The Year in Review

 

A rather challenging and different year is almost over, and as I usually do at this time, I'm looking back at the genealogical highlights.  Feel free to make your own responses to each question.

1.  An elusive ancestor I found was - Not much as far as new ancestors go, this year I have concentrated on fleshing out people I already know about.

2.  A precious family photo I found was - my aunt Phyllis's 100th birthday several years ago.  I have finally printed out the photos I took and added them to my family album.

3.  An ancestor's grave I found was - My great great grandfather John Clark, buried in the same cemetery as his wife Ann, son James Nicholas and several other relatives.  The graves are not together, but cemetery records show they are there.  Now I just need to visit the cemetery in person to see his grave myself.

4.  An important record I found was - the death notices for my great grandfather James Nicholas Clark.  Not only was there a notice for him by his family, but also one from the Masonic Lodge of which he was a member.  I had no idea James was a Mason until I saw the notice in Trove.  Now I need to investigate further...

5.  A newly found family member shared - notes on common ancestors.  I keep basic trees on several sites - Ancestry, FamilySearch, My Heritage, etc mainly as 'cousin bait' to make contact with others researching in the same tree so we can share information - and every now and then I strike it lucky.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was - so many genealogical websites, archives and companies who made special effort to keep going during the pandemic.  From the National Archives UK making all their digital records free while in lockdown to Ancestry allowing libraries who subscribed to Ancestry Library Edition to let their patrons access the database from home, so many went out of their way to keep us all researching.

7.  A new piece of software or website I mastered was - the updated Trove website.  While I am still not convinced I like it better than the old version, spending time getting to know the ins and outs of the new site has been useful.

8. A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was - Zoom.  Online meetings and get togethers have been the order of the year, with so many planned activities, conferences and meetings having to be cancelled by the pandemic.

9. A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new was - Family History Down Under.  Another conference which was held online, I have spent time during various lockdowns catching up on all the wonderful presentations, taking notes and using new knowledge and inspiration in my family history research.

10. I am proud of the presentation I gave at/to - sadly, nothing this year.

11. I taught a friend how to - use Ancestry from Home via my library's website.  Al huge thank you to Ancestry for making this possible.

12. A great repository/archive/library I visited was - the National Archives UK - online.  I've downloaded a number of wills and other digital records this year while the website so generously made them free.

13. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was - Six Tudor Queens - a series of six fiction books by historian Alison Weir, focusing on each of King Henry VIII's wives.

14. An achievement during lockdown was - a major cleanout and re-organisation of my family history files.  Something I have been meaning to do for a while now, I used time at home to sort all my printed and digital documents, make sure they were recorded and noted in my family history file and on my PC.  I've been pretty good at keeping things straight, but have occasionally missed printing a digital record or digitising a paper record.  A big job to get up to date.

15. Another positive I would like to share is ... The way the genealogical community has come together during the pandemic to keep going, change how we operate, go online.  So many meetings, classes and conferences were held online, meetings went virtual too, and so many resources were made temporarily available online when archives and offices closed.