As I mentioned in last year’s post (posted 2 Jan 2019), I was inspired by Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”
She uses her version of 52 Ancestors to help people manage and focus their writing. Her 52 Ancestors program is a great source of inspiration.
In 2018, I focused on direct ancestors as indiviuals. Using a list of these ancestors to track progress, I checked previously conducted research, deleted duplicate sources, and cleaned up citations.
This past year, I focused on direct ancestors as family groups. Using a new list of family groups of ancestors, I checked research on children, deleted duplicate sources, and cleaned up more citations.
2019 Goal achieved! For each family group, I now have solid research logs that I can use to quickly orient myself and work on key research questions.
My 52 Ancestors goals for 2020 are going to focus on projects and moving particular research forward. This includes checking an unsourced family narrative paper published by a first cousin once removed, twenty years ago. I want to confirm the facts, match facts to sources I’ve already identified, and find sources for unsourced details. I already started breaking the family story details into tables with columns for the facts, family members involved, source, and research questions to more easily track work and match up sources. There are also a few generations of this family line that had not been cleaned up in previous years.
Additionally, I plan to write family stories of key ancestors to make the research I’ve conducted more compelling for non-genealogists. This will also help me recognize where I need to research societal and geopolitical changes to provide context to their stories.
What goals did you meet last year? Who did you find? What are your 2020 family research goals?