collections. A glance at the number of Ancestry trees linking people to European royalty with no sources besides other trees shows how much people want to believe stories even when there's no proof. Now imagine a world where you can't trust digitized records even at a reputable repository.

It's great to see the Library of Congress' C2PA for G+LAM community of practice release a plan for this that supports authenticity above all. If you want to read more about this white paper or read the paper itself, head to the link in the comments.

04/13/2026

Check out the newest installment of our newsletter, where I discuss issues with using AI for photo restoration, the recent changes to Canadian citizenship by descent, and what I've been working on for clients. You can read it at the link below or head to our website to sign up to get these delivered right to your inbox.

https://buttondown.com/prairie_roots/archive/3-ai-is-ruining-our-family-photos/