Genealogy Trot: Genealogy New Year’s Resolutions

I found that after I started working for FamilySearch the amount of time I spent on blogging and family history research has dropped. I could write a whole series of blogs on why I think this happened, but the result was a new year’s resolution to share one post a day on social media. For the most part it has not been a burden. It has not garnered as many followers and my blog used to get but the stress surrounding the project is much less.

As I was reviewing past posts from fellow bloggers about Genealogy New Year’s resolutions to decide which might be good to link from GenealogyTrot, I decided it might be time to set some of them for myself.

First, a list of genealogy new year’s resolutions I was able to accomplish over the years.

1. Find at least one photo of each of my ancestors for five generations.

When I was at Rootstech several years ago I came across the Tapestree booth. At the booth they were selling wire trees with little picture frames on the end of each branch of each tree. I loved how they looked but I was not sure if I had enough pictures of my ancestors to fill the picture frames. I made it my goal to find the pictures I needed to fill the tree.

I have one at my desk at work and two at my home, one for my ancestors and one for my wife’s ancestors. (They make great gifts and after I have all of the pictures it was easy to duplicate for my parents, in-laws, siblings, etc. I promise I am not being paid for this. It is likely they will never see it).

What I would do differently – I was so excited about gathering the photos I did not do the best job of keeping track of how I got them and how I know they are accurate. I should have documented them a little better.

2. Share what you have learned with your family.

I think a lots of family historians, especially those who call themselves genealogists, are hesitant to share all of their hard work to others. It was not easy to overcome the “my tree & my family” mentality. However, I have gotten so much more back from sharing I don’t know if I would have had many of the successes I have had in my research. This could also be a post by itself, but I created Facebook groups for each of my families by surname. Whenever I make a discovery, I shared it in the groups. Not only did I get additional details and stories from what I shared I now have other family members sharing their findings in the groups too. This has also led some of the older members of the family to bring me photo albums and other heirlooms because they know I care and will share and preserve the information.

3. Attend Rootstech.

When I decided to attend Rootstech I felt I had tapped all my known resources and still needed to learn so much more. Saving the money to attend took some planning but the real obstacle in my mind was convincing my wife. As it turns out she attended with me. I don’t want to go as far as to say attending Rootstech changed my life, but I am confident in saying that for both myself and my wife the decision to attend impacted both of our careers. I am not saying this will happen for everyone who goes to Rootstech but I am sure you will learn things that will help to give you direction for your research.

4. Join A Genealogy Society.

I saw this on many of the other bloggers resolutions lists. I have joined several societies over the years. I also have joined several family organizations. Some are better than others but the adage that “you can learn something from anyone” rings true here too. Some of my favorites are the National Genealogical Society, the Utah Genealogical Association, and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. Of the many family associations I have joined the Merriam Family Tree and EdmundRice Association stand out in my mind the most.

5. Learn about my ancestors who trekked to Utah between 1846 and 1869.

This is a specific goal related not only to my heritage but the region of the county where I live. Last summer I participated in a reenactment of the trek with my wife and one of my sons. We each traveled with the name of one of our ancestors who made the trek. In all I found 58 pioneers my son could choose from that were his direct ancestors who traveled to Utah by wagon or foot. I also put together short biographies for each one of them from the many different resources that are available.

I thought I could come up with more than five. I have set many resolutions that I did not accomplish and several I am still working on.

Resolutions I started but have not finished

1. Earn a genealogical accreditation.

This again could be a whole post. I started the certificate program through BYU-Idaho because I was encouraged by a co-worker and because the price is pretty good. This certificate is not accreditation itself, but the courses are designed to allow you to learn the steps you need for accreditation. I have issues with the program which I may outline at a later point. I have used these as an excuse to take time between semesters or I would be finished.

2. Interview older relatives.

This was something I started 20 plus years ago. A generation has died since then and I need to interview and document the interviews with the now oldest generation of my families.

3. Clean up my database.

I have used the same genealogy database since I started researching. For the most part it is pretty good but over the years as I have learned more and added new skills, I have gotten better about entering information and documenting the sources. I was told to start using your skills now and go back later to update information. It is time I need to do that, but the task seems a little daunting. So far I have just updated as I have had opportunity.

4. Publish my genealogy.

I have a dream to publish one or many different family histories. The task seems so enormous I am not sure where to start. I know the saying that you eat an elephant one bite at a time, but I am not sure where to take that first bite. I need to take my wife’s advise about this but that is also another post.

5. Knock down the Trotter Brick Wall.

This is not a goal I am sure that I can accomplish. I did successfully break down my Merriam brick wall but the clues for the Trotter line run much colder and in much older veins. I need to put together my conclusions to share them with my family. I am not sure I will ever to be able to accomplish more than that.