2018 A Year of Genealogical Research

It’s that time of year again.  I have found that taking a look back at the work I have done over the past year allows me to reflect on the work I have done and make some plans for the New Year.  Thank-you Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings for first giving us the idea to look back and then look to the future.

I use Legacy Family Tree software to maintain my family tree.  I have trees posted on My Heritage and on Ancestry but these are not my primary trees.  On my Legacy Software I go to Help then About Legacy then General to view my Family File Information.  Here is what mine looks like for 2018:









A review of the statistics in my Legacy tree that I am most interested in:



I continue to add individuals and new Surnames but the statistic I am most proud of this year is my continued increase in my citations!  The deeper I get in to my research the more important citations of where I found previous information becomes.  With the limited amount of time I have to do research, recording citations is not always easy.  Thank-you to my friend and fellow blogger Diane Gould Hall for the continued guidance and encouragement for doing this.

Some of my accomplishments this year:

• General Society of Mayflower Descendants certificate for successfully proving I am a descendant of John & Priscilla Alden.  (See previous post)
• I presented twice this year-in April I did the first presentation of Carrie’s Letters: Researching the People for the San Diego Genealogical Society.  In October I presented Carrie’s Letters: Bringing Ancestral Letters to Life for the Sacramento German Genealogy Society in October. 
• I published 50 blog posts.  My most viewed blog post of 2018 was DNA Chromosome Mapping with a total views of 2,592.  An all time record!
• Several cousins found me by searching for information of relatives and discovered posts about them on my Blog.  Thank-you for reaching out to me and for asking questions for me to research.  DNA testing has helped me find and connect with several other cousins.  I am always happy to find new cousins!   I enjoy sharing the information I have found with others and glad my cousins also enjoy the information about our ancestors.
• Thank-you to Marie for hosting yet another great Warner Cousin’s Christmas Luncheon and to Sofia for joining us:

Hollie, Debby, Kallie, Suzanne & granddaughter Sofia, and Marie

Goals for next year:

• I hope to finish editing Carrie’s Letters so they can be published for my cousins to read.
• I am working on 2 new presentations (Researching Land Records using a case study and one on Wills and Probate Records) and hope to roll them out soon.
• Complete another 50 blog posts.
• Attend 2 National Genealogical Conferences.  So much to learn, so little time :)

I recently walked through a cemetery where my ancestors lived for over 200 years that I have walked through since I was a child.  Because of the some of the research I have done this past year I was able to identify many more relatives then I previously realized I was related to.  As I follow the trails of the lives my ancestors led I will continue to honor their history, cherish their lives, tell their stories and remember them. 

It truly is the ‘journey’ that is the reward!
Enjoy the journey,
Debby