About Goldenrod Genealogy

Welcome! Goldenrod Genealogy is a free site offering resources to help you learn, teach, and love family history. Resources include slide decks (created in Google Slides), webinars, and links to additional content. Infographics, quick reference guides, and video tutorials may be added in the future.

Background

My name is Kathryn. I'm one of those people who resisted doing family history for years until I finally tried it and discovered that I loved it. By profession I'm a writer and teacher, so it was natural for me to blend family history into those efforts.

I'm not an accredited genealogist; I'm just an ordinary person who loves family history and has learned by making a lot of mistakes J I also recall how it felt to be a beginner—how hard it was to find useful training materials or even answers to simple questions. I hope the resources on this site will help reduce some of that challenge for my fellow family historians.

When I started teaching family history classes around 2013, people would occasionally ask for copies of the slides presentations from class. So I put up a simple web page with a few presentations and a list of upcoming classes. But as I kept adding information, the page grew unwieldy. The time came for a new site with a new name, and Goldenrod Genealogy was born.

Why Goldenrod? I had two things in mind:


Image credit: John Murphy on Unsplash
  • I like the symbolism of goldenrod flowers. A single stem branches into hundreds of blossoms, much like a family. Goldenrod's genus is solidago, which (according to Merriam-Webster) comes from the Latin word soldare, which means "to strengthen"—one of the many benefits of doing family history.
  • A ordinary rod of wood or iron can be a standard or measuring stick. A golden rod implies a higher standard, a gold standard, if you will. As a teacher, I've noticed that one of the biggest challenges we face in the genealogy community is the myth that most people don't want to do family history accurately—that they are unwilling or maybe even unable to learn.

    My experience has been just the opposite. I work regularly with beginners, and virtually all of them want to learn and do a good job. They just need someone to explain the "rules of the road" without overwhelming them. They also need a useful map. I believe that with the right teaching, almost everyone can learn to do and love family history.

A little more about my background: I love technology. I enjoy figuring out how software and websites work, and then providing clear explanations to others (something I do regularly in my work as a technical writer). I also have experience in user research and consider it vital to understand users when designing anything, including websites and training. Finally, I have a bent toward process improvement: I'm always looking for more efficient and effective ways of doing important tasks.

I have a master's degree in instructional design with a minor in educational leadership. I owe a great debt to key teachers in my life, and I hope to pay it forward by providing to others the kind of teaching that has blessed my life.

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While my faith clearly informs my teaching, these materials are not connected with or endorsed by the Church or by FamilySearch. I take full responsibility for any errors and would appreciate feedback on any you find.

Using Materials on This Site

The materials on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attributions license. You are free to share, use, and alter them. The only restriction is that you may not charge others for them.

Special thanks to my brother-in-law, John Lepinski, for the beautiful logo he designed for this site.