The Family Treehouse: Episode #17

Transcript: 

Host (Heather Haunert):
Hi everyone, and welcome to The Family Treehouse, a podcast series brought to you by Storied, where I chat with people that have a passion for genealogy, storytelling, or both. I’m your host, Heather Haunert, and today I am super excited to chat with our guest, Jessica Taylor — the CEO of Legacy Tree Genealogists.

Legacy Tree is a genealogy research firm that performs custom genealogy work and DNA analysis for their clients. And — I am blown away — Legacy Tree is celebrating its 20th year this year! That’s amazing to me. They have a team of in-house researchers and on-site genealogists in over 100 countries. That is incredible.

Welcome, Jessica.

Guest (Jessica Taylor):
Thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s fun to talk with you.

Host:
Super excited to have you. So, would you start, Jessica, by telling us a little bit about your background? How did you get started in the field of family history and genealogy?

Guest:
Sure. So, I think that my story — from what I hear of other people’s stories — is kind of typical. I had a grandma who loved genealogy. She loved to talk to me about her ancestors, and she had many books on her shelves about our family history. That was definitely a big part of it.

I also had a dad who, when I was a teenager, got into genealogy, and that played a role too. Then, I just happened to be at a university that offered a family history bachelor’s degree. I found that, and I just fell in love with the idea that I could do history, I could write — because I liked to write — and I could sleuth, discover clues, and do this for other people. It was a very good fit for me.

Host:
I think those infamous grandmas are the ones that get everybody started in this field.

Tell us a little bit about Legacy Tree. How did you get that started?

Guest:
I worked at the FamilySearch Library as a library attendant when I was about 18 through my early twenties. My job was like a library assistant — reading book call numbers, making sure they were in the right order, helping patrons with printing needs, and little things like that.

What that did was help me get to know a lot of people at the library — both consultants who worked there and professional genealogists who used the library. At the same time, I was getting my degree in family history and did an internship there. Through that process, I met a lot of great people.

I started Legacy Tree in 2004, when the web was still pretty new. Google search was new and not yet the main player. I was intrigued by web design, so I thought, Let’s try making a website. I gathered some friends and colleagues from the library and said, “Hey, we can do professional genealogy and advertise online.”

Advertising with Google back then cost about five cents a click for keywords like “family tree.” It was a good time for that kind of work. In the beginning, I wore nearly all the hats — salesperson, editor, marketer — but as we’ve grown, I’ve been able to hand off many roles to much more capable people. It’s been a really fun journey.

Host:
It’s incredible that you’re 20 years old as a company. And how much you’ve grown — that’s just amazing.

Why do you think storytelling is such an important part of family history?

Guest:
Truthfully, I think everything is a story. Any fact, any piece of information, is part of a story. In family history, that’s everything. Everything we dig up is part of somebody’s story.

One thing I love is that you get glimpses into their lives. There’s something so beautiful about that. [voice breaks] Sorry — I didn’t think I would get teary about this.

You pull up a record and see a very small snapshot of someone’s entire life. It’s just so beautiful to take that peek into their story. That’s where the inspiration is, and that’s where the interest lies.

As we try to inspire the next generation to care about where they came from, those stories are what draw them in.

Host:
Yes — when I was younger and heard stories about my ancestors, that’s what made me think, I’m part of that. That’s what gets people interested.

This actually leads into something I wanted to ask later, but it fits here — how do you use a historical record to pull something for a story?

Guest:
That’s part of the fun — gathering all the pieces. You might see someone in one place at one time doing something, then find them somewhere else in a different record. You connect those dots, figure out why they might have gone there, and look at the historical context.

Putting all that together creates a really interesting timeline of who they were and what they did.

For me personally, when I’m writing my own story right now, the most important thing is just to do it. Don’t get stuck wanting it to be perfect from the start. Once you start writing, words get on the paper — and they’re often pretty good. You can always do another draft.

Now we even have AI that can help clean it up, but you still need to get the thoughts out of your head first.

Stories can be written in bite-sized pieces. Personally, I have a weekly reminder — right now it’s on Tuesdays — and I spend about 15 minutes writing. I’ll answer one story prompt at a time, and little by little, my life story is being written. Someday, I might feed it to AI and have it turned into a cohesive story.

Host:
Two things I love that you touched on:

First, writing your own story. So many people focus on their ancestors, but in five years, our lives are history too. Second, your reminder idea — because unless someone’s extremely disciplined, life gets in the way.

How do you go about writing a story — do you have a model or style you follow, or do you just wing it?

Guest:
At Legacy Tree, our reports follow the genealogical proof standard, drawing conclusions based on evidence. That’s a little different from just a personal memory story.

If you’re telling your grandma’s story, that’s more flexible. There’s a lot of advice out there for making stories interesting, and as AI tools get better, we’ll be able to feed in what we’ve written and have it enhanced in ways that are pretty effective.

The hardest part for people is starting. That’s why tools like Storied’s StoryAssist are so helpful — putting in a couple of details and getting a rough draft makes it much easier to keep going.

Host:
Do you have resources or tools you recommend for beginners?

Guest:
Yes — and first, I think it’s exciting whenever someone gets curious enough to start. My advice is: as imperfect as it may be, just get on a family history site. See if someone’s uploaded a tree you can connect to, or records you can use.

Start with more recent ancestors because those records are often easier to find, especially if they’ve been indexed online. Something like finding a relative in the 1950 U.S. Census can be really fun.

And if you get stuck, know there’s professional help out there. We have many clients who start on their own, find what they can, and then hand it over when it gets tricky — like when research goes overseas. There’s nothing wrong with that. We get professional help for everything else in life, so why not here?

Host:
Do you find people sometimes get overwhelmed?

Guest:
Definitely. It’s a hobby some people love and make time for, but it can be very time-consuming. For some, it makes sense to have someone else do the heavy lifting so they can just enjoy and share the results.

Host:
One of my favorite parts is asking our guests for a favorite family story. What’s one you love to share?

Guest:
I have many, but the most recent is from my Georgia line — which is unique for me because most of my family was in New England, England, or Sweden before moving west.

I have relatives who’ve posted stories online about a Civil War ancestor. He wrote a letter to his 12-year-old son before being killed in battle. We still have that letter. It’s so sweet and so sad — it makes me cry. That’s family history — appreciating what they went through.

Host:
That’s incredible. How did you get the letter?

Guest:
I didn’t do the research myself, so I don’t know exactly how it survived — but I’m grateful it did.

Host:
To wrap up, do you have one tip, trick, or piece of advice you’d leave with our audience?

Guest:
Yes — have grace with yourself as you learn. Even with a four-year degree, I look back at my earliest work and cringe at some of the things I missed. That’s okay. Genealogy is both a hobby and a very detail-oriented discipline. You can study it for decades and always learn something new.

Also, remember every fact should have a record. There’s a lot online that gets copied without verification, so slow down and check. Finding the actual proof can feel like detective work — and that’s fun too.

Host:
Great advice. Jessica, thank you so much for your expertise and passion today. I’m honored you spent time with me.

Guest:
Thank you — it was fun.

Host:
Until next time, friends, embrace the power of your family’s untold tales and embark on a journey of discovery. Let the ink flow and the words dance as you weave together the threads of your ancestors’ lives. Start writing your family stories today and let their voices echo through generations to come at Storied.com.

Have a great day.