My 2016 Genealogy Research in Review

Last year when I started blogging I learned from Diane Gould Hall (check out her post TIME FOR MY YEARLY PROGRESS REPORT ~ FAMILY STATISTICS FOR 2016–How Have I Done?) at Michigan Family Trials that it’s a good idea to take a look each year at what you have accomplished in your researching.  I use Legacy Family Tree and by clicking on the Legacy icon on the upper right hand side of the Tool Bar and then selecting General.

                                                                                             From 2015

                                                                                               From 2016

                                                                                 A review of the statistics I am most interested in:

	2015	2016	Change
Number of Individuals	624	869	+245
Number of Families	230	319	+89
Unique Surnames	165	235	+70
Citations	7	75	+68

In 2016:

I completed 55 Blog Posts with over 18,000 page views.

I’ve connected with 2 new cousins as a result of DNA.  (One cousin I still need to determine the paper connection.)

I’ve located through researching and connected with 6 new distant cousins.

I’ve met 3 new 3rd cousins.

I’ve reconnected with 2 - 2nd cousins.

Goals for next year:
I decided I would print out a new Legacy Fan Chart for 7 generations to look at how many places I have empty where I do not know the names of my ancestors.  Looks like I’m doing pretty well out to 5 generations (4 places empty) but the 6th generation has a lot of gaps (40 places empty-UGH!).  I think I would like to concentrate this year on seeing how many of the gaps I can fill in during 2017.

Along with my research this year I will continue to edit the transcribed version of Carrie’s Letters.  I’m currently working on an index of all the people Carrie mentions in her letters (to date I have about 390 people).
In summary, I think it’s been a good year for research and a great year for people connection (My favorite).  I’ve learned so much more about my ancestors then I ever thought possible.  I look forward to the new things I will find this year and the new people I will meet along the way.  I greatly appreciate those of you that read my blog and encourage my research!
Thank-you Diane for reminding us to take a look back to see our accomplishments!  Life gets so busy that this really helps us see that we have accomplished a lot more then we think we did. 
Happy New Year!!  Have a great year researching your Family Tree!

If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.

Enjoy the journey,

Debby