Judy G. Russell

On this day, remember Make remembering matter more Today, the 27th of January, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.[1. See “International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust,” UNESCO (http...

Together, on this day, in a tangible way, we can not just remember but make remembering matter more. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2026/01/27/o...

An apology worth repeating To the families of the victims... Here, in 2026, on this federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., there is an apology worth repeating. It begins with a story from some years ago...

Here, in 2026, on this federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., there is an apology worth repeating. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory
www.legalgenealogist.com/2026/01/19/a...

Milestones 2026 Looking back to 2025, forward to 2026 There's no doubt about it. The very best part of genealogy is the stories. Stories in The Legal Genealogist’s family take us back a long way in America on the mat...

An ancestor whose will was probated in Virginia 300 years ago. A family member who died in the Revolution 250 years ago. All the way up to a niece turning 50 (!!!!) this year. Family milestones are worth recording! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2026/01/11/m...

Welcome to 1930! The copyright clock keeps ticking For most folks in the United States, this is the second day of January 2026. For The Legal Genealogist, it's the second day of 1930. No, that's not a typo. I really d...

For The Legal Genealogist, it's not so much the start of 2026 as it is the start of 1930! Hooray for the ticking of the copyright clock! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory
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Happy New Year 2026! Fourteen years and counting… Fourteen years ago today, on the first of January 2012, the very first post appeared here at The Legal Genealogist. It explained that: My purpose in writing The Legal Gene...

Going into year 15 at The Legal Genealogist... Happy New Year 2026! #Genealogy #Family History
www.legalgenealogist.com/2026/01/01/h...

The Official TLG 2025 Thank You List To the hosts and more of 2025 Wait just a minute here. Hold on. It isn’t really already…? How can it be…? Seriously…? Can it really be the end of 2025? Yep. Here we are again, coming up fast on the en...

As the year draws to a close, The Legal Genealogist pauses to give thanks. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/12/30/2...

The returns of the 2025 season What to do with the returns cash Okay. Let's all admit it. Come on. Say it out loud and get it over with. Here... The Legal Genealogist will go first: Not everything we got for a holiday gift was a hi...

So you traded in the ugly sweater for returns cash? Some ideas on what to do with the dough... #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/12/26/t...

Veteran’s Day 2025 Honoring the forgotten veteran So many of The Legal Genealogist's family members are being honored today in the United States. Today. November 11. Veterans Day. First proclaimed in November 1919 by President Wilson,[1. “Veterans Day,” WWPL Blog, posted 22 March 2019, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum (https://www.woodrowwilson.org/blog/ : accessed 11 Nov 2025).] Armistice Day [...]

Not all veterans are honored equally. Let's take time today to honor those most often overlooked. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/11/11/v...

Understanding Coroner's Historical Records Course participants will gain practical experience working with actual coronial records from different periods and places, building skills in interpreting case details, witness statements, and inquest...

I'm really excited about this new two-part workshop I'm doing with Family History Academy! Coroner's records are so rich in information -- and, frankly, so fascinating for research in the US, UK, Australia, NZ, Canada, even Ireland. C'mon out and join us, Wednesdays (7 pm US ET), starting Oct 8!

It is, once again, September 11. And, once again, it is time to stop, to reflect, to remember... #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/09/11/y...

July 4, 2025 IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands w...

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary... #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/07/04/j...

Juneteenth 2025 A cause for celebration It's only been a federal holiday for four years. But it isn't new... not at all. It all started back 160 years ago today, on the 19th of June 1865. Juneteenth. That's the day o...

A "new" federal holiday -- for an event 160 years in the past. And definitely worth celebrating! #Juneteenth #Genealogy #FamilyHistory
www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/06/19/j...

Coming up: June-July 2025 Upcoming presentations It's June already! That means we're here at the start of the summer institute season. GRIP’s virtual session, then MAAGI’s hybrid courses, then GRIP’s in-person session, then… N...

t's the start of the season for summer camp for genealogists -- and The Legal Genealogist hopes to see you there! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/06/02/c...

Memorial Day 2025 Once again remembering the fallen and those who remembered them It is Memorial Day here in the United States–the official holiday and the end of the three-day weekend during which we honor those who g...

Remembering Philip... and those who knew him. Memorial Day 2025. #Genealogy #familyhistory
www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/05/26/m...

Enough already yet! Hands off the libraries, archives and museums! The words were written by a Lutheran pastor years before The Legal Genealogist was even born: First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out ...

Okay, we genealogists HAVE to come off the sidelines. Enough is enough is enough already yet -- hands off the libraries, archives and museums! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/05/09/e...

Coming up: May-June 2025 Upcoming presentations The Legal Genealogist has been slacking. Well, if you consider traveling overseas and prepping roughly a kazillion lecture handouts slacking at least... In any event, it's the f...

Conferences, webinars, and institutes, oh my... The Legal Genealogist has a busy upcoming schedule... #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/05/01/c...

The regime change has hit hard in the genealogical community. Bad enough when politics caused the firing of the National Archivist. But slashing the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) funding???? So much for commitment to veterans and their families...

Shootout at the Rhododendron Lodge: Reconstructing Life-Changing Events - Legacy Family Tree Webinars A 1929 shootout left the Bath County, Virginia, sheriff dead. Learn to follow the trail through all the records to reconstruct a life-changing event, and...

Surprised and pleased to have viewers give this the highest ranking for a February webinar! Free online through March 5. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory familytreewebinars.com/webinar/shoo...

I don't know their plans.

Coming up: March-April 2025 Upcoming presentations Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. Well, that's what The Legal Genealogist is told we need to say on the first day of the month, right? And here it is, the first of March already. Which me...

From RootsTech to Connections to Lighting Up Genealogy, March and April are packed with family history happenings! #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/03/01/c...

About this getting older bit… Seventy years ago today The Legal Genealogist is simply astonished by this photograph. Oh, it's a truly sweet image, no doubt about that. I mean, what's not to like about an incredibly smug older sist...

A memory from SEVENTY years ago... and a birthday to remember. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/02/28/a...

IGHR 2025 registration Saturday! You snooze, you lose Three days to get ready. Three days until Saturday rolls around. Which is The Day not to sleep in if you’re hoping to get in on an unparalleled opportunity for genealogical educat...

Mark your calendar! Registration opens Saturday for IGHR 2025 courses. #Genealogy #FamilyHistory www.legalgenealogist.com/2025/02/26/i...

Presidential libraries are being impacted by the "slash and burn" tactics of the Musk team. The Kennedy Library yesterday had to close, then reopen, then who knows what will happen because of staff cuts.

The Archivist of the United States has been fired in the purge.

I don't expect any fallout as to records already in the hands of Ancestry and the like. Access in the future however is likely to be greatly impacted -- first because nobody will be left to cut deals for digitization and second because some records won't be made available to digitize at all.

Genealogy's Hidden Stories: How Legal Battles Revealed Family Histories - HeinOnline Blog This post features a guest author, Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist®. A genealogist with a law degree, Judy explores the intersection of law and family history. Her insights reveal how legal rec...

Glad to have been able to write this blog post for Black History Month, and in thanks for all that HeinOnline does to support genealogical education (they're always helpful in our law-related classes!!). home.heinonline.org/blog/2025/02...

Get a GRIP for 2025 Registration opens Tuesday, February 4 An awful lot of folks in the genealogical community had long sad faces last week. Watching online all week along as people who shared their interests in learning...

GRIP registration opens today!! Great courses, including an intro law course Rick Sayre and I are co-coordinating (teaser: field trip to the law library!!) in the July week.
www.legalgenealogist.com/.../03/get-a...

Breaking News: Thanks to the KDLA, Indexed Kentucky Chancery Case Files (1799-1850) are now digitized online! These General Court records, available on the Kentucky State Digital Archives, cover early land disputes and more. #genealogy

kdla.access.preservica.com/portal/colle...

There isn't a thing about what's going on now that's even remotely "normal."

Whatever happens WILL NOT be good for genealogy. Count on that.