Category Archives: ICAPGen member spotlights

ICAPGen member spotlights

Meet Liv Anderson – Accredited for Research in Norway

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Accreditation

Liv, who became accredited in 2011, was happy to go through the process as she felt that it definitely proved she could do genealogical research in Norway.  She stated, “When a person attends college he or she receives a diploma or certificate to prove that they have completed the requirements for a given degree.  The AG credential does the same for a person who pursues accreditation.”

Challenging and Unique Aspects of Norwegian Genealogy

Records in Norway may be missing, lost or destroyed, according to Liv’s experience.  This can be a challenge, as less used records must be used to prove that the information is correct.  At times it is necessary to contact archivists for a given area of Norway, as each area can be unique. It is very important to know what is available and how to access the information.  It is also good to know the history of the country and the different communities.

Advice for Others Pursuing Accreditation

Liv’s advice to those pursuing accreditation is to take time to understand the records—how they came to be—and to learn the history of the area they are researching.

Goals

Although she has been researching in Norway for more than 40 years, she knows that there are still new websites and information becoming available.  She wants to keep abreast of all new information available in websites and elsewhere, including those focusing on Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden as well.

Current and Future Research Projects

Liv is currently preparing classes that will be available at the Family History Learning Center as well as helping friends and relatives with their research.  She enjoys searching for new websites and finding people in unusual places.

Websites

There are several websites that are of great value for persons performing research in Norway.  The most used one is a free site:  The Digital Archives of Norway.  http://arkivverket.no/eng/digitalarkivet.  This site offers online access to digital archive material.  Here a researcher can search databases/tables, read transcripts, and browse census, probate, emigration, genealogical collections, and much more.

Additional websites for Norway can also be found at the FamilySearch wiki (http://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Norway.)

ICAPGen member spotlights

Meet Lynn Turner, AG®, accredited for research in Spain

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Lynn C. Turner, AG
Lynn C. Turner, AG

This month we would like to introduce you to Lynn C. Turner, AG,  who specializes in the records of Spain.  Lynn graduated with a BA in Family History and Genealogy from Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Spain and Latin America. He works for FamilySearch International as a Collection Management Record Specialist, defining FamilySearch Indexing projects, online browse collections, and prioritizing the acquisition of new record collections for Hispanic countries.

Lynn received his accreditation in 2006 and recently renewed it through 2021.

Motivation for accreditation

When I went into the field of genealogy I wanted to find a niche that I felt I could fill. When I accredited in 2006 I was the second person ever to accredit in Spanish research. Ten years later we have grown, but we are still small in number. Additionally, I felt that ICAPGen maintained a standard of excellence in the field of genealogy. I wanted to accredit to help me achieve that standard in my career.

Challenging or unique aspects to researching in the records of Spain

I think the most challenging aspect of researching in Spain is records access outside of the country. FamilySearch has not microfilmed and/or digitized very many records from Spain, which can make things challenging. Researching in this country is an awesome experience, just a bit cost prohibitive. One of the unique aspects in researching in Spain is variety of cultures and languages. Most records are in Spanish, but understanding inheritance laws and cultural nuances from region to region can make researching in Spain quite interesting.

Advice for those pursuing accreditation

Just do it – it can seem like an overwhelming process, but it is very rewarding. Once you have accredited make sure you uphold the ethics and standards, we want everyone to accredit that wants to, but we also want people that will uphold our values of genealogical research.

His goals as a genealogist

One goal for me is to grow the genealogy market. The larger the market the more opportunities there will be for professional genealogists. I am motivated by using technology to advance the field of genealogy. Making records available online to facilitate the discovery of people’s ancestors is a passion I have. I am lucky to be able to do that with FamilySearch.

Research projects he is involved with now, or has planned for the future

Outside my work at FamilySearch I do private research for clients whose ancestors are from Spain and/or Latin America. My favorite project is for a client where I have to be creative since all the core records have been destroyed. Whether it’s overcoming record destruction or other brick walls – I love challenging research problems that are difficult to solve.