Question of the Week: What is on your genealogy to-do list for 2019?

+25 votes
1.4k views

What is on your genealogy to-do list for 2019?

My big one is to get my collection of documents, photos, letters, etc. sorted, organized, scanned and uploaded.  I have been collecting letters from soldiers and their families that were written during WWI and WWII in hopes of connecting them with interested family members someday, so I have a lot to go through. I'm planning on using the Scan-a-Thon as an opportunity to work on this.

What's on yours?

in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.4m points)
reshown by Chris Whitten
Dedicate more time in updating who’s on my watch list, and asking for help
Both good things!
I want to trace my patrilineal Johnson line (Y-DNA) back further and discover the origins.  My Johnsons are rumored to be Scottish, and I have them traced to VA/NC prior to the American Revolution, but I have been stuck there for decades.  

-James "Jamie" Arthur Johnson
http://family.beacondeacon.com/ahj.htm#treechart
Find my Grandfathers father (no marriage) and his moms parents she was a ward, born between census's. No idea of a name to try to link, just rumors.

My goal is to ask as many of my male family members to do DNA test to add to my tree I'm hoping that with this added it will help with some knots in my tree especially with the slack, drew, lane sides of family

Definitely finishing up this last set of birth records for Cieplice!  On Scan 69 of 192.  Going back over who I omitted in the marriage records to see if they have been added via the birth records.  Making a list of everyone I omitted (because there was not previous connection.)

I would really like to help in some way how Wikitree handles our ancestors from Galicia (Austro Hungarian Empire).  I've learned so much over the past year, I'm no expert, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp at understanding this country, leading up to the dissolution after WWI.  I think it's important for Wikitree to categorize places in Europe based on their historical boundaries ... perhaps in a tier structure like the migration tiers.

There are SO MANY OF US in Wikitree who have ancestors from Galicia!  I would love for people to not feel so intimidated by researching these ancestors.  I get emails from outside Wikitree telling me "this is the first time I have seen this surname on the internet, where do I find more?"  It's a very empowering feeling.
A discovery via Y-DNA research revealed that my patrilineal Johnson line originated in southern and central England, not Scotland.  This doesn't rule out the possibility of that line having lived in Scotland, but confirms the origin was not there.
Hi Eowyn, This Question may have been asked somewhere else, just out of curiosity military personnel from which country

Kind regards Ross Geissmann, Queensland, Australia

53 Answers

+8 votes
I definitely want to take a break from working on my Dad's side and do some more with my Mom's line. Scottish roots have got me showing favoritism.
by Jamie Adair G2G1 (1.2k points)
+8 votes
My number one agenda item is to transcribe a 125 page Civil War pension file that was filed by my great-great-great grandfather on behalf of his son who died in the war. (He was denied.) Having glanced through, there's useful vital information not available anywhere else, and some really juicy stories about my great-great grandfather (who didn't serve).  My second item is the same as last year, which is systematically adding and improving sources to my tree, including transcribing all documents.
by K Frazier G2G6 (8.6k points)
I love reading those denied pension justifications, so very interesting. But 125 pages! Wowsers! Probably all handwritten also...
+7 votes
I plan to try to share my time between expanding my own tree and error fixing on the England Team project. Letters to my mother (still with us) with much detail to decipher too.
by Paul Shepard G2G6 Mach 1 (15.8k points)
+7 votes
I may have to redo some names on my tree,  cause what I found here  on wiki,  I have found another line . thats one, then break down some brick walls I have on that said tree.   I found a french name in my tree,, new info I have to weed out so now to work  on my tree that is, oh and yeah I will need all the help I can get from here too!
by Mary Warner G2G6 Mach 1 (12.9k points)
+5 votes
I had an epiphany. My sister and I (okay, mostly me) are working on our genealogy and we have a few brick walls. I know, tell me about it. Anywho, I have spent many hours looking at my DNA matches and wishing so many people wouldn't just take a DNA test and not post a tree! Or at least a tree that goes back, you know, as far as mine! I was thinking maybe lots of people got DNA tests for Christmas and are researching Reams or Hogans. Alright, I'd really like them to be searching for Hogans. One of my brick walls. My sister is taking me to Ireland this year to try to break down that brick wall. So, I'm thinking we should (I should) do as much work sitting on my butt as I can. But why is no one related to me? Seriously? Then I had the epiphany. I am taking my DNA matches and doing their tree myself. Since I am pretty sure we are related, I have a lot of collateral lines, and can sort of take the research where I need it to go to make a match!

I am working on 4th cousins because I actually know all my closer matches in real life. So, for me, I am looking for 3x's great grandparents, most of whom seem to have been born in 1811. Simple, right? The first one I traced in one day. What do we have, like 8 3x's great grandparents? I found the match on the 8th branch I researched.

I just found my second match when I was just about to give up. I've been assigning user id's according to the DNA match's initials. I completely forgot to label the 2nd guy's ancestors. When I went back to do it, I realized that I had two people with the same name, in the same town, about 5 years apart in estimated from census records ages. Eureka! Took only 2 days, but 8 branches again.

Maybe, it's only exciting to me, but, IT'S EXCITING TO ME! I've made a bunch of blank charts and spread sheets which I plan to share on free spaces soon.
by Lucy Selvaggio-Diaz G2G6 Pilot (821k points)
+6 votes
I want to try and complete the missing links in my tree, and add as many photos as possible.
by Michelle Hodson G2G6 Mach 1 (12.5k points)
+6 votes
Cleaning up my unsourced  profiles.
by Teresa Davis G2G6 Mach 6 (62.1k points)
+6 votes
I have taken the Y-700 test and would like to get some more information on my patrilineal line (father's father's father's ... etc. ... father).
by Jamie Johnson G2G4 (4.8k points)
+5 votes
I have to start by sayung I have already achieved half of my to-do list, by finding my maternal family, (my mother, unfortunately she past away in 2002), my half brother, and an extended family back to my 6th great grandparents. Even though no one knew I existed, I have been welcomed with open arms. They have filled in all the blanks I could ever have had about that side of my past.

I digress. The other half of my to-do list is obviously to find my father and his (my) family.  

The key to doing this to me is, even though dna is the greatest lie detector   ever invented, denial and "my whoever would not do that" are the greatest hurdles to clear, my knowing who he is, is what completes the puzzle, if he and or his family, wants to know me, that's fine, if not, it's their loss.

As always, without the help of you Wikitreers, I would not be this far, so thank you again.

James
by James Brooks G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
edited by James Brooks
+4 votes
I want to find my 3rd great grandmother, Helen Renwick, from Scotland. She is. listed  on my DNA, but I can’t find a connection between her and her daughter from Ireland.
by
+5 votes
It’s going to be a busy year coming up....

1. Create bios for about 35 vets I’ve found recently.

2. More bios for aunts and uncles, plus the several hundred North Carolina Needs Bio I added to that page.

3. Develop the Rhyne Name Study I started this year.

4. Finish a disaster page I’ve worked on sporadically.

5. Add more descendants among my branches (thousands to do here).

6. Develop profiles for signers of the Tryon Resolves.

7. Work on my sons-in-law’s families.

That’ll keep me busy! I’m sure others things will nudge their way into this list as the year goes along, but this is what I hope to accomplish in 2020.
by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
+4 votes

1)  Write more bios for profiles I've created.

2)  Work on Brick Walls.

3)  Get prepared for the Connect-A-Thon 

4)  Cut back on my Watchlist AFTER I've thoroughly sourced  and provided a bio for any profile I orphan. 

5) Add more profiles to the Civil War era 4th Arkansas Cavalry (Union)

6)  DNA testing

7)  Improve involvement with WikiTree projects but don't over commit

8)  Stay focused cheeky

by Peggy McReynolds G2G6 Pilot (470k points)
+4 votes

My two brick walls: my Sullivans again! frown I definitely got closer this year with one branch. Through census, death records, obituaries and burial records, I narrowed down the group. None of the Church records are digitized nor even microfilmed.  It involves traveling to Hamilton, Canada and maybe bribing a priest to let me look at the records!

by Maggie N. G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)

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