Newsletter : Spring 2026
Spring 2026 Update
The Website Has Grown With the Research
Six new specialized collections, three research libraries, and an expanded site structure
A version of this update was sent to Storyline Genealogy newsletter subscribers on April 24, 2026
Since November and December's newsletters introduced the Scattered Stones and Hidden Bonds series—and with them, the documentary biography format—quite a lot has happened at Storyline Genealogy.
The short version: the website has expanded because the research has expanded. New families, new archives, new evidence trails—and with them, the need for new ways to organize and present the work. Across the family lines, there have been many additions and refinements—too many to recount here—but the bigger news is structural. What follows is a tour of what's new.
At the Heart of It: Case Studies and Documentary Biographies
Through all of this expansion, the core of Storyline Genealogy remains the same: case studies built to professional standards, tracing how a research question becomes an answer through primary sources and careful analysis; and documentary biographies that gather those findings into the fuller story of a life—rendered with the narrative care that turns research into something worth reading.
The collections and libraries below are scaffolding. The case studies and biographies are the house.
Six New Specialized Collections
Deep-dive landing pages exploring the geographic and historical contexts of family stories
Each collection gathers case studies, documentary biographies, and primary-source research around a specific theme or place:
- Sacred Places — parish churches across five countries where ancestors marked baptisms, marriages, and burials
- The Pays d'en Haut — the vast fur trade territory from the Great Lakes to the Rockies, and the voyageurs, freemen, and Indigenous partners who shaped it
- At the Lake of Two Mountains — the Sulpician mission at Oka, whose parish registers preserve some of North America's most important Indigenous and Métis genealogical records
- From Oka to Oregon — the westward migration of French-Canadian and Métis fur trade families, traced through mission registers, HBC post journals, and Oregon homestead records
- Filles du Roi and Filles à Marier — the women who built New France, including 15+ direct ancestors with documented connections
- Carignan-Salières Regiment — the soldiers of 1665 who stayed to help populate the St. Lawrence valley
Research Tools, Better Organized
New topic libraries to navigate a growing body of work
As the library of case studies, methodology posts, and source analyses grew, it became clear that readers needed better ways to find what they were looking for. Three new blog categories now group related material:
- Research Methodology — BCG-compliant research techniques, source citation, and proof arguments
- DNA Analysis — cluster analysis, shared match validation, and how genetic evidence corroborates documentary research
- Photo Mysteries — forensic photo analysis, dating vintage photographs, and identifying unknown ancestors
And One More Thing
Sometimes genealogy research leads to something you can hold in your hands—an heirloom, an artifact, an object with a story. A Genealogist's Discovery is where those finds live.
The easiest way to see everything in one place is the refreshed Explore Resources page, or the updated Resources dropdown in the main navigation. And if you're looking for a specific family, the Families dropdown links to every family line's landing page.
Explore Resources →As always, thank you for following along. If any of these collections touch a family line of your own—or if you've run into a research puzzle you'd like to talk through—I'd love to hear from you.
Previous newsletters are always available in the Newsletter Archive.
Warmly,
Mary Hamall Morales
Storyline Genealogy
From Research to Story
