About Sue Adams

Sue Adams

My own genealogy adventures started back in 1997, triggered by the death of a cousin of my paternal grand-mother.  I was soon hooked and started trying to verify the family folklore from my mom’s ancestry.  Family Folklore Blog is where I share my personal research and discuss genealogical issues.

It wasn’t long before I wanted to know more, which lead me to study with the Open University, and later to embark on the University of Strathclyde postgraduate program culminating in a Masters degree.  I have come to realize that, even with my education, there is still much to learn.   Technology makes ever more historical records available, so I am committed to keeping my skills updated so I can take advantage of the opportunities presented.

Qualifications and Education

2010–2012 – University of Strathclyde – Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies

MSc

Dissertation on the extent to which Cartographic, Genealogical and Land records can be combined using GIS technology.

Postgraduate Diploma

Dissertation on the Inheritance of Manorial Landholdings and tools for the transcription and abstraction of genealogical data from manorial court rolls.

Postgraduate Certificate

Project on a carte-de-visite photograph album and the identification of people using face recognition software.

2001 – Open University – Studying family and community history: 19th and 20th centuries

Level 3 Undergraduate course, also known as DA301.

2009 – 2010 – Open University  Certificate in Web Applications Development

1989 – 1990 – UCNW Bangor – PG Diploma Applied Statistics and Computing
1986 – 1989 – University of Birmingham – BSc Biological Sciences (Animal Biology)

Continuing Professional Development

Apr-Jun 2014 – The Pennsylvania State University – Maps and the Geospatial Revolution

Oct-Dec 2013 – University of Oxford – Effective Online Tutoring

October 2011–April 2013 – ProGen Study Group

An 18 month program of study based on ‘Professional Genealogy’ by Elizabeth Shown Mills.  Students complete monthly assignments and critique each other’s work.

January 2012  – Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, Utah, USA – Advanced Research Tools: Land Records

Course covering the use of American land records for genealogical research.

Skills

• Historical document analysis
• Palaeography (historic handwriting)
• Basic Latin
• Genealogical software: Family Tree Maker, Legacy, RootsMagic
• Geographical Information Systems: ArcGIS (basic working knowledge)
• DeedMapper
• Database technology: Oracle, SQL (experienced)
• Web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP, ColdFusion, MySQL, PHP

Publications

50 Marriage Mondays series on Family Folklore Blog, completed September 2013

Claverley Property Document Analysis, a 5 part series on Family Folklore Blog, completed February 2014.