Many thanks to the many of you who were able to join us live today from across the English-speaking world, from Britain to Canada and the United States, as well as New Zealand and Australia.
It’s a delight to welcome so many kindred cousins from around the planet, including Jane Chapman, Alan H Zeller, Dave Robison, Lisa Maguire, Linda Teather, The History Alchemist, Linda Stufflebean, Kathy Stone, Kristin Rapinac, MamaCarole, Marilyn Kennedy, Family History Hound Notebook, Craig Isenbarger, Yvonne Scholz, Judy Nimer Muhn, Margaret Bevan, Deborah Carl, Michelle Chubenko, AG, AGL, valerie mcloughlin and so many of you out there in our online world. Your names were spinning by so quickly it was hard to keep up! Whether you’re joining by app or by web, live or in comments, it’s lovely to have your insights as part of this community.
Your generous ❤️ s, restacks, and shares have helped turn this publication into the supportive community we all want to see. Thanks for all you do to be so kind, curious, and creative!
Today’s program gave you a preview of what Emma has in store for us in next week’s Emma Explores program. She’ll be sharing not only details of her own relatives and their military service, but also how she discovered the records. Whether their feats were heroic or undistinguished, military documents can be an extraordinary source of material.
Our Emma Explores program is held via Zoom, so please be sure to register to get your personal link:
I’m able to offer these programs for free because of the generous support of our Projectkin Patrons. Learn more about each of them, their publications, and their work at Projectkin.org/patrons.
References
When we spoke today, Emma referenced a few past episodes for both Projectkin and her Journeys Into Genealogy podcast. You might find these interesting to follow up on:
For a discussion of the colored photograph of an ancestor in his military uniform, please see this post from Emma’s family history publication:
Emma and I also discussed RootsTech 2026 and her recent interview for Journeys Into Genealogy with British-based Lucy Reynoldson of FamilySearch.org.
Finally, I hope you’ll pardon my excitement about Relatives at RootsTech, but you’ll see FamilySearch formally opening on the pipes for the popular program just this morning. Learn more and come find me here! Emma and I are 10th cousins through a common ancestor in Scotland, Robert Gordon (1609-1681). I’m out looking for my tartans. How about you?
Remember, if you can’t find anyone, don’t be discouraged. You’re likely to find many more cousins if you have our family research in FamilySearch. This program (obviously) is designed to draw people into the platform. It currently favors Americans because that’s the home for FamilySearch, but you’ll also see how actively they’re working to expand the reach of the network beyond the American shores. If you find me there, feel free to reach out on Substack or on FamilySearch’s built-in chat system with a reference to our common ancestor.
As an aside: Today’s program was the first time either of us used this latest version of the Substack platform that has finally integrated scheduling into its feature set for the desktop browser version. In retrospect what was probably most significant is the way the platform algorithm seems to be using it to encourage more viewers to discover each other.
If you think you might be interested in using Substack — or any other live video program during the extended RootsTech week from Feb 27 to March 7th, let me know, I’d be happy to include your program on my new Ride Along Partners calendar. Learn more at RideAlongPartners.org.
