The ProGen Study Group: Getting Started

If you follow me on Facebook, you'll see me make reference frequently to the ProGen Study Group that I began this year. A number of you have asked me questions about it, and I thought it would be a good idea to blog about the course, each month's lessons, and my progress. Perhaps you are merely curious, or perhaps you are actually interested in taking this course and would like some "inside information."

First let me explain what the ProGen Study Group (known hereafter as simply ProGen) is about...and what it isn't. ProGen is an 19-month book study of the text, Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Each month, members are assigned a chapter or two of the book to read, along with practical assignments related to the chapter(s). The assignments are posted online using a project management website. In addition to reading and assignments, members must provide feedback on others' assignments. Finally, the members gather once a month for an online discussion in a chat forum with their group's respective coordinator and mentor.

What ProGen is not is a course on learning genealogy research skills. As the ProGen website's home page states: "The ProGen study groups are for those who already have strong research skills and are ready to further develop their professional business, writing and analysis skills." And while members receive a Certificate of Completion, it is also not an accreditation course; in other words, taking this book study does not make you a certified genealogist. That is actually done by the BCG, the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

ProGen has an administrator as well as a number of certified genealogists have agreed to volunteer their time as mentors and many alumni serve as coordinators for the various groups. The first group was organized in April 2008. I am in the (so far) most recently organized group, ProGen 19.

So what made me decide to join ProGen? There isn't one particular, clear answer. I have a number of genealogy friends who have taken this course, and I followed their progress over the past couple of years with interest. I am still debating whether to become a certified genealogist, and am curious about the process and requirements, which this course investigates. Whatever my decision regarding certification, I want my current work--lecturing, instructing, writing and blogging, and perhaps researching for others later--to have a professional quality to it.

To get started, I had to go to the ProGen website and submit an application and join a waiting list. I did this on August 13, 2012. I received a response from the administrator and was told I might have to wait up to three months before being placed in a group, should my application be accepted. Additionally, I applied for a scholarship to cover the cost of the text, since it sells for about $60.00. On August 21st, I received an email from the Waiting List Coordinator, who had also been a ProGen Coordinator and a ProGen alumni. She told me that my application had been received and that I would hear from the administrator when a new group was ready to be formed.

On November 30th, I heard from the administrator that I was invited to register for either ProGen 18 or 19, both of which were scheduled to begin January 1, 2013. They had received so many applications, that they were starting two groups. Attached to the email were three documents: an organizing message listing the dates and times of the online discussion; a registration form in which to choose either ProGen 18 or 19; and a handbook outlining in detail the course requirements and member expectations, the history of ProGen, tips on using the Basecamp website, explaining the $95 participation fee (which pays for the website), and information about a scholarship for the fee. It was also recommended to have available a copy of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I do own the first edition, published in 2007; a more recent edition was published in 2009.

From the organizing message, I learned there was only one choice for evening online discussions; all the others were during my work hours. So I decided to register for ProGen 19. I contacted my brother-in-law and his wife to see if they would loan me the money for the participation fee, but instead they very generously agreed to pay it as their Christmas gift to me. I also received an email on December 8th informing me that my scholarship application to cover the text had been accepted and that I was now a part of ProGen 19. My book arrived in the mail the following week.

On December 10th, I received an email with a list of all the members of ProGen 19, as well as the names of our coordinator and mentor (the latter is a certified genealogist). Besides myself, there were 15 other people signed up between the two morning groups and the one evening group.

The next day, I created an account at the website, loaded up a photo of myself, and then received a message to introduce myself to the other members of ProGen 19. As a group, we started to comment on others' introduction messages, finding many with similar backgrounds (a number of members have degrees in biology, for instance) and interests. We were also given a timeline of due dates for all the new assignment postings, assignment deadlines, feedback deadlines, and online discussion times.

Our mentor suggested that we get together for an informal chat just for fun on December 21st. About half the members (including myself) had some kind of holiday plans and couldn't make it, but the rest joined in. From what I gathered, it was an enjoyable chat and I was sorry that I had missed this first opportunity to get to know the other members a little better. Six more people were eventually added to the group, giving us a total of 22, including myself, plus our two leaders and our administrator. Eventually, we had a total of 26 members.

In my next ProGen post, I'll write about our first two online discussions and our first lesson and assignments.

I'm a ProGen Alumnus!

Twenty months ago, I started out on an adventure. It was--like all adventures--difficult and challenging at times. But it also was rewarding and self-improving and well worth my investment of time and effort.

I'm talking about ProGen: a formal, online book study course on the text Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001). This course involves nineteen months of reading, research, and writing assignments, providing feedback to your cohort's assignments (and accepting it from them on yours), as well as a monthly chat with your cohort, coordinator, and a mentor who is a BCG (Board for the Certification of Genealogists) certified genealogist.

So why did I take this course? What all is involved? What are the benefits? What is the outcome? And where do I go from here?

Why I Took ProGen
First of all, I wanted to explore the possibility of becoming a certified genealogist through BCG. While I have had no formal training in genealogy, I have learned the research process through over twenty years of research experience, reading lots of how-to texts, and listening to lectures at conferences, in webinars, and on audio cassettes. Well-known genealogy courses available online through Boston University were not affordable for me, but I wanted something more involved and advanced than the excellent-but-basic National Genealogical Society's Home-Study course. I knew from ProGen's course description that there would be a focus on the business aspects of being a professional genealogist, something about which I was fairly ignorant. So I made my decision to go with ProGen.

What All is Involved
I started blogging about ProGen in The ProGen Study Group: Getting Started and The ProGen Study Group: Lesson One. There's a lot of good information in those posts which I won't repeat here, but which give you an idea of the intensity of the program. However, I decided not to continue posting about ProGen for several reasons. First of all, my time spent in blogging was getting eaten up pretty quickly by my ProGen assignments. Truly, you need to give yourself a good twenty hours a month to get it all done, and sometimes that wasn't enough! Secondly, I realized that giving too much detail about the program was not a good idea, ethically. Someone could take that information and create their own course.

I will give you an overview of some of the major projects, and my favorites. One of my favorite projects was compiling a list of our genealogy library (books, CDs, and other resources), as well as a wish list. We could present these lists in any type of format or media. Some chose to do it through Good Reads, some did Excel spreadsheets, while I chose my presentations as two Pinterest boards, here and here. Another fun project was creating locality guides for our geographic areas of research, local or ancestral. These included libraries, archives, courthouses, cemeteries, universities, genealogical and historical society collections, and any other research repositories in those areas. The guides listed details such as physical addresses, websites, contact information, hours, access restrictions, and practical considerations, such as nearby restaurants and hotels for out-of-town researchers. These guides have been compiled into an online list to which ProGen alumni have access for future projects.

Oddly enough, the toughest assignments were also my favorites. Some of them required two months to complete, with the first draft due one month, and a final draft due the next. However, they required me to dig deep into all the skills and knowledge I have thus far acquired, as well as challenged me to provide solid evidence for every assertion I made. Some of these assignments included research plans, proof arguments, and one-generation family narratives. You can read mine online at Google Drive. Please note that Google Docs do not always keep the same formatting as Microsoft Word when being uploaded to Drive; therefore, some of these may look "funny" when viewed online.

• Genealogy Research Plan for Berber Sjoerds deJong
• Proof Argument - Was Jeanne Marie Holst Also Jane Marie York? Confirming the Birth Identity of an Adoptee
• Family Narrative - Joseph Josiah Robbins of New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan

The Benefits of ProGen
As I've already mentioned, ProGen challenged the way I had done things before. I couldn't simply rely on my memory or toss around probable factors. I had to stick with the facts and have them in order, use logic and reason, and come to sound conclusions. If I didn't, members of my cohort could easily pick apart my theories and conclusions. The cohort itself was one of the biggest benefits of the course; I had a group of people who, while having my back in supporting me through the course, weren't going to accept anything less than quality when it came to evaluating my assignments. I felt safe with their constructive criticism, and reciprocally, I knew they didn't think the worst of me when I pointed out their errors or asked for better evidence to support their conclusions. It's nice to know I can contact them again to ask them to be a second pair of editor's eyes for a research report or family narrative for a client. Meeting once a month with our mentors was also helpful. We could ask questions about their career experience or for help when we just didn't understand an assignment.

The Outcome of a ProGen Course
There are a lot of positive results that I brought away from ProGen. The first is having a better understanding of the business end of genealogy, such as contracts, mission statements, business plans, etc. Professional genealogists spend only a portion of their time doing research. A great deal of time is spent on business paperwork, such as client letters and contracts, as well as the writing of research plans, proof arguments, and research reports.

Many of the projects showed me where I lacked organization in my office or computer files for my own personal research, citations, or even the sources of where I had obtained my resources, documents, and photographs. Some of the assignments took much longer than they should have, because I had to put those things in place before I could even get started on the project. This has motivated me to start spending good chunks of time going through my office and computer files and my genealogy software to put those pieces in place. It has caused me to slow way down on the "research" part and spend more time on analyzing the information contained in those documents. The most wonderful result of this is that I have found many more clues to help me toward breaking down some brick walls that have stumped me for years. I've also found details to help flesh out my ancestor's lives and understand more of what they were like, personally; eradicating what I call the "telephone-book genealogy" of boring lists of names, numbers (dates), and places.

I was fortunate to have read a how-to-genealogy book years ago that emphasized keeping track of where I got my information. While it didn't teach how to formally cite sources, I did keep fairly good notes. Now it's important to me to put these notes into correct citation format, so that they are ready to use in formal genealogy documents such as research plans, proof arguments, research reports, or family narratives. It also will save me tons of time to help me be able to analyze the quality of evidence, as to whether it is original or derivative, primary or secondary, direct or indirect. It requires a huge amount of time to front load this, but definitely is worth it in the end.

The most important result of this course was to realize how much more I have to learn in this amazing field of genealogy, which seems to be constantly expanding in its depth and scope. Yet, it's perfectly acceptable to celebrate what I have accomplished thus far in my journey.

What's Next?
One of my early assignments was writing an education plan. Some of the things on that list included attending institutes such as GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh), SLIG (Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy) and/or IGHR (Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research) at Samford University. Eventually, I would like to attain my certificate in genealogy through the BCG. However, I have created some personal financial and non-genealogical career goals that must have priority for the next five or six years. These will allow me to have the freedom to pursue the above genealogical goals without hindrances later. In the meantime, I'll continue to monitor and participate in groups like the Transitional Genealogist Mailing List, and the Resources for Professional Genealogists group on Google+. I'll join groups like the Association for Professional Genealogists and the Genealogy Speakers Guild. I'll study formal journals like the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Register and the National Genealogical Society's Quarterly. I also would like to do another book study, this time on Tom Jones's Mastering Genealogical Proof.

I will continue to give presentations at workshops, seminars, and conferences; teach classes for the Community Colleges of Spokane; and am now taking on clients for research projects. If you are interested in having me speak to your group or do research, please email me, and I will send you a list of my topics or information outlining what my research services entail.

You can also email me or comment below with any further questions you have about ProGen. I sincerely encourage you to seriously consider taking this course to enrich, whether to satisfy your curiosity about the business aspects of the profession or to enhance your own personal research strategies and skills.

The ProGen Study Group: Lesson One

"The ProGen Study Group: Getting Started" can be read here.

We were supposed to have our first assignment posted January 1st. However, ProGen 18 was due to have their first online discussion that day and wanted to have a few days to look over their assignment in order to bring up any necessary questions during their chat. So our adminstrator posted the assignment a couple of days early for both groups, 18 and 19.

Our first reading assignment were two chapters in Professional Genealogy. Next there was supplemental reading on the topics of plagiarism and attribution which contained links to three online articles. To prepare for our online discussion at the end of this lesson, we were given the link to the Association of Professional Genealogists' Code of Ethics. The online discussion prep sheet listed ten questions we were to discuss and answer from the various reading assignments. Additionally, we were to read a chapter of Evidence Explained with some supplemental reading. Finally, two links to online articles on creating mission statements were included in the assignment instructions. So really, we had about half a dozen reading assignments in this lesson. I got started on the reading immediately.

We were given two writing assignments. The first was to craft a mission statement for our current business, future business, or genealogical endeavors if we do not have a business. The second was to properly cite eight sources which were given to us in image format. The written assignments were due January 25th and our feedback was due by the time our next online discussion was to take place on February 4th.

Feedback has to be more than just "good job" posted after each person's assignment. We were to be specific in critiquing our colleagues' mission statements; what we admired or suggested for change or improvement, and why. We also were required to give three constructive comments or suggestions on each of our fellow members' citation assignments.

Our first online discussion for my evening group was held on January 7th, the first Monday of the month, at 5:00 PM, Pacific Time. It was not related to the first lesson, but was more a time to practice finding and using the chat room, get a chance to meet each other online if we had not done so earlier with our mentor's chat on December 21st, and allow our leaders to address any questions we had about the website, or the reading or writing assignments. The chat room was held on the website and was a little tricky to find for some. It did not require any audio devices or microphone, but was a text-based chat forum. The chat lasted one hour.

Back when we were first accepted into ProGen, we were given an opportunity to volunteer to be a group leader. I decided my plate was pretty full and opted not to do that. The group leader generally leads the online discussion and creates a transcript. Having a copy of the discussion was very helpful for later reference.

As I mentioned above, there was a lot of reading required in this first lesson. What helped me out was to print everything up, even though I tend to be an online person who rarely prints up anything. Thus I was able to read, highlight, and study the texts as well as the printed supplemental readings while I was working one of my late afternoon jobs. I also started keeping a checklist at Trello.com for my assignments.

The mission statement was difficult and required some time. Because I currently do not have an official business, I wanted my mission statement to reflect my goal for a future business, but also incorporate what I do now on an informal basis: instruct, lecture, and write. I also wanted to leave room for the possibility of taking on paying clients to do research. Finally, I wanted to honor the cultural and heritage aspect of family history, especially since it was my growing up in a Native Alaskan community and my parents' efforts to teach me about my own Dutch heritage that influenced my genealogical interests.

The statement I eventually came up with was:

My two-fold mission is first to enable my clients to increase interest, satisfy curiosity, and instill pride in their family history and culture by providing accurate and thorough research. The second is to teach quality research skills in reliable resources to the genealogical community through instruction and my published works.

I received helpful feedback on this, especially when one member recommended I switch out the word "instill" for "develop," which was actually exactly what I had been trying to convey, although I couldn't come up with the correct word at the time.

In contrast to the mission statement, the citations assignment did not seem so difficult, but did take up a lot more time. I did a lot of studying of Evidence Explained. Citation writing is not an exact science; there is more than one way to do it properly. When I was satisfied with my work, I uploaded it to the website. Then I began feedback on others' mission statements and citation assignments.

Feedback was actually the most difficult part of all the assignments. On one hand, you must give an honest review of work done, but on the other hand, you don't want to offend someone or hurt their feelings, especially when you must collaborate with them for another eighteen months and also after knowing personally how much time and effort was invested into each assignment. I found three things to be helpful. The first was something I've learned as an educator: sandwich suggestions or constructive criticism between praise. This is especially important when you are doing critiques in an online manner because your audience cannot read your body language or hear the expression in your voice. It's so easy to be misinterpreted when you can't do this in person. The second was to cite various sections of Evidence Explained to back up my statements when pointing out errors in others' citations. The third was to graciously accept the critiques of others (remembering my first point above) and to notice and point out my own mistakes as I came across them. I have to say that in giving feedback to others on the citation assignment, I did find a number of mistakes in my own. In the process, I ended up rereading the citations reading assignment and highlighting it extensively. One of the best results was to gain some clarification as to why certain items were cited one way and other similar ones were cited differently.

Reading, working the assignments, writing them up, giving feedback, and the online discussion all do take quite a bit of time. It is not for nothing that twenty hours per month is the recommended time you allot yourself to work on each lesson. Although I am a fast reader, good writer, and prepared student, I did find that I probably spent at least twenty hours, if not more completing everything.

Finally, we had our online discussion on this first lesson on February 4th. Much of it centered directly on the subjects of the two ProGen chapters we had been assigned. One of the more interesting threads of conversation was about what to do when entrusted with a family history secret. Unfortunately, we did not get a transcript of this month's discussion.

Summer Plans and Goals: Genealogy and Otherwise

I make goals several times a year.

January brings the typical resolutions to improve health and fitness (I've lost 10 pounds this year and so far, have KEPT it off!), September is when I make the goals for the school year (I've been pretty good with staying on top of lesson plans, grading, and emails), and summer...well, summer is for FUN.

Summer 2013 looks to be one of the funnest summers in many years. Two nieces getting married. Returning to my hometown in Alaska for the last totem raising before the next 40 year cycle. Seven weeks of summer school, instead of five (well, that has its disadvantages, but the advantages would seem to be more income). Bike hikes on local rails-to-trails paths. A get-together with my high school girlfriends.

Oh, yes, and genealogy.

I've been working on my ProGen course since the beginning of the year, with just over a year more to go. It has stretched me, changed my thinking--and more importantly, my research--and inspired me. I'll continue working on my assignments, and as I have more time to organize, plan, research, and scan, these projects will be influenced by this course. Part of my ProGen goals include visiting local repositories and archives. All my personal research has been done long-distance; my parents and I are--for the most part--the first generations to live west of Michigan. While I'm familiar with letter writing, hiring volunteers or paid researchers, ordering and using microfilm, and using online databases and images, I haven't had as much hands-on experience in courthouses, archives, museums, or repositories. I get to enjoy some new learning soon!

I joined several great groups on Facebook this year. One is Technology for Genealogy and the other is The Organized Genealogist. I've learned a lot from both groups in just a few months, and I look forward to sharing my summer successes with them.

Will I blog more? I'd like to say yes, but I can't promise that. I truly enjoy the writing and blogging process, but it does take chunks of time away from things that are necessary, like working out, or things I've made a financial and educational commitment to, like ProGen.

Summertime does give me more flexibility, and so I do hope to be able to quickly pop in now and again and jot down perhaps a short thought, or discovery, or important tip. But if you don't hear much from me, it could be that I'm on a jet heading to The Last Frontier, or biking the Hiawatha Trail, or visiting the Eastern Washington Regional Archives, or catching the bouquet at one of my nieces' weddings.

I hope you enjoy your summer, too, whatever fun things you have in store.

My Seventh Blogiversary

Today is my seventh blogiversary. It's hard to believe it's been seven years since I started blogging. As always, I appreciate my readers, especially the ones who have hung in there the past three years when my posting has decreased significantly. I enjoy the group of Scanfesters that come back month after month (or even every other month, when I have to postpone one!). Blogging takes time, because composing, researching, and checking my facts takes time. The physical act of writing also takes time, as well as the editing and revising process. Time has been one commodity that has especially been short in my life the past three years. This year, I've already been busy with ProGen, and I hope to post a bit about it, to keep you updated with my progress.

Thank you, once again, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting and encouraging me, and for taking the time to read and comment. It means so very much to me!


 

My Goals for the Genealogy Do-Over

On December 15th, Thomas MacEntee published Announcing the Genealogy Do-Over in which he explained how his past research methods frustrated him. He invited other genealogists to join him in his venture and the following week posted a schedule of topics he plans to follow for the next few months. Currently, his Genealogy Do-Over Facebook group has 545 members as of this moment.

I'm not a straight jump-on-the-bandwagon type of person. I enjoy being a part of a group, but I've got to have a good reason to join and I weigh my time, energy, and budget against what would be required of me if I participated. I asked myself if I was willing to start a new database from scratch, and Self said, "No way." However, that doesn't mean I'm not willing to clean up what I have, which I've been doing on and off for several years now (guess it's time to stay "on" now with this!) and to implement some personal policies and procedures on how I do my own research that align with what I've done with my client research. So after some consideration and looking through the posts on the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook group in which other members described their goals, I came up with the following targets for my own Genealogy Do-Over.

1. Slow Down
It's easy to download 10 documents from the internet, add the pertinent info to your database, and then walk away without taking the time to analyze, cite, and file the documents digitally in the right folders with the appropriate new names. I get on a roll and my non-linear creative thinking kicks in, which is really great for thinking outside the box. It's lightning-fast thinking, too, and it's hard to keep up with where my mind is racing off to. It's not-so-great-thinking for keeping track of what search terms I used or where I searched or what my results were. So I give myself permission to slow down and take all the time I need to do it right the first time. Which leads us to the next step:

2. Do it right
When I have clients, not only do I slow down and follow all the important details I've mentioned in Step 1 (analyze, cite, file), I also write research plans, keep research logs, and draw up research reports. My family tree deserves the same respect and care that I would give any other client. It's OK to have those light-bulb moments and epiphanies, but it's paramount to make the time to follow up with those details. The great thing is I've got a wonderful set of skills learned from ProGen and tech tools I've gathered or created that can facilitate this important step.

3. Write with passion again
My blog has great ancestor stories that I wrote in the early days of blogging. After all, the name of this blog is AnceStories: The Stories of my Ancestors. However, life got hectic with parenting my teens and then a divorce, followed by longer work hours as I support myself financially. Additionally, I gained a lot of weight sitting around blogging and living with stress, so I spent a couple of years working hard to get it off. That took a lot of time but I've realized my health is worth that daily hour. I may not be able to crank out two to three quality blog posts a week anymore, but I give myself permission not to feel the pressure to do so. I want my posts to be a combination of great ancestor stories, quality research practices, and embedded citations. Those things are going to take time. But again, that's part of my goals: Slow down, do it right, write with passion again.


How about you? Are you ready to do a Genealogy Do-Over?

My Top 10 Blog Posts for 2014...And Then Some

Now why on earth would my readers care about my top ten blog posts for the past year?

Well, if you're new to my blog, you may be interested in seeing the kinds of posts I typically write. Most of my popular posts were either Tuesday Tips or posts targeted especially to help my readers in their genealogical research. Check them out:

1. Tuesday's Tip: Shh! A Little Secret I Discovered in Online Michigan Death Records

2. Tuesday's Tip: Looking at Divorce Records

3. Tuesday's Tip: Timelines

4. Tuesday's Tip: Using the Internet Archive Lending Library

5. Tuesday's Tip: More County Histories and Biographies

6. My Goals for the Genealogy Do-Over

7. I'm a ProGen Alumnus!

8. 2015 Genealogy Blog Post Planner Now Available

9. findmypast Now Offers Even Better Value with New Subscription Prices

10. SMART Genealogy Goals

Now, to be fair, the top ten most read posts during the past year were not all written in 2014. In fact, posts numbered 1-5 above were actually the 1st, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th most read of this previous year. The following from years past were the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 9th most popular, respectively.

#2 (from 2009): A Beginner's Guide to Scanning Postcards - It make sense that this is a popular post, as I refer many readers to it when they have questions about scanning to .tif files rather than .jpg files. Don't let the title fool you; it applies to scanning images, letters, and other documents as well.

#3 (from 2013): Tuesday's Tip: 2014 Genealogy Blog Post Planner - No longer relevant; see #8 from the Top Ten list above.

#6 (from 2008): Tuesday's Tip: Organizing Your Digital Files - Here's another post to which I point readers, especially when answering questions in genealogy groups on Facebook.

#8 (from 2012): RootsMagic 6 Review - I love RootsMagic! Whenever students of my classes or audience members of my presentations ask me my opinion of the best genealogy software, I unhesitatingly reply, "RootsMagic!" Version 7 has just been released, which I received as a Christmas gift...lucky me!

#9 (also from 2008): Wordless Wednesday: CHAPLIN - MARTIN Certificate of Marriage - I'm not certain why this post received so many hits. As the only top post directly related to a family line (on my children's father's side), I find it interesting that it's so popular. Perhaps it's the common genealogy and blogging terms plus the surnames in the title.

Analyzing these posts helps me as a blogger, too. I've learned my readers enjoy reading my discoveries written as helpful tutorials. I plan to continue this feature.

Have you read these posts? How have they helped you?

Key Genealogy Categories for Targeting Your Goals

Yesterday, I posted how to set SMART Genealogy Goals for yourself.

It's all fine and well to set a genealogy goal (or two...or five), but which one(s) do you pick? 

After all, there are all those brick wall ancestors, the family trees you're trying to untangle, that messy file cabinet or hard drive (or both), the classes you want to take, the photos you need to scan, and that blog you've meant to start for three years now. And what about that trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City?

In reviewing my own genealogy goals, I realized there were six categories that most could fall under: research targets, methodology, organization and preservation, education, publishing, and fun. Yes, I believe fun should be a genealogy goal. If you can't have fun with your genealogy, why bother? 

So let me explain the different categories and how you might use them to focus in on your genealogy goals:

Research Target - Here is where you concentrate on a brick wall ancestor (or several), a family line (or two), or try to uncover the truth about a mystery (Whatever did happen to that brother of my 2nd-great-grandmother?).

My own Research Target goal looks like this: "In 2015, I will correctly cite in my RootsMagic database all known facts for my ROBBINS ancestors, as well as all their descendants. I will download or scan all correlating documents, and name and file them on my hard drive according to my digital filing system. My purpose is to have a prepared database for a 2016 goal of publishing a family history. I intend to spend a minimum of one hour a week each Sunday afternoon working on this goal."

Methodology - Most of us realize we can do better in our research methods. These include developing a research plan, following the genealogy research process, citing our sources, analyzing and correlating the information found, resolving conflicting evidence, and producing a soundly-reasoned, coherently-written conclusion. These are the elements of the genealogical proof standard, and I can assure you that if you follow these, you'll knock down a lot of unnecessary brick walls.

My Methodology goal is merged with my Research Target goal stated above, where I mention correctly citing sources. I also have a research plan I will put in place to work toward determining who the parents of my Robbins brick wall ancestor are.

Organization and Preservation - This category covers a lot of details that many genealogists focus on in goal-setting: filing, whether in file drawers or on a computer hard drive; backing up data; curating a collection; scanning photos and documents; purchasing archival safe and acid-free storage products; tagging digital photos; and deciding who should inherit your genealogy are all important tasks of being a good genealogist, family historian, and family curator.

I'll continue to host Scanfest once a month for three hours on the last Sunday of most months. My focus this year will be to complete the scanning of my mother's weekly letters over thirteen years from our homes in Alaska to her parents in Michigan. I will also begin scanning my father's letters to his parents in Michigan from his college in Alberta.

Education - There's always room for improvement in our knowledge and skills. Whether reading about the history of the times and places in which your ancestors lived; taking classes at your local genealogical or historical society; attending a webinar, conference, or workshop; taking an NGS or ProGen course; or participating in a more academic institute such as SLIG or GRIP--the more you know, the better genealogist you'll become.

My Education goal for 2015 includes learning more about probate and court records by reading books and blogs and attending webinars. I also will read more scholarly genealogy publications in anticipation of publishing my Robbins family history.

Publishing - The final goal of any genealogist should be publishing. No one in your family is going to sit down and look through your genealogy software or file folders for fun! They want stories, photos, items, recipes...things with which they can identify at a human interest level. Writing a blog, publishing short stories of your ancestors, creating a scrapbook or photo album, or authoring a family history book are all ways to generate interest among your family members and pass the love of family history along.

My Publishing goal will be to write about one ancestor a month. I wish I had the time to participate in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, but I know I won't have the endurance, nor the time. I also have an e-book in mind that I've been toying with, but have not set a goal for yet.

Fun - The best part of all should be a Fun goal! Maybe you've never attended a large-scale conference before. Perhaps you'd like to take a genealogy cruise. Is there a major genealogy library or repository you'd love to visit? How about a road trip that includes a number of ancestral locations? Have you considered organizing a family reunion? There are so many ways to include fun as a part of your genealogical journey!

I did a lot of traveling the past few years and really had a lot of fun at conferences, the Family History Library, and meeting a number of my fellow geneabloggers. Those things aren't on my agenda or in my budget for this coming year. Instead, my Fun goal is rather simple: getting to meet a number of people at several upcoming gatherings who will eventually become members of my own family; to learn their stories and backgrounds; and to incorporate them into my life, my heart, and my genealogical database.

There you have it! Six genealogy categories for targeting genealogy goals.

Of course, you may wish to come up with your own categories. You may even want to take some ideas from SMART goal worksheets that you can find online and create your own, using your own key genealogy categories.

My one word of caution is that you not overload yourself with too many goals. One goal in each category is plenty, and you may even wish to minimize your list to two to four categories.

What say you? Are you ready to make 2015 a successful genealogy year...one that you'll look back on 365 days from now with a feeling of accomplishment? Best of luck to you in your endeavors, and Happy New Year!

Tuesday's Tip: Research Plan - An Explanation and a Template

Ever feel that solving a genealogy problem is like navigating a challenging game of chess? Here's how a research plan can help!

A number of people who are participating in the Genealogy Do-Over have asked about how to create research plans or find forms or templates to use. Whether or not you're participating, you may wish to know more about research plans, why and when to use them, and how to create them.

When I took the ProGen professional genealogy course, one of our early lessons was learning how to create research plans, based on Chapter 14: "Problem Analyses and Research Plans" of Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians. We used one of our own research problems to develop one. Here is an example of one I wrote to determine if my 2nd-great-grandmother is the same person as an orphaned girl I found in records in the Netherlands.

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"Plan refers to the process of thinking through our purposes and procedures before research begins."

--Helen F. Leary 

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First of all, what is a research plan, and what is its place in genealogy? According to Helen F. Leary, author of the aforementioned chapter, "Plan refers to the process of thinking through our purposes and procedures before research begins."

So what is our purpose? It can be to find the names of the parents of a brick wall ancestor. It can be to uncover the maiden surname of a married female ancestor. It can be to answer any of a thousand questions: "Why did my ancestor move West? Where is he buried? How many children did she have? Did he serve in the Civil War? Is my family legend true?"

What are our procedures? These are the process and systematic steps we take in our attempt to solve our problem.

There are four to six basic parts of a research plan:

1. Objective - This is our purpose (see above). It can be written as a statement or a question.

2. Known Facts - Obviously, this is what you already know about your research problem which you are attempting to solve. The information about the person should be placed in chronological order, citing the sources where each fact was found. This is where a timeline of the person's life can be really helpful.

3. Potential Conflicting Data - Very often, we hit a brick wall because of a Major Problem. One of my examples is that I have an ancestor listed on the 1890 Union Veterans Census. One problem--the conflicting data--is that the unit number he supposedly served from (101st New York Volunteers) did not muster from anywhere near his place of residence. I believe there's a simple explanation: the numbers got reversed. The 110th New York Volunteers did muster from his county. However, there is another problem: except for the veterans census, I cannot find any other evidence that this ancestor served in the Civil War. I have to explain this in the Potentially Conflicting Data part of my research plan.

By the way, not every plan will have this part. You may not have conflicting data at all. You may be simply stuck with not enough data!

4. Working Hypothesis - You may have an idea about what the answer could be to your problem. This is where that idea is stated. You should list your reasons as to why you believe this statement could be true.

When you first start your research plan, you may not have a hypothesis. As you start to research, one may form, and you can add this in at that time.

5. Identified Sources - These are the sources I've already looked at, which have given me my known facts, and--if I have conflicting data--be where I've found information that confuses the situation. These identified sources will be the same as the cited sources for my Known Facts, with possible additions, but are simply given in a source list entry or biographical form.

6. Research Strategy - Here is where we list the steps of what we're going to do, and where we're going to do it. Are we going to look at particular databases on Ancestry.com? Do we have a list of microfilm numbers at the Family History Center for records we believe will solve our problem? Is there a book in our local genealogical society's library that may have an answer?

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Here is a link to your own free research plan template which you can download to your computer. You can open it with any word processing program (like Microsoft Word), edit it to fit your research objectives, and save it as another document in your genealogy research folder, or in the relevant notes section of your genealogy software.

And? Keep it simple. It doesn't have to look as complicated as the example of my 2nd-great-grandmother. But it covers all the bases: what you've done, the snags you've hit, and where you're going.

One thing to keep in mind: We don't always use a research plan in every search (I'll explain the exceptions in next Tuesday's Tip post). However, whenever you have a question about an ancestor or another person you are researching, you definitely should use one!

I hope this template is helpful, and I'd appreciate your feedback.

Happy Hunting!


Disclosure: I am an affiliate for Amazon.com, and as such, receive compensation for products advertised on and linked from this blog.

Book Review: The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 4th Edition

Recently, I was given an opportunity to review the latest (fourth) edition of the classic The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val D. Greenwood, published by the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 2017.  I had been hearing exclamations of elation about the newest edition being published from various professional genealogists with whom I am friends on Facebook, so I jumped at the chance to review it.  Also, who doesn't like free genealogy books?

Ironically, when I first heard that this book had been updated, I didn't consider purchasing it.  I have at least four comprehensive genealogy guide books in my home library, so why did I need another one?  I've been doing this thing called genealogy for 30 years now, have taken a professional course, and taught classes.  Was there anything this book could tell me that I really didn't already know...anything of enough additional value that it would warrant a purchase of a generalized topic such as "American genealogy"?

As usual, when I received the new book in the mail, I took a look at its format and contents.  This is a one-and-a-half-inch-thick, six-inch-wide by nine-inch-tall 778-page paperback book.  Besides the Table of Contents, it contains a list of the illustrations and charts, along with a preface by the author , with a detailed 39-page index at the back.  The book is divided into two parts; below are the chapters within each part:

Part 1:  Background to Research

      1.  Understanding Genealogical Research
      2.  Language, Terminology and Important Issues
      3.  Surveying, Analyzing, and Planning
      4.  Evidence
      5.  Libraries and the National Archives (NARA)
      6.  Reference Works
      7.  Organizing and Evaluating Your Research Findings
      8.  Successful Correspondence
      9.  Computer Technology and Family History
    10.  Family History on the Internet
    11.  Family History:  Going Beyond Genealogy

Part 2:  Records and Their Use

    12.  Compiled Sources and Newspapers
    13.  Vital Records
    14.  Census Returns
    15.  Using Census Records in Your Research
    16.  Understanding Probate Records and Legal Terminology
    17.  What About Wills?
    18.  The Intestate, Miscellaneous Probate Records, and Guardianships
    19.  Government Land:  Colonial and American
    20.  Local Land Records
    21.  Abstracting Probate and Land Records
    22.  Court Records and Family History
    23.  Property  Rights of Woman as a Consideration
    24.  Church Records and Family History
    25.  Immigrant Ancestor Origins
    26.  Military Records:  Colonial Wars and the American Revolution
    27.  Military Records:  After the Revolution
    28.  Cemetery and Burial Records

As you can see, this is quite an exhaustive lineup of background resources and records.  Much of the first seven chapters reminded me of what I learned in my ProGen class.  For instance, Chapter 3 specifies excellent strategies of "pre-search":  determining what research needs to be done and how to approach it.  The following chapter on "Evidence" explains proof and evidence, details the Genealogical Proof Standard, types of evidence, and types of sources.  Chapter 7 offers different methods of note taking and the recording of research results, as well as how to analyze the information found therein.  For these reasons, I have to say this content makes an excellent reference for both the beginning and intermediate genealogist, to provide and maintain the fundamental steps of good research.

One chapter I felt could have been stronger was the one titled "Computer Technology and Family History."  For one, the title is redundant and should have "computer" removed.  For another, DNA is discussed in this chapter, which seems completely out of place (the following chapter, "Family History on the Internet" is a better fit).  Also, there is a list of computer-related terms and their definitions that are not put in context with genealogy, and thus appear unnecessary.  An example is the term "https" found at the beginning of many web addresses.  While the term is defined to explain that websites with this in their address are secure, giving the reason as to why that would be important to a genealogist is lacking; i.e., making an online purchase of genealogy materials, subscribing to a major genealogy website, or accessing DNA results online.  Finally, no modern book on genealogy with a chapter on technology should ignore mentioning the importance, availability, and substantial number of genealogy apps on smartphones and other devices.

In Part 2, I was particularly impressed with the content of Chapters 16 through 23, encompassing probate, land, and court records.  This meaty section is full of legal definitions, the processes involved in probate and purchasing and selling land, resources spelled out by state, tables of figures, and sample documents.  In these eight chapters, my question about whether a purchase of yet another genealogy guidebook would be warranted was satisfactorily answered!

Finally, throughout the book, as I've browsed and skimmed, delved and devoured, I have discovered little gems; things that were new to me, a seasoned researcher.  These include descriptions of various library classifications systems, notes about Virginia's independent cities, and a link to the Family History Guide (http://www.thefhguide.com).  

My takeaway is that this book does belong in your home genealogy library.  It also requires some in-depth study.  DearMYRTLE will be offering a six-month online book study and discussion on Google Hangouts beginning February 28th (you can register here).

The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 4th Edition, by Val D. Greenwood, is available at the Genealogical Publishing Company or Amazon for $49.95.

Disclosure: I received a free book from the Genealogical Publishing Company (GPC) for review.  As a GPC Associate and an Amazon Associate, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price when readers purchase a title through the GPC or Amazon links above.

RootsTech: Innovator Day

I'm at RootsTech, a Family History and Technology Conference in Salt Lake City. Today, Wednesday, was Innovator Day, and extra pre-conference day, dedicated to innovators and developers of technology that relates to genealogy. It was sponsored by FamilySearch. Here are my notes:

My roommates, Donna Potter Phillips and Cecily Cone Kelly, and I hit the Family History Library a little after 8:00 AM. I spent the next almost-two hours locating some deeds on microfilm for my YORK and SWEERS families. Then we went around the corner to the Salt Palace to register for RootsTech and today's Innovator Summit.

I had chosen the following sessions to attend:

The General Session, with a Keynote and a boxed lunch, was opened by Andrew Fox of findmypast, who announced a new single platform; a multitude of new records from around the world, including South Asia; integration of the FamilySearch tree with findmypast; and a new multimedia app, coming out in a few weeks, in which audio recordings and photos can be stored and shared. This announcement was followed by the keynote address by Chris Dancy of BMC. He has been dubbed "The Most Quantified Human," as he utilizes analytics to measure almost everything about himself. His presentation was humorous and quirky, and its main gist is that death has a new meaning in today's digital age. People remain immortalized online, particularly in social media. Where the Egyptians had a Book of the Dead for the living to learn spells to keep them living on in the afterlife, today's society has Facebook, Twitter, and plethora of apps and websites to interact with the dead and to keep themselves "alive" in the afterlife. One simple example is how dead people can continue to be tagged on Facebook. The examples became more complex, in which he told about going to Las Vegas and seeing a show with a hologram of Michael Jackson, wearing clothes he had never worn in real life, singing a song he had never sung before. Chris reminded us that when we die, we will continue to live on digitally in ways we never imagined. Our descendants will discover many things about us, most of which we already manipulate. It was rather a mind-boggling thought.

By the way, the hall was pretty full, and we got the last few seats before they opened the overflow room for the General Session. I was fortunate to sit right next to Paul Nauta, Senior Manager of Marketing at FamilySearch. It was nice to finally meet him, and I was honored that he remembered that I was a blogger!

The first regular session I attended was "A New Tool for Recording, Analyzing, and Displaing Genetic Relationships from Y-DNA, mtDNA, and Autosomal-DNA" by Capers McDonald of Johns Hopkins University. He presented a new numbering system, versus the traditional ahnentafel numbering system, based on each of the DNA tests for ease of use and understanding of the results of those tests. More can be viewed at the website, http://ancestrallines.net. I thought this was a fascinating idea and hope that the developers of genealogical software include these numbering systems in the future for research reports.

The second session was "GOV - The Genealogical Gazetteer" by Timo Kracke. GOV does not stand for "government," but is an German acronym for The Genealogical Gazetteer. Timo spoke about the difficulty of naming particular places in genealogical software due to the fact that a location may have more than one name, simultaneously; or may have had different names over the course of history. Add to the complication that the location may be in several jurisdictions (government or ecclesiastical), whose borders and/or names also changed or may be duplicated elsewhere. Finally, there is the difficulty of using GPS to define a place; the questions that arise are: What specific coordinate designates the place? Is it the church? Which church? The town hall? Supposed it moved? Timo explained that the purpose of GOV is to use place identification that will overcome all these challenges. It is a collaborative project, wiki-style, in which he encourages others to participate. To view the website, go to http://gov.genealogy.net.

By now, I was getting a bit tired, but I went to my next choice, "Building Data Models for the Research Process" by Dr. Luther Tychonievich of the University of Virginia. That was a good choice, because he was an animated speaker, so even though much of what he spoke about stretched my brain until it hurt, I did stay awake! The description of his class, as stated in the syllabus, was: "Storing data representing individual research steps instead of researcher beliefs reduces collaboration disagreements and import and export problems and simultaneously supports all levels of researcher maturity. I provide both a theoretic overview and a proof-of-concept implementation of such a data model." It was a lot to absorb and try to think about!

Finally, I set off for "Empirical Evidence of the Popularity of Family History Using Digital Traces," by Dr. Arnon Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University. Setting out to find evidence of the statement that is oft-bandied about regarding genealogy being the fastest-growing hobby on the Internet, he discovered and analyzed evidence from Twitter that shows it is actually decreasing in popularity. However, when combined with data mined from other media, including printed books, genealogy increased as a whole significantly beginning in 1976, when Roots was published. It has only slightly decreased, as a whole, since 2002.

I left the final session a few minutes early, as I had a ProGen meetup at the Marriott lounge. There were only half a dozen of us, but we got our photo taken. We all had other dinner plans, so we parted ways after about a half an hour. It was very nice meeting them all and especially a couple members with whom I've been long-time friends on Facebook.

Syllabus materials are available for free for a limited time at http://rootstech.org/about. Videos will soon be available as well, for the keynote addresses and some sessions. LiveStreaming is available every morning of RootsTech on the home page at 8:00 AM, Mountain Standard Time.

RootsTech: Day One

RootsTech: Day Two

RootsTech: Day One

I'm at RootsTech, a Family History and Technology Conference in Salt Lake City. Today, Thursday, was the first day of the conference, and was sponsored by findmypast. Here are my notes:

This morning's General Session and Keynote was opened by Opened by Shipley Munson, Marketing Director of FamilySearch International. He listed the following statistics for RootsTech 2014:

• There are over 8,000 registered attendees
• On Saturday, we will be joined by over 4,000 youth for Youth Day
• Attendees have come from 49 states (none from South Dakota!) and 32 countries
• Over 15,000 will be watching the live stream sessions online
• There are over 137 exhibitors
• Over 200 sessions are being offered from the top genealogists and innovators from around the world

He then introduced the CEO and President of FamilySearch International, Dennis Brimhall, who welcomed us to the fourth annual RootsTech. Next Monday, volunteers will begin working on RootsTech 2015, which will be held in conjunction with the Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference here in Salt Lake City on February 12-14 (Innovator Day will be February 11th). Dennis also mentioned that there are currently 622 RootsTech Family History Fairs being held globally in tandem with the Salt Lake RootsTech. Last year, there were only 16 with an average of 200 people each. It is estimated, then, that over 150,000 people around the world will participate in a RootsTech experience this week.

Dennis then highlighted these areas of focus for FamilySearch:

1. Stories -  FamilySearch has made it easier to share stories and photos on their website with the Memories Tab, where you can upload photos, stories, and documents. In the past year, 150,000 people uploaded 12 million sources; an average of 500 stories a day. For those who do not have access to computers, a paper approach to preserving family history has been created. "My Family" booklets (1.7 million of them) in 27 languages have been shipped out to locations world-wide in an effort to gather and preserve family stories. The end result is to have these be added online. Finally, a texting app for cell phones (not smartphones) is in development so that those who don't have either computers or smartphones can use their cell phones to build a family tree online.
2. Records - Dennis' presentation was interrupted by a pirate, Captain Jack Starling, informed us that dead men tell no tales, but their obituaries do! Obits contain stories that are locked away. The next big FamilySearch Indexing project will focus on indexing this record group. FamilySearch has signed several agreements, with more pending, to get millions of obituaries online. Currently, there are one billion indexed records now on FamilySearch, thanks to the volunteer indexers, with 267 camera crews currently imaging 5.3 billion records in North and South America and Europe...BUT there are 10 billion waiting, at risk to damage and destruction. It will take 300 years to index what already has been imaged, so FamilySearch must change what they are doing.
3. Partners - The way that change can happen so that the records can be imaged, indexed, and available within one generation (the goal) is to partner with other organizations and corporations. One example is in Guatemala, where the government is contributing 30 camera crews to image their records, while FamilySearch will be hosting and indexing these records online. FamilySearch has announced major partnering with Ancestry, findmypast, and MyHeritage in obtaining records. These partnerships will allow LDS members to have free access to these subscription websites in their homes, and the public will be allowed to access them for free at FamilySearch Centers. In addition, FamilySearch has over 30 certified partners, including software companies Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, and RootsMagic; societies such as the New England Historic and Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies; and app companies FamilyMap and Puzilla.

D. Joshua Taylor (Genealogy Road Show) introduced the first keynote speaker, Annalies van den Belt of findmypast. She talked a bit about her own family history, and then the vision of findmypast. One of the most important projects is digitizing the documents of the Imperial War Museum, which has collected documents, photos, and stories of thousands of individuals who served as soldiers or on the home front during World War I. The second speaker was Ree Drummond, who blogs at The Pioneer Woman and now has a cooking show. Her down-home speech was about the importance of writing down the everyday stories so that someday they may be enjoyed by future generations.

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The first session I attended was Tom Jones's "Can a Complex Research Problem Be Solved Online?" I was fortunate to get a seat, since the room was packed. Tom brought us through the convoluted but fascinating story of a man who was married five times to four wives, used three fictitious names, has numerous children, and who was missing in many census and vital records.

At the lunch break, I peeked into the vendor hall, but it was too crowded for my liking, so I ended up heading outside the convention center for a quiet, relaxed lunch. I returned to attend "Treasures Within the Ivory Tower: Finding Family in Academic Archives" by Laura Prescott. This focused on the wealth of documents, photos, and even artifacts found within university and college archives and libraries, offline. Laura used their websites, as well as demonstrating using NUCMC and OCLC to locate where resources can be found for your ancestors, their siblings, or their neighbors. She reminded us that even if our ancestors didn't attend college, they may have worked for one and be listed in employee records, or they may have simply donated their own family collections to be preserved at a university archive.

The next session I wanted to attend, "DIY Publishing for the Family Historian: Tips, Tricks, and Tools" by Lisa Alzo, was cancelled because Lisa had been unable to arrive on time due to the bad weather impeding flights back east. The other session I had wanted to attend, "Google Hangouts 101a: The Panelists' View" by Pat Richley, required pre-registration; I didn't have a ticket because I had intended to attend Lisa's presentation. While there sixteen other great choices, I decided I was a bit tired and decided to take another break in which I planned out what I would look for at my next trip to the Family History Library.

The last session of the day was Elissa Scalise Powell's "Genealogy Online Courses Exposed!" Elissa gave an "under the hood" look at the major online courses available, from the Boston University certificate program to ProGen and everything in between. She first differentiated between what a beginner, intermediate, or advanced researcher will look for in a conference or what they want to learn. She then covered the cost; time commitment; credit, certificate or degree obtained (if applicable) from each course; and the showed the type of platform each course uses in communicating and uploading assignments. It was very thorough.

After dinner, I went back to the Salt Palace to see Vocal Point, an a cappella group who has performed on The Sing-Off. I especially enjoyed their "12 Days of Christmas." After, I went to the Family History Library for an hour and a half of research. I was able to obtain and copy Washington State death certificates on microfilm for my ancestor, Mary Lucy (WRIGHT) STRONG, and my children's ancestors, John Franklin MIDKIFF Sr., John Franklin MIDKIFF Jr., and Albert Francis CHAPLIN Sr.

Syllabus materials are available for free for a limited time at http://rootstech.org/about. Videos will soon be available as well, for the keynote addresses and some sessions. LiveStreaming is available every morning of RootsTech on the home page at 8:00 AM, Mountain Standard Time.

RootsTech: Innovator Day

RootsTech: Day Two