Resolutions Revisited

Thank you Stephanie for encouraging New-Year-Resolution-setting-bloggers to post goal updates once a month. Great idea! Could be just the push I need to stay on track; although my geneabuddy does a pretty good job of that too!

I only set six resolutions this year. In January I gathered files and folders from (too many) file cabinets, paper stacks and file boxes. I established one place for the documents associated with those all-important 12 surnames. I worked my way through the mess collection of paper in the Clarin and Clarke folders. That helped with this goal:

2.) Focus my research on 12 direct-line surnames...Start by organizing the surname-related computer files, manila folders, family group sheets, and pages on my web site.

My new-and-improved filing system includes folders labeled "Requires Further Action" for each surname. I found the coolest colored folders with graph paper-fronts and backs. Once the contents of the folder are prioritized, I can use the graph paper to create an index/to-do list so next-steps are easy to determine.

I worked on my web site, adding a page for Bidenharn and updating pages for Clarin, Clarke and William Penrod Clarke, Landstrom and Johan Peter Landstrom, Mangels and Gustave Robert Mangels, Peterson, Thompson and Peter Thompson, and Walton. That addressed goal #2 above and this goal:

4.) Keep other living descendants up to date on our family history research progress through emails, letters, Twitter, this blog and my web site. Search for as-yet-unknown cousins in the same way.

In January I devoted quite a bit of time to this goal:

5.) Honor the relationship between genealogy and scrapbooking: Scan and digitize old photos. Preserve hard copies of pictures. Archive online photos off-site. Organize, label and safely store slides and negatives. Share pictures with relatives. Assemble heirloom photo albums.

I've fallen in love with Picasa. It's free and easy to use. I have a million photos to scan and Picasa makes the save, edit, categorize and file steps fast and easy. I averaged 150 scans a week in January and stored the originals chronologically in archival-safe containers. There are still a million minus 600 photos left to scan, but I'm making progress!

Thanks again Stephanie for encouraging me to revisit my goals, check my progress and set my sights on February!

2012 New Year's Resolutions

Another year comes to a close. The past 12 months were sprinkled with equal parts levity and laughter, wonder and worry, pitfalls and proud moments. I'm glad I was on the planet to see all the ups and downs firsthand and I very much appreciated your company along the way.

With family group sheet in hand, I nervously reviewed my 2011 resolutions. Not as bad as I thought - whew! 

2012 offers new opportunities to make check marks on my genealogy to-do list. Look out family tree, I'm getting serious about climbing you this year! With weekly encouragement from my Success Team partner Jenny, I plan to will:

1.) Attend at least one out-of-state genealogical conference or convention.

2.) Focus my research on 12 direct-line surnames; Clarin, Clarke, Gury, Landstrom, Littrell, Mangels, Mueller, Peterson, Schmitt, Thompson, Tolf, and Walton. Start by organizing the surname-related computer files, manila folders, family group sheets, and pages on my web site.

3.) Answer the following burning questions:

• Did Esther give birth to the Clarin/Mangels child I recently located? Was her divorce from Gustave really as public as family stories suggest?
• From what country did the Maryland Clarkes originate?
• Who is the child that accompanied Marie-Anne Gury and her children from France to Cincinnati?
• When (and at which port) did Augusta Landstrom arrive in America?
• From what country did the Virginia Littrells originate?
• What did the inquests into Herman Friedrich Carl Mangels and Frank Mangels' deaths reveal?
• In which Swiss town was Jacob Mueller born? Were Otto Mueller and his wife Alvina Schmitt really cousins?
• Where did Maria Fredericka Peterson's sisters settle after leaving Sweden?
• What were the circumstances around Elizabeth Schmitt's divorce from Anton Bidenharn and marriage three days later to Jacob Mueller?
• Where did Peter Thompson die and where is he buried? Was his daughter really institutionalized so her husband could obtain a divorce?
• At which American port did James Walton and his parents end their voyage from the Isle of Man?

4.) Keep other living descendants up to date on our family history research progress through emails, letters, Twitter, this blog and my web site. Search for as-yet-unknown cousins in the same way.

5.) Honor the relationship between genealogy and scrapbooking: Scan and digitize old photos. Preserve hard copies of pictures. Archive online photos off-site. Organize, label and safely store slides and negatives. Share pictures with relatives. Assemble heirloom photo albums.

6.) Share (and create more) family history with my glorious grandchildren.

Every one of my goals interests and excites me. 2012 could be a great year for my family and me. I hope yours is even better. Happy New Year!

Success Team ~ Week One

Last month I asked for help with my research. I love searching for my ancestors. I could spend hours gathering bits and pieces of their stories. It's just too easy to get sidetracked when no one but me knows where I've been focusing my energy.


Enter Jenny from "Are My Roots Showing?". She answered my call for help with a resounding, "me too!". This morning our virtual meeting gave me a hefty boost of camaraderie, empathy, humor, and genealogical accountability. We set goals for ourselves and recorded each other's plans for the upcoming week. In seven days we'll meet again to report our progress (or lack thereof).

Something tells me we'll both reap the rewards of our collaboration. Go team! 

Genealogy Success Team Wanted

I'm stuck. And I need your help.

This year my family history progress is pitiful and its nearly May. There is much more I'd like to accomplish, but I just can't seem to do it alone.

When I was a young entrepreneur, I met with three people once a week for an hour. We gave each other 15 minutes; five to review, five to brainstorm, and five to set new goals.

We were accountable to each other. We guided each other over bumpy roads, cheered each other on, and forced each other to acknowledge and overcome perceived shortcomings.

I need a new virtual success team focused on family history. Are you interested? Here's what you'd have to do:

• Be committed. Once you join, you must attend 95% of meetings.
• Be prepared to share your accomplishments or lack thereof with three other researchers.
• Be receptive to suggestions and generous with suggestions for others.
• Be sensitive to the privacy of your team members.
• Be prepared, organized, brief, and focused during each meeting.

If you are passionate about your family history but making less progress than you'd like, please consider becoming a member of my Success Team.

New Year's Resolution Update

The "eat less, exercise more" part of my New Year's Resolutions aside, here's where I am on Week 8 of my genealogy goals for 2011:

My current focus is on my Clarke, Gury, Littrell, and Schmitt lines. Still haven't found the country of origin for the Clarkes or Littrells and progress on both has been painfully slow. 17th and 18th century French Gury and Schmitt records are keeping me busy though so I am still somewhat productive.

Received disappointingly little information from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Funkstown Maryland, but I am so appreciative of their efforts on my behalf! The pastor and his wife offered wonderful suggestions for further research.
Time to focus on the coroner's report that slipped through the cracks last year.

My first cemetery road trip of 2011 is scheduled for May. Hope all the snow melts before then! Oakwoods is at the top of the list.

Shared a Grandma story or two during my last visit. More incentive to jot down my memories before my memory fails me.

The local genealogy society isn't working for me. Need more idea generation and fewer lectures. Where are my peeps?

Chose this year's conference; FGS in Springfield Illinois in September. Husband will join me making the trip even more fun. Hope to meet some of the bloggers I follow and make a new gen-bud or two!

Photo sorting continues, but grudgingly. Must sprinkle in some creativity to retain my interest. Chose six topics about which I can cut and paste. This week I'll start arranging pictures. That oughta inspire me!

Cleaning and organizing computer files to save space (and sanity).

Back on track at Find A Grave - whew! Contributing during my lunch hour works great (until it's warm enough to walk outside).

And from now until then I'll be Living in the Past Lane.

Happy New Year!



Best wishes for a Happy 2011 to all!



Thanks to Graphic Fairy for picture.



Genealogy New Year's Resolutions for 2011

Devote the year to my paternal grandfather's ancestors. While searching for thirty direct line ancestors is still a major undertaking, it has to be more productive than looking for everybody.

Request receive records from churches, courthouses, and other
repositories. Over the years I lost track of many unanswered record requests. This year I will follow through until the documents I need are in my hands.

Take four cemetery road trips, connecting with living relatives along the way. Most of my ancestors settled out of state, but conveniently close to children, grandchildren and cousins. This year I hope to find a better balance between time with the living and time with the dead.

Write Grandma stories and share them. So much oral history dies with the narrators. I want to write down the stories my children are tired of hearing now, but may wish they remembered in later years.

Attend monthly meetings at the local genealogy society. They may not be able to help me geographically, but connecting with other researchers is a must for a sometimes solitary hobby.

Go to a genealogical conference this year and choose one for next year. I want to travel, learn new research methods, meet interesting people.

Combine scrapbooking and genealogy. Scan and digitize old photos. Preserve hard copies of pictures. Archive online photos off-site. Organize, label and safely store slides and negatives. Share pictures with relatives. Create heirloom photo albums.

Back up computer files off-site and to external hard drive regularly. For someone who experienced a computer crash, I've gotten awfully relaxed about backing up all my hard work.

Continue adding to Find A Grave until my contributions average one a day. Fill photo requests during my cemetery road trips. 

Talk, write, share. Tweet 200 times. Blog 100 times. Update my family history website 50 times. Do this for my grandkids and for their grandkids.