Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

Every genealogist should eventually make the trek out to SLC to visit the FamilySearch Library (formerly known as the Family History Library). It is open access and free to the public, like a city library, except it is wholly focused on genealogy research materials and managed by the company FamilySearch (founded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Kira D. Foltz, photo of entrance to FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar 2025. One of the genealogy societies I belong to, Ventura County Genealogical Society ( VCGS ), makes an annual pilgrimage to the library on what they have termed the Salt Lake City Safari. I learned about their trip a couple years ago and felt I'd need to tag along when the schedule made sense for me. 2025 was the year! James McAleney, photo of VCGS Safari group at FamilySearch Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Mar 2025. Used with permission. A group of about 35 of us joined together in Utah for a week in March filled with family history resea...

There's about a million "Eddies" in my family tree, which automatically puts me off in terms of researching any of them, because on the surface, they already don't seem very unique or interesting. However, at this point in my genealogy journey, I should definitely know better. Everyone has a fascinating story to tell, even if their name isn't as glamorous or one-of-a-kind. Eddie Dean is one of those cousins who I didn't think twice about when I initially saw his leaf dangling on my maternal branch. But in 2009, I travelled to Oklahoma for a family gathering and learned little nuggets of info here and there on my mom's Dean side from three of my great aunts, Frances, Sheila, and Thelma. I was curious about their brother, Raymond, who had passed away long before I was even born. From what I gathered, Raymond had had a wife and two sons. And yet, I found it odd that I did not know this great aunt of mine or her kids (who would be around my mom's generatio...

Whenever I try to think of some interesting living situations in the family tree, my mind always jumps to this photo of my great grandaunt, Grace Helen (Hinman) Boodleman. She moved in with Charles Boodleman on his homestead in Faith, South Dakota. This is them in front of their sod house with their two dogs in 1910. It truly looks as if the house was constructed to utilize as much of the shape of the land as possible, expending as little energy as needed to support the structure over their head. The patent was awarded to Charles in 1912, meaning he made all necessary improvements on the land to satisfy the Homestead Act requirements. It's as if they were living in their only little cave of sorts, and I love the plank walkway that curves and winds its way up to, what I imagine, was their front door. They also all look like they're enjoying their time lounging out front and posing for the photo -- even the pups! Grace (as well as her sister Fanny!) also obtained her very own hom...

Unfortunately I still have not yet had the chance to attend a RootsTech genealogy conference in person, however, 2025 marks the fourth year in a row I've watched virtually since their quick and nimble transition during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. I'm quite thankful for the plethora of videos and keynote presentations FamilySearch has offered online since that point in history, and for FREE, nonetheless! In the handful of presentations I've managed to view or listen to so far this year, there was one put on by Claire Bradley , a Dublin-based genetic genealogist, that helped me strike gold in my research! Her talk was called Irish Genealogy Resources at the Virtual Treasury . It explored the holdings of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland which has had the goal of recreating an online database of documents lost during the Four Courts Fire of 1922 at the Public Record Office of Ireland.  Obviously, due to the devastating destruction at that archive, many original recor...

In the year leading up to the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, my grandfather, Harry Foltz, hitched a ride from Portland, Oregon down to Los Angeles to be a spectator. But that spontaneous change in scenery became much more than just a fanciful holiday. He ended up settling in Pasadena, California, and with that move, LA and its surrounding suburbs became the new fixture for the Foltz family. Some time around 2016 or 2017, my uncle, Roy Foltz, called me in a seemingly talkative mood one evening while I was still stuck at the office working. He began heading down memory lane, touching on all sorts of topics that related to the past. And unfortunately it took me a few minutes to realize I'd need to jot down some notes if I was ever to remember any of the stories he was regaling. One of the tales took me by much surprise, as he noted that his father had worked as an extra in the background of old movies to make some extra money when he had first arrived in LA. It was the Depression Era, so ...