Friday, January 4, 2013

Review of genealogy goals 2012

Well here it is January 2013 and I'm late in blogging (again).
I want to review my goals from 2012 to see how I did, and then in the next post form some genealogy goals for 2013.

Personal genealogy: 1. I wanted to finish my husband's Mayflower application, which I worked on some, but I still need to finish and mail in, so progress made but not completed.
2. Starting our SAR and DAR applications, no progress made, did not start
3. I did do some more work on my brick wall lines (my Irish DACY) and a few others. I went to my mom's hometown and found several obituaries. Good to have the obits although they're not on my brick wall lines and didn't provide much new info.

Volunteer genealogy: 1. I did finish photographing the Osceola Cemetery (Nebraska) and put all the names on Findagrave. Photos are all taken, but not on the site. I also started photographing the Graceland Cemetery in Shelby and put names on Findagrave. Progress made, almost complete!
2. Get a directory and signs up in Stromsburg Cemetery: This goal is dependent on the board, and we are making progress but haven't gotten this done yet. So I've try to do all I can with this one.
3. Updating Kearney Co GenWeb: This goal changed during the year, as I found someone else to take my place as Kearney County GenWeb coordinator, and I adopted the Polk County GenWeb. Since I live in Polk County, maybe this makes more sense, although I have no ancestors or relatives here to my knowledge. And I've done nothing with the Polk County GenWeb site since I adopted it. I need to figure out how to upload (FTP) again, download a free program, etc.

Writing, Research & Reorganization: 1. Write 2 blog posts a month or 24 for 2012: Well I did this halfway; I wrote 12 blog posts for 2012.
2. Take one day and go somewhere not too far (Tilden or Fairbury) to find more records on one of my family lines: DONE! I took a Saturday in early October and got some obituaries in Fairbury, and some gravestone photos for others.
3. Keep my genealogy papers and computer files organized and do backups monthly or at least quarterly: I did do some of this but definitely could've done better. I did a couple backups, I think. I have piles of papers in baskets.

Education & Socialization: 1. Go to at least one genealogy conference: DONE! I went to at least two. I went to the Nebraska conference in Grand Island in May, and went to the Family History conference in Kearney sponsored by familysearch.org.
2. Take at least one genealogy webinar: Didn't do. Still need to sign up and do one. It's just hard to find one to fit my time, and to decide which to take.
3. Continue to read other genealogy blogs and follow #genealogy on FB & Twitter: DONE! I have read other blogs sporatically, and do follow lots of people on the Facebook and the Twitter.
4. Continue to meet almost monthly with our local genealogy group: DONE! We meet almost monthly, the last Monday of the month, although usually skipping May and December.
5. Look into some education to becoming a "professional" genealogist: Progress made! I went through most of the family history course online and joined a couple more associations. I guess you might call me a "professional genealogist" as I have now gotten paid for genealogy work I've done for others. And I'm loving this!

Well I think I did okay. What do you think? Obviously some of my goals I can probably just move over for 2013! Stay tuned later today or tomorrow (hopefully) for my 2013 goals.