Question of the Week: What New Year's resolutions have you made?

Question

Do you plan to spend more time on one of your WikiTree projects or join a new one?  Focus on improving notable profiles or your own family profiles?  Add sources to Unsourced Profiles, connect Unconnected Profiles to our one family tree, or add to biographies so that profiles are more than just a collection of dates and places?  Further your genealogical education by taking a class or attending a conference?  Interview relatives to learn information, hear stories, and see photos that you would otherwise miss?  Visit ancestral homelands to walk in the steps of your forefathers?  Take a break from genealogical pursuits so you can spend more time with (living) family, friends, and other hobbies, and come back later with a renewed sense of purpose?

Comments

Wishing All a Healthy, Happy, Fantastic New Year!

My primary goal for this New Year Resolution is to accomplish All the Above!

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You set lofty goals, Jo-Anne!  Thank you for the good wishes, and I hope the New Year brings you joy.

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I never have made a New Year's Resolutions because I fail at keeping them so why bother. I do plan on spending more time on WikiTree though.

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My New Years resolutions are

1. Stop overthinking
2. Finish projects (source all unsourced)
3. Interview relatives (at least 3 a week)
4. Learn more about things that interest me (WIKITREE! & research)

I already have started & I feel great about it all!

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I am taking 2017 and starting off with a bang. I'm looking at my maternal side of the family pedigree for a change and I am doing up an Ahnentafel report on my word processor. I am planning on going through the generations and making source citations for all the information that I have for each individual, marking when I find something that is still in question, attaching photos of the people when I have them and marking where that photo is on my computer. This will help me find what records I am missing for an individual and when it comes time for me to work on them I will have the citations already wrote out so I can include them in their profiles on the Wiki tree. So far it is 27 pages long and I have seven generations listed on some of the lines. I have a lot of the census records sourced for each individual and I'm starting to work on birth, death and marriage records. I'm going to give a copy of this to two of my second cousins and my cousin who seem to be interested in the family history as well. They live in different parts of the U.S. and they may have access to different things than I have available. Its going to be interesting to see what if anything I get back from them. I'm also planning on doing one of these on the wife of my uncle's side of the family so that they can have the research I did for that section when my aunt was alive. Going to have my work cut out for me, but it will also show me what all needs to be finished for both of those lines. It will also pass on what I have to younger researchers as well.

Answer 1

Talk less, ask more questions and listen more.

Comments

Wise man...hope it works out for you!

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Thanks Brett.

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Great answer, Frank. That wold help me in all endeavors, not just genealogy.

Answer 2

I would say yes to the first half of your question: spend more time on one of your WikiTree projects? Yes!  Focus on improving notable profiles or your own family profiles? Yes especially our military heroes!  Add sources to Unsourced Profiles Yes, or add to biographies so that profiles are more than just a collection of dates and places? Yes!!! 

I don't plan on taking any courses right now or attending conferences due to travel concerns. I have been interviewing relatives every chance I get. I befriended a lot of them on Facebook so I shoot them a message every now and then about an ancestor. Unfortunately there you also learn when someone passes away which happened just this week (a close cousin). Anyway what a great question Star!! Thanks for asking. I look forward to reading other's responses!!

Comments

So sorry to hear about your loss, Dorothy.

Thanks for the tip about making better use of social media.  I rarely use Facebook because many of my relatives use it to play games and share recipes, but this sounds like a great way to get information, and maybe some pictures.

Answer 3

I plan on doing less, but better work. I am going to work mostly on profiles of close relatives but add as many inline sources as possible with at least a basic biography.  The major reason for this approach is to free up some time for travel, photography and other interests I have. I hope that this means that I will end up with better profiles but the cost is going to be contribution points.

Comments

Isn't that the way to go...I have many profiles I could add but there is so much sourcing and clean up that takes priority.

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One of your other posts inspired me to submit this question Dale, and my goal is to follow your lead. I am embarrassed to say that I still have profiles I haven't touched since I imported a gedcom when I fist joined. My plan is to touch every one of my profiles this year to remove the gedcom cruft and add at least a short profile. My contributions to projects (military, cemetery & connectors) will be related to my own profiles.

Answer 4

If i am smart I won't make any as I never keep them.  I also go off on tangents a lot (don't think I have attention disorder but maybe...?)  If I do anything it will be sorting, filing and straightening my work space (bedroom) because I keep missing things that I know I have to add to WikiTree (I am a very - no, make that extremely, disorganized person).  Got a good start and have been working on it for a month (say a prayer for me that I keep it going!)

Anyway, the very best to all in the New Year.

Oh, yah, Frank Gill, like your aims also, my mother would call me "lippy LaLone" because I was always talking too much.

Comments

I had to look up your Mom's profile after reading about "Lippy LaLone" - how funny! Great picture of her.  You may want to the WWII template to your Dad's profile.

Answer 5

I would like find some more information about Ancestors in Scotland by visiting there. Also to try not to spend all day on the computer researching. - like bring the 12 hours or so back to 6.

Comments

Welcome to WikiTree, Margaret!  I'm glad to see that Joining WikiTree was one of your resolutions, too.  A trip to Scotland sounds wonderful - be sure to share your experiences after you return.  I think I have the same problem you do with spending so much time on the computer.  My husband once told me to come to bed - those people will be just as dead in the morning.

Answer 6

I have too many projects.  For the New Year, I need to focus on specific ones.  My favorite is old family photos and gathering  family history.  Along with that, I need to get into newspapers for the background stories, which I have never done.  At this point, I am not going to do a lot of research but, rather, pull together what I have for each surname and make booklets, photos, stories together that can be given to my children and grandchildren.  I need to review the data I have for those lines and make any corrections.  In other words, no new trees.  That will be hard because I am addicted to the research and finding new ancestors.  SOMEWHERE, I have to get my newly found Wikitree into all of this!

Answer 7

This year I'm hoping to focus on using DNA as a research tool.

Answer 8

To finish the documentation of 2 supplemental lines for DAR.  The formatting is harder than getting the information--most of which is already in folders.

Answer 9

My short term genealogy goals for 2017:

1. Organize all the documents, pictures, books, family sheets, and notes I've collected and place them in notebooks by surname for each family member.          

2. Review and organize all the items in a collection a family member has given me today, I would like to label the the items "donated by ..." so credit is given for their work.

3. Review and improve the family profiles I've created before adding more. I have learned so much being on WikiTree and know the earlier profiles would benefit from better knowledge of policy and style etcétéra.

4. Trip to Kentucky in April for research, photographs, and meet Eric James, Author of "Liberty Soul," James Family Researcher, and President of the Jesse James Family Organization.

My long term genealogy goals that I would like to begin in 2017 include:

1. Begin learning about document and photo preservation.

2. Transcribe recordings of interviews of family members and people who knew our family history, 1978-1990.

3. Start writing a book about one of my family lines. Honestly, I have been thinking that may be the real way to organize all the information.

4. Join the French Historical Society of Detroit and consider placing one family collection in their care for preservation and future generations.