Way back at the beginning of August, I laid out a genealogy plan for the rest of the summer. It was a really busy summer. While I didn’t accomplish everything on my list, I made a dent and then some…
Research
- My beloved Denchfields, a real thorn in my side these days… Mike Dewey of the Buckinghamshire Family History Society kindly sent copies of several wills which, while they filled in some gaps, threw a wrench into one of my working theories of this confusing branch of my family.
- In depth study of the Peaches of Peterborough – took a backseat when I discovered my Denchfield error.
- An opportunity presented itself to spend time on my father’s maternal German ancestors and it was a refreshing change of pace. I find it interesting that I’ve been able to go back hundreds of years in my UK research, but I’ve run into a brick wall a mere three generations back here in the US.
Professional Development
- ProGen13 is going well. August’s topic was Education and Alternative Careers and the assignment to write an educational plan was an eye opener.
- Choose a fall genealogy conference- leaning toward the North Hills Genealogy Conference in nearby Pittsburgh on October 22nd. Elissa Powell is hosting and Doctor Tom Jones is the featured speaker. A great opportunity to meet two of my favorite instructors from the Boston University program in person!
- On a whim, enrolled in NIGS’s U.S. Land Records course at the University of Toronto, and I am so happy I did. Midway through the class and I’ve already learned so much. Not sure I’m ready to officially commit to actively pursuing a Certificate in American Genealogical Studies, but toward that end I’ve enrolled in two more classes, both starting October 3rd: Methodology Part I and U.S. Religious Records
Housekeeping
- No, I have not rewritten the source citations for the first few generations of my Ahnentafel, but I did create a Word document of my most frequently used citations which I can now copy and paste into research reports going forward. And because I think this sort of thing is cool, I created a Word macro to insert the Ancestry.com portion of a footnote with just 2 key strokes.
- I can happily report that I did get some file drawers and collected every loose scrap of genealogical paper lying in stacks around the house and filed them in those file drawers. Clearly my index binder is going to be a work in progress, but it’s a start.
- The file drawers are actually part of my new, modular, Pottery Barn desk. A splurge, but converting a corner of my house into a home office makes it all seem much more official somehow
Writing
- Write 10 blog posts – well I wrote 8 in August, and I’m pretty pleased about that. It was, after all, summer
- Did not finish the Collcutt chapter of my family history, but I did complete a 75 or so page report for the Erie County Historical Society on the Nicholsons, one of Erie County PA’s early pioneer families.
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