{"id":815,"date":"2009-12-22T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/2009-achievements-2010-resolutions\/"},"modified":"2013-07-10T20:53:20","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T01:53:20","slug":"2009-achievements-2010-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/2009-achievements-2010-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 Achievements &amp; 2010 Resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s that time of the year again.\u00a0 The time we reflect on the past and plan for the future.\u00a0 Rightfully so, the topic for the 87th edition of the <a href=\"http:\/\/blogcarnival.com\/bc\/cprof_346.html\">Carnival of Genealogy<\/a> is New Year\u2019s Resolutions.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This year is almost over and a new decade is knocking on the door. This is the perfect time to make your New Year resolutions, goals, aims, declarations, intentions, aspirations, objectives, plans, targets, schemes, wishes, or whatever you want to call them! Figure out how you&#8217;re going to approach your family history research next year, write it up, and share it with us in the COG.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nBefore I dive into 2010 resolutions, I want to take a look at what I\u2019ve accomplished based on my 2009 resolutions.\u00a0 Back in June, I posted an update, which you are welcome to <a title=\"Resolutions Revisited\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/resolutions-revisited\/\">take a look at<\/a>.\u00a0 Following is my year-end report.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2009 Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Accept that try as I might, I cannot always find the answer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is something I will always struggle with, however, I continue learning as I go and hope that my increased knowledge will lead me to the answers, someday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn more about the lives of my ancestors, focusing more on the how and why, not just the who, what, when, and where.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My discoveries over the past year have led to more of the how and why, but not necessarily to the degree that I would have liked.\u00a0 This is an ongoing process and as I continue to put the pieces together, it will inevitably lead to more hows and whys.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blog more, by sharing my ancestors&#8217; stories and helping fellow family historians.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Definitely accomplished this.\u00a0 I\u2019ve posted how-to articles to help others, as well as research &#8216;\u201dreports\u201d that help not only me, but others as well.\u00a0 Some of those articles include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"An Update on Emil\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/an-update-on-emil\/\">An Update on Emil<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Finding WWI Service Among Probate Files\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/finding-wwi-service-among-probate-files\/\">Finding WWI Service Among Probate Files<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Using the City Directories at Footnote\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/using-the-city-directories-at-footnote\/\">Using the City Directories at Footnote<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Finding Sarah Jane WARD\u2019s Parents\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/finding-sarah-jane-wards-parents\/\">Finding Sarah Jane WARD\u2019s Parents<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Transcribe more records than I did in 2008.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve done a little this year for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/eng\/indexing\/frameset_indexing.asp\">FamilySearch<\/a>, but probably not as much as 2008.\u00a0 My focus has been on the indexing project that the DAR is working on.\u00a0 They are working on providing an every-name index for all of the DAR genealogy books.\u00a0 I\u2019ve indexed one book, and am just about finished with a second (about 30 pages left, which will be done by the end of the year).\u00a0 I also work on the DAR descendants projects, where the goal is the enter all DAR applications information into a database.\u00a0 You can <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dar.org\/library\/online_research.cfm\">read more about the projects<\/a>, and view the databases, which were just recently made public.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Make a decision as to what level I want to take genealogy to (the family historian? a professional? another direction?) and make a plan for how to get there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure I have the answer as of yet, but I am making some progress here.\u00a0 First, I joined the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.progenstudy.org\/\">ProGen Study Group<\/a> this year.\u00a0 The exercises we\u2019ve done so far are helping me focus on what I know, what I need to learn, where I want to go, and how to get there.\u00a0 These discoveries will be part of my 2010 resolutions.\u00a0 The decision I made is to focus on the writing aspect of genealogy as a profession, as opposed to research.\u00a0 It may expand to research some day, but there is still so much I need to learn, it\u2019s not something I will be ready for in the immediate future.\u00a0 But in the meantime, I can help others write their family histories or articles for publication.\u00a0 I\u2019m also leaning toward completing the American Records Certificate offered through the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.genealogicalstudies.com\/\">National Institute for Genealogical Studies<\/a>.\u00a0 And lastly, I became a board member of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rootsweb.ancestry.com\/~ilsgs\/index.html?cj=1&amp;o_xid=0001231185&amp;o_lid=0001231185\">Illinois State Genealogical Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2010 Resolutions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The following are my general goals for genealogy.\u00a0 Most are long-range, but making them resolutions helps me start somewhere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Become more familiar with genealogy research methods and resources overall.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Essentially, the goal here is to continue learning.\u00a0 I want to learn more about various record types so I can start using them in my research.\u00a0 Already, I\u2019ve read <em>Courthouse Research for Family Historians<\/em>, by Christine Rose, which has opened my eyes to many different records available, where to find them, and how to use them.\u00a0 Additionally, my Christmas <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.com\/w\/34U94PB17XC0J\">wish list<\/a> included several genealogy books, which I can\u2019t wait to get my hands on.\u00a0 And, I subscribed to <a href=\"http:\/\/casefileclues.com\/\">Casefile Clues<\/a>, a weekly newsletter produced by Michael John Neill.\u00a0 I read it faithfully every week.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice to see research problems in action, as it helps you to see how others approach a problem, interpret information, and eventually (hopefully) solve the problem.\u00a0 This newsletter is a great learning tool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn about various land records and maps.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is one area I\u2019ve avoided in my research, simply because I didn\u2019t know enough to use these valuable resources.\u00a0 I attended a lecture on maps at the 2009 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rootsweb.ancestry.com\/~ilsgs\/index.html?cj=1&amp;o_xid=0001231185&amp;o_lid=0001231185\">Illinois State Genealogical Society<\/a> conference and was fascinated with the array of maps and what potential clues they hold.\u00a0 So I finally dug out the book <em>Walking With Your Ancestors: A Genealogist\u2019s Guide to Using Maps and Geography<\/em>, by Melinda Kashuba, and read it cover to cover.\u00a0 The information in this book, and Rose\u2019s book (mentioned above) has been invaluable.\u00a0 I even started dabbling in land records and maps last week (see blog post <a title=\"Diving Into Land Records, With a Splash of Webster &amp; Parks\" href=\"http:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/diving-into-land-records-with-a-splash-of-webster-parks\/\">Diving Into Land Records, With a Splash of Webster &amp; Parks<\/a>).\u00a0 With the information I collected, my next step is to acquire courthouse records (land and estate\/probate) to further explore these folks.\u00a0 Fortunately the Family History Library has deeds and probate files on microfilm for these Oakland County, Michigan folks, so my journey will start there.\u00a0 A trip to Oakland County may be in the works for 2010 for further courthouse research.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn the standards for writing family histories and genealogies.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since I am leaning toward writing in the field of genealogy as a profession, I need to learn more about the standards associated with genealogical writing.\u00a0 I plan to join the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rootsweb.ancestry.com\/~cgc\/\">International Society of Family History Writers and Editors<\/a> this year.\u00a0 I will continue to read current and past issues of NGS Quarterly and The New England Historical and Genealogical Register as part of the learning process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s that time of the year again.\u00a0 The time we reflect on the past and plan for the future.\u00a0 Rightfully so, the topic for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is New Year\u2019s Resolutions. This year is almost over and a new decade [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genblog","cat-25-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3HcLI-d9","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3850,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815\/revisions\/3850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}