You know the moment. You type a name into a search bar, brace yourself, and get… nothing. No results. And the temptation, especially for colonial-era research, is to assume the record doesn’t exist, if ever or not anymore. That your ancestor was one of history’s invisible people, leaving no paper trail, no proof, no story.   Monument to Sgt. William Jasper. Savannah, GA. Image by author. Sometimes, that assumption is right. Fire, flood, war, and simple neglect have destroyed

RootsTech 2026 is just around the corner, and I have been deep in preparation for my two sessions. Today, I want to pull back the curtain a little and share why these topics, lineage societies and oral history, are so close to my heart, and give you a taste of what to expect if you join me in Salt Lake City (or online!) next month. Behind the Session: Lineage Societies I will be honest: when I first looked into joining a lineage society years ago, I found the process intimida