Checking in on my 2011 Resolutions

The beginning of the year I wrote a post on what I would like to accomplish in genealogy this year. Since there are only 2 months left in the year, I thought it would be a good time to get those out and see how I am doing. The answer is so-so.

Here is what I wrote last year and my progress will be in blue.

1. Attend a conference, it has been great networking with others in the field, but I would like to actually meet some of you. Since IL is hosting FGS this year, I am hoping to be able to attend. Springfield is not too far that I cannot make this happen.

I attended Jamboree in Burbank, CA this year and had such a great time that I went to FGS just to hang out for a night. I could not afford admission into the conference this year, but at least I got to spend time with some genea blogging friends.

2. Continue research on my O’Connell line. Find out more about Denis O’Connell and his parents.

  • Check for marriage records
  • baptismal records
  • death records
  • obituaries
  • ship records
  • naturalization records

At this point, I have no further information on Denis O’Connell. I have sent an email to another ancestor that I have been in contact with through ancestry.com and did not receive a reply.  I will try to spend some time on FamilySearch to see if I can find anything there.

3. Start researching Teahan line. Specifically Helen Teahan.

  • Check for marriage records
  • baptismal records
  • death records
  • obituaries

I have no further information on Helen Teahan either. I did start attending genealogy meetings at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago, IL to try to learn more about tracing my Irish ancestry. They have many great ideas, but right now my budget has me at a stand still for ordering any records from Ireland.

4. Spend time giving back to the genealogy community by transcribing records. I plan to start this with Restore the Ancestors Project. I am not going to give myself an actual goal of how many records I would like to do, but I will keep you up to date as I move forward with this.

I started the year strong on this and let it fizzle. Though I never did the transcriptions for Restore the Ancestors Project, I had issues with Fold3 which was actually Footnote back then. Will try to do a bit more before the year ends with FamilySearch.

5. Education – I have 1 class to finish for my first set of classes that I am taking through NIGS. I hope to finish this one and move on to the next group.

I got an extension on this class, it intimidates the crap out of me for some reason and I am taking my time with it. Have a friend that starts it today and we plan to work through it together. How’s that for motivation?

6. Blogging – I spent an evening looking back at 2010, it seems that I am not consistent in my posting. I want to commit more time and post more consistently. I have recently found that if I actually write with pen and paper I seem to get more done. I have committed a notebook specifically to the blog and hope this will help me. I also hope to move the blog to a self hosted site in the near future.

Again, I started the year strong on this goal as well. The notebook and hand writing each post worked. I lost my original notebook and that’s where I lost my momentum in blogging. Hope to make up for it this month with National Blog Posting Month, the goal is to post something everyday. I missed Saturday and Sunday this past weekend and have made those two posts up today. With this being my third, I am completely caught up. I hope to now get a few together and have them set to post automatically. (I actually have a few Halloween ideas for next year that I might write that up now and have them set to publish in Oct 2013. How’s that for thinking ahead?)

I will say that things have changed at home which is why my genealogy research and blogging has suffered this year. We opened our own business and I work from home. Sometimes, I just do not want to be around my computer.

Well, it seems like I still have some work to do in the next two months, which is exactly why I like to take a look back and see what else needs to be done.

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2 Comments

  1. I like that you set out a plan of things you would like to accomplish for the year. I have never been one for setting resolutions, but in this case, it sounds more like long-range planning. I may see if that’s something I can talk myself into doing next year. Thanks for sharing, and good luck with your research!

    1. Lora,
      In my personal life, I hardly put together goals. Only because I never meet them. Why plan ahead to upset myself at the end of the year. For my research/genealogy life, I really can’t be upset because sometimes the clues are not out there on the internet. Its not like I can up and go to Ireland to continue my research right now, nor can I afford to order vital records from IRE as well. So, I am ok at the end of the year with moving these goals to next year. As long as I am working towards something.

      This year my goals focused mostly outside of my research and more in the genealogy community and I definitely feel those goals I have exceeded. At the end of the year, Amy Coffin of the We Tree Blog usually has the last two weeks of her 52 week series dedicated to following up on your goals and setting ones for the new year.

      Welcome to the genealogy community and I am glad you found my blog.
      Terri

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