Courses – Page 33 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

A little gift from Santa…

Tis the season for gifts of all kinds. We wanted to give an extra gift to our current students. Any course with a completion date from now until January 30th, Santa has given you more time to enjoy the holidays. All completion dates have been moved to January 30th. Happy Holidays, from Louise, Sue, Gena, Brenda, Cheryl, Laurette, Jith and all our authors and consultants at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. —————————————————-Visit our website for a complete list of online courses offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Check our Course Calendar here. Follow us on Social Media: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. *Note: Please be aware our social media accounts are monitored regularly, but NOT 24/7. If you have any questions, please contact the office directly. Contact information:1 (800) 580-0165Email: admin@GenealogicalStudies.com Website: www.GenealogicalStudies.comBlog: blog.GenealogicalStudies.com LEADERS IN ONLINE GENEALOGY EDUCATION since 1997

The Waiting is Finally Over

The hourglass has finally run its course leading up to our Second Announcement. Thank you for your patience. No more suspense, the details are now released. A Special Announcement from The National Institute for Genealogical Studies: 20% DISCOUNT – words you like to hear… REGISTRATION FEE INCREASE… words I am sure you don’t want to hear. December 2007 was the last time the registration fees were adjusted. Yes, you read that correctly, 14 years ago! Remember 2008? That’s when the economy was hit hard. We froze the fees in 2008, and although we have tried numerous times since to raise the fees, the timing simply was not right. Nearly two years ago, in March 2020, we were in the process of again starting the process and then… Covid hit. People were losing their jobs; again, we pulled back and left the fees where they were. The time has come; it must be done. BUT it is not all bad news… We know that for some, this will be more difficult than for others. Here are some OPTIONS: 20% DISCOUNT on ALL registrations (includes individual courses and packages). Use CODE at checkout. (We had originally planned for a 10% discount, but it’s the time of the year to be jolly!) Note: CODE has now expired.Registrations must be received by midnight Eastern Time on Monday, December 20th. Register Packages to complete your program. Save substantially: the more courses in the package, the bigger the savings. (Not sure what you need to finish your program? Contact us.) Money is a little tight because of Christmas? Ask us to defer your payment. PAYMENT PLAN: We do not charge interest nor service fees, and we can spread the payments over several months. We know Christmas is just around the corner; if it helps, we can start your payments in January 2022. If you have any questions, or you would like to know the most economical way of completing your program, please contact me: On our site: click on the button at the bottom of each page, leave us a message, we will contact you. Make sure to include your name, email address, and phone number if you would like us to call you. Send an email: admin@genealogicalstudies.com Call: 1-800-580-0165 ext 1 We are here to help you reach your genealogical goals… Louise St Denis, Managing Director —————————————————- Visit our website for a complete list of online courses offered by The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Check our Course Calendar here. Follow us on Social…

Transcription Tuesday – Town Clerk

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies encourages researchers to explore various types of historical documents as they pursue their family’s stories. Our research must reach beyond birth, marriage and death records. There are many more to discover! As the scope of our research project widens, we must continue to develop our Transcription Skills, becoming more and more familiar with the handwriting used in the time frame of our research. We may eventually begin to recognize whose handwriting is used in an entry. To discover your ancestor’s signature on a document is exciting, but even more so when you discover more of their handwriting than just their name. Determining their occupation could lead to finding samples of their handwriting in other documents. A good example of this is to discover your ancestor was the Town Clerk. This could lead to revealing many records that he personally entered, including – his signature. There is a thrill to knowing that his hand wrote those words on that page. Township Records In Colonial New England, many towns kept Township Records. These are rich with genealogical information, with families often grouped together in the records. When the New England Planters came and settled in Nova Scotia in the 1760s, they established the same system of record keeping. The entries were recorded by the Town Clerk. The following death record was found as one of the “Selected Items” in the Township Records for New England Planters at the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Archives – Truro Township Book – Register of Deaths Reference: Nova Scotia Archives MG 4 vol. 150a Transcription of the first entry of the page: March The 8th 1769 Lieut. Andrew Gemmel was Unfortunately killed Falling a Tree in the woods —– Truro. WFisher.T.C.K. Often, signatures can be a challenge to decipher, just as they are today. Fortunately, we know that William Fisher was the town clerk for Truro in 1769. His signature has a unique feature. The F of Fisher is joined with the initial W of his first name William. Written out fully, it would read: W[illiam] Fisher T[own] C[ler]k. Knowing this, we can easily recognize his signature elsewhere. If there were two individuals with the same name (ie father and son) in the same area, signing documents, we would have an advantage to sorting them out by comparing their handwriting. To find out more about the New England Planters and Colonial Township Records, please…

Keeping in Touch

Posted on December 7, 2021December 7, 2021
by Cheryl Levy
Leave a comment on Keeping in Touch

Do you have a question about your courses or your research? Communication is so important in genealogy in order to keep abreast of constantly evolving information. The same is true within The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. As a student of The National Institute, there are various ways you can communicate with us and your fellow students (see below). We want all of our students to enjoy their learning experience. Please do not worry or fret over your courses by yourself. We are here to help you! **** NOTE: Our social media accounts are NOT monitored regularly. If you need an answer quickly, please call us on the phone. We can be reached at 1-800-580-0165, ext. #1 (North America) or 1-416-861-0165. Please leave a message. If no one answers, we will call you back. #1 By email to The National Institute**** NOTE: When contacting us, please INCLUDE your FIRST & LAST NAME, and the full COURSE TITLE (including the COUNTRY, if it is a records course). It is also helpful if you include the module number and section that title you are referring to. **** i) admin@genealogicalstudies.com – for general questions;ii) alert@genealogicalstudies.com – to advise us of broken links in your course materials and assignments — Please GIVE SPECIFIC DETAILS; i.e., provide the COURSE NAME, MODULE NUMBER, WEBSITE NAME, and URL.iii) exam@genealogicalstudies.com – questions pertaining to your course exam. #2 By email to a fellow studentWhen you view a fellow student’s public assignment SUBMISSION/ANSWER, and you would like to contact them about something in their posting, simply click on the envelope icon to the right of the student’s name. A new window will open where you can type your message. For privacy reasons, you will not see the recipient’s email address. They have the option to reply or not. #3 Attend a Virtual MeetingVIRTUAL MEETINGS ARE THE BEST PLACE TO COMMUNICATE with an instructor and fellow students. Anyone can participate! You do not have to be registered in the course to attend. When attending virtual meetings, please bring questions applicable to the topic being discussed. Watch for our emails outlining upcoming virtual meetings dates and times. Or visit our website for the full schedule. #4 Follow The National Institute’s BlogScroll down. On the right-hand side of this page, you will see Subscribe to Blog via Email. In the text box, enter your email address and click on the Subscribe button. Once subscribed, you will receive an email each time we post…

Transcription Tuesday – Italian Handwriting

On the first Monday of each month, the next rotation of our online courses begins. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies offers 230+ online courses on a wide variety of topics, providing genealogical education for those interested in beginning to research their family history, as well as professional genealogists. One of the foundational research skills for our students to develop is Transcribing. For this reason, we have created a compulsory Basic Level course (Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting ) to equip all of our certificate students with this vital ability. However, all family history researchers, no matter what their level of expertise, should strive to acquire this core skill. As we research our family history, many of us will eventually encounter immigrant ancestors. As we document their arrival, we gain clues for their country of origin. Many times, this will involve a change of language and introduce us to records in an unfamiliar country. Time needs to spent learning about what is available and where to find more information. It is recommended to consult the FamilySearch Wiki as a launching point. Choose your country of interest. We will be using Italy Genealogy for examples today. One of the first challenges we are faced with is different languages, but also the handwriting that was used in various historical time periods, for specific record types, and even in locations or districts involved with their homeland. Be sure to study everything you can gather about the location where your research will be focused. We have developed an essential basic level course for Italian research: Italian: Language and Location to guide you through many of these challenges. From the course description: Understanding, or being able to decipher, the languages found with Italian genealogical documents is an essential skill needed to effectively research your Italian ancestors. While most records are in Italian, you will find other languages within the records depending on the history of the town or region you are researching. Emphasis is placed on reading the handwriting and how to translate and understand basic Italian records. This course is offered monthly, and is just one of the courses included with our Italian Records Certificate. Additional Helpful Italian Research Resources from FamilySearch.org: Italy Language and Handwriting Italy Handwriting Italian Genealogical Word List Italian Birth Document Translation Category: Italy Researching in records from other countries can be challenging, but utilize the tools that have been developed for your success. Italian Handwriting can be studied and transcribed.…