The Formidable Genealogist

The Formidable Genealogist 🌳Professional Genealogist🌳
I’m Jen & my rate is $200/hr. Only 2 hr minimum. I also write reseach guides to help you research like I do.

https://www.theformidablegenealogist.com/category/all-products Hi, I'm Jen and I like to keep it very simple and transparent. If you're here, you're interested in family history, which happens to be my full-time job and full-time passion. I love being a small business owner and am ecstatic to be doing my dream job every day.

01/28/2026

28 Jan 2026 They might not know their actual age.

I highly recommend that you make sure your name or username is obviously linked to items regarding your family's history...
01/27/2026

I highly recommend that you make sure your name or username is obviously linked to items regarding your family's history online. Make sure you have a presence somewhere so that people with additional information can contact you. My username is all over the place across family tree sites and Find a Grave.

Someone unrelated ended up possessing this photo and contacted me to share it with me because my username was attached to a photo on Find a Grave of this woman's sister. This is Abigail Perry. She died young and never married and is the sister of my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Perry Shankland.

And now someone remembers her.

01/27/2026

27 Jan 2026 Family lineage books are only clues

01/26/2026

26 Jan 2026 Thr most underutilized part of the FamilySearch Family Tree.

01/25/2026

25 Jan 2026 Watch out for filler abbreviations or acronyms.

FamilySearch Places is one of the most underutilized tools. I use it constantly to figure out historical place names and...
01/25/2026

FamilySearch Places is one of the most underutilized tools. I use it constantly to figure out historical place names and the dates that one place was under a certain jurisdiction.

Place names are standardized across FamilySearch, so this helps you understand the context.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/research/places/

I'll talk more about this in my FamilySearch Unlocked Vol. 4 guide that will come out in February.

01/24/2026

24 Jan 2026 When a birthdate is blank

My top favorite record of all time is the 1925 Iowa state census. There's a page 2.That page 2 asks for the names of the...
01/24/2026

My top favorite record of all time is the 1925 Iowa state census. There's a page 2.

That page 2 asks for the names of the person's parents, including maiden name of mother, birthplace of parents, marriage place of parents and age of parents if they are still living.

If someone in the family you are researching happens to be in Iowa in 1925, find that record.

Address

Saint Paul, MN

Website

https://linkr.bio/theformidablegenealogist

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Formidable Genealogist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to The Formidable Genealogist:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category