Katy Bodenhorn Genealogy Research

04/19/2026

Thanks to the Indiana Genealogical Society for hosting me and James M. Beidler at their annual conference this weekend! We're available to speak individually or as a "package deal" to your local genealogical or historical society.

Between the two of us, we presented four talks on colonial newspapers, German immigration, Pennsylvanian migration to the Midwest, and navigating FamilySearch's Full Text Search tool. Whew!

03/31/2026

If you're PA local, you won't want to miss this event. Historic Trappe (a historic site at which, full disclosure, I work part-time) has finally completed a 25-year restoration of the home of Frederick Muhlenberg (1750-1801), the very first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. You can walk through the house for FREE during the weekend of April 11 and 12. The effort of restoring it to full and authentic 1700s glory is absolutely remarkable.

Location: 151 W. Main Street, Trappe, PA (Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia)

Join us for the Speaker’s House Dedication on the weekend of April 11 and 12 to celebrate the opening of this historic building! Over the past 25 years, both the interior and exterior of the Speaker’s House have undergone intensive study and restoration to bring the house back to how it looked in the 18th century.

Explore this newly restored landmark, learn about Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg and his family, and be part of this long-awaited milestone in our community's history.

The open house runs from 12 to 4 pm both days and is free and open to all.

Parking is available across the street in designated areas of the Trappe Shopping Center and at St. Luke's Fellowship Church, 200 W. Main Street, Trappe, PA 19426

Visit historictrappe.org/dedication/ for more information.

03/26/2026

Pennsylvania genealogy researchers of all levels! Discounted early bird tickets are on sale now for 2026's Pennsylvania's Genealogy Event (PaGE) conference, hosted in August by The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. It's FULLY VIRTUAL and fully recorded...but also remarkably social thanks to gathering sessions and other features designed to keep attendees connected. (If you attended PaGE 2023, you know how fun it was!)

I'll be speaking along with 23 of my friends and colleagues!

https://events.genpa.org/event/page-2026/

03/16/2026

Just sent out my March genealogy newsletter! If you'd like to get on the list, visit https://kbgenealogy.com and input your email into the banner at the top of the page. It's completely free and no strings attached!

https://www.kbgenealogy.com/so/3dPpE7hY-?languageTag=en

Here's an idea for enriching your experience as a family historian: identify your local historic sites and take a visit. I recently enjoyed a live 18th-century cooking demonstration at a place near me (Historic Trappe in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where--full disclosure--I am a part-time emplo...

03/11/2026

Family drama: not just a modern thing! In 1790, Anthony Faust of Berks County, Pennsylvania, used his will to make sure his "good-for-nothing" daughter-in-law Elisabeth (Ulrich) Faust received no inheritance from him.

Anthony wrote that his deceased son, Philip, had been "forced to marry" Elisabeth--an interestingly one-sided interpretation, given that his son would have had a pretty active role in what we can reasonably guess was Elisabeth's unplanned pregnancy. "Shotgun weddings" were more common than we might imagine, as our ancestors were often not as prudish as you would expect.

(Anthony did leave his granddaughter five shillings.)

03/07/2026

Did you know? I offer virtual genealogy consultation sessions! If you...

✅are researching your family history in the U.S.
✅...but are stuck knowing what to do next
✅...and just want some professional advice or a second set of eyes
✅...and live pretty much anywhere (not just PA!)
..I can help! Strategy sessions are 45 minutes over Zoom and you receive a written summary of the resources or strategies I recommended (with links!) afterward. All you have to do is let me know who you're researching and some of the things you've already tried! The cost is $150. To sign up, visit the link in the comments.

(⭐️Plus, as a bonus offer: if you book a strategy session and then decide to hire me to continue the research on your behalf, that $150 you already spent gets applied to the cost of a full multi-hour package--savings!)

03/03/2026

For fun: what is a surname that's super common where you're from? A surname that, if you heard it while on vacation far away, would make you ask the person "Are you from where I'm from?"

Example: if I ran into a Yoder or a Landis in, say, California, I'd be tempted to find out if they had roots in specific parts of southeastern PA because of how prevalent those names are here.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

02/25/2026

Subscribe to my free monthly genealogy newsletter! Tips, news, hijinks, discounts, and mayyyybe even occasionally Pennsylvania food recommendations for my locals and genealogy travelers (hint: cheesesteaks!)

Link to sign up for the newsletter in the comments below. Visit my website and input your email address into the purplish banner that drops down from the top on the home page.

02/23/2026

Do I have Indiana-based followers? I'm thrilled to share I'll be doing an IN-PERSON full-day lecture series (including a co-presentation with James M. Beidler) on day 2 of the Indiana Genealogical Society's conference in April just southwest of Indianapolis!

As someone with recent Indiana heritage myself (hello Allen, Madison, and Blackford Counties!) I'm excited to be back.

Want to attend from afar? This is a HYBRID event and can be viewed from the comfort of your home on Zoom.

Topics we'll be covering include:

-Waves of German immigration
-Colonial-era newspapers
-Migration routes into the Midwest
-Using image-only and Full-Text searchable collections

Tickets are available for day 1, day 2, or the full conference here: https://indgensoc.org/event-details/?fbclid=IwY2xjawQJZA1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETJEcVdvdGZqWldNRlI0bERmc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsZVaHwbAGq1sWq630G02nDFiMRYeqxPzrRfevC9yHP3N6hu1ebvdbsL8BNm_aem__GwyHek9AmrzD40KSNm7zA

🌳 The Roots of a Nation Begin Here.

Registration is officially OPEN for the 2026 IGS Annual Conference!

April 17–18 | Plainfield, Indiana & Virtual
Early registration closes April 12.

Join us for two powerful days of:
✔ AI for Genealogists
✔ Indiana State Archives updates
✔ German immigration research
✔ Revolutionary-era newspapers
✔ Unlocking unindexed records
✔ Networking with fellow history lovers

Your family story deserves to be discovered.

🎟 Register now: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/3babyvf

02/17/2026

My genealogy research Valentine's sale continues through the end of the month! Buy 10 hours of my time, get an additional 4 hours free! Let me work to find your immigrant ancestor, break through your brick wall, or sort through all those same-named folks!

All clients receive a report, plus copies of records found, and a log of sources searched.

02/15/2026

Maybe a little bit of a spicy post, but...One of my personal goals as a professional genealogist is to help people get out of a strictly patriarchal mindset when it comes to family trees--to encourage curiosity in the whole family tree, not *just* the direct male surname line.

Maternal lines contribute an equal 50% to your family tree, but they're often ignored when people talk generally about their ancestors, and in my experience are less likely to be the subject of study when people hire a genealogist. It's been my observation that when a lot of folks say they want to learn "where they came from," they often just mean where their own last name came from. And that narrow focus leaves out a LOT of your heritage. How many interesting stories, ancestors, immigrant hometowns, and opportunities for connection are lost when we only care about one branch? (And from a research strategy standpoint, what clues are you missing out on when not researching whole family units?)

This Thread below is a good example I saw recently that made me shake my head a little. Seems pretty improbable that every branch of his family naturalized in 1917, but the language used betrays a narrow view of who counts as an ancestor.

02/09/2026

If you have British Isles or Irish ancestry, Findmypast is offering free access to their newspaper collections through February 16.

Celebrate the publication of Findmypast's 100 millionth newspaper page by exploring real stories from the decades the British public calls ‘the good old days.'