We have an especially large group of folks who said they were participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge. (There are 40 of you!) It’s the middle of the month. I’d love to hear how it’s going!
For me, it’s been a great 30 x 30. Because of the challenge, I’ve elevated family history research to the top of my daily task list. And because I have new Trello task-management system that puts my daily tasks in front of me, I’ve researched each and every day this month. I forgot about it one day, on a Sunday that I didn’t spent time at my computer. But I did remember in time to put in a little research, though not 30 minutes. I wanted to be able to say that I haven’t missed a day. Most days I researched more than 30 minutes, because I have so much more free time.
Early in the month, I found an obituary on newspapers.com that required a premium subscription. So I signed up for a seven-day free trial and spent those seven days finding and downloading articles on various family members. (I then canceled the premium subscription.) I’ve spent the time since them processing all those downloaded articles (creating source citations, gleaning facts and entering them into Reunion and filing the articles). So I’ve had plenty of enjoyable stuff to keep me busy.
How about you? If you signed up for the challenge (or even if you didn’t), please feel free to let us know in the comments how your research month is going.
Truth be told, not well at all.
Although here’s a chance to do 30 in 15!
Thanks!
That’s right! You can start any time!
Janine I used the Trello to organise a project to research my mothers grandfather. It works well got distracted by doing some research for a friend but have been doing at least half an hour usually more each day
I’m glad to hear you’re using Trello. I love Trello though I haven’t yet integrated it into my genealogy life as much. Good on you for getting in your half hour a day!
I’ve been steadily working through scanning old family photos. It’s been a double blessing as I’ve run across photos of family members I never knew, I’ve emailed them to some of my older relatives and they’ve been so thankful I shared them. It’s amazing how many of them have also been going through old photos, too. Several have shared pictures they had of my parents, ones I’d never seen. So far, I’ve completed 2 large envelopes (previously organized by another cousin and my mom). I also found two notebooks my grandmother (born 1879) recorded family notes in. I’m currently working on digitizing these to study and share later.
What a wonderful project, Zenda! And what a treasure those notebooks are. So happy for you.
This had been a great time. I’ve almost completed my reference center in Evernote by scanning and filing webinar notes and articles. I’ve also scanned title pages and table of contents of my genealogy reference books and added these to an Evernote personal genealogy library.
It’s wonderful to know what references I have and be able to easily retrieve these items.
I’ve actually spent much more than 30 minutes daily. (I’m keeping an Excel 30 x 30 record of the time and what I’ve done.)
Thanks so much for this challenge.
Gwen in North Carolina
Your Evernote reference center sound amazing, Gwen! So glad the challenge has helped.
It’s been a great challenge thus far. I’ve only missed one day, and it’s given me the opportunity to prove out a new research log approach. The new approach is going quite well–easy to use, better than what I was doing, and just may be ‘good enough’! I should know better by month’s end.
Hooray, Russ! I’m looking forward to a full report at the end of the month. Can’t wait to hear your new research log approach.
I was able to finish (finally) one major project. I’ve been working on the research for over seven years, and now I can share it, but that’s another project. I was researching my husband’s Civil War Vet grandfather, with only a handful of clues provided by one of his granddaughters in 1978. It’s been an interesting challenge because the easiest way to do this research was from the 1830s (finding evidence of his parents and siblings) up to the 1910s. I now have a 125 page spiral-bound book containing the results of this search, including an extended family chart, illustrated evidence and working citations. The information is in ten-year increments. Each ten-year section is further divided by each direct-line family member’s section listing the evidence by date. I also included as many images of each piece of evidence. Sounds complicated, but it was the only way that I could control and visualize what I found. I had the fun of pulling together the evidence to confirm two parents, one set of grandparents, siblings and their kids over a hundred years. The concept of the FAN Club (Family And Neighbors) was a great help. So YAY for that project. Now I have to contact archives to find multiple homes for this information. The working title is “PERSONAL, ON-GOING RESEARCH RESULTS: Evidence of the Parents and Siblings of William Crum (1844-1900), Husband Of Isabella Megonigle (1845-1936), Ohio, Iowa, and Creighton, Knox, County Nebraska”. This helped me control scope creep. I’m hoping to have two weeks of this 30 X 30 left to then start sorting photos to be scanned. Thanks for the challenge! It has worked for me this time.
Joan, this sounds amazing! Congratulations!! I love how you clearly defined the scope so that you could actually FINISH the project. Fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing the details.
It’s not happening every day here, although I’ve had some days I’ve gone “down the rabbit hole” for hours. And I’m getting my genealogy office set back up after I was evicted by my husband needing to work at home.
Donna, congrats on getting your genealogy office back! I hope you’re enjoying it!
So far I have been able to do my 30-60 minutes per day. I completed the transcription of the 1870 – 1940 U.S. Census for my side of the family. I resumed the documentation for one of my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. In my documentation I did spot a shinning object so I jumped down the rabbit hole. I had fun doing it and I am back to my documentation.
Congrats on your daily research! Sometimes jumping down that rabbit hole is a nice reward for your diligence. Glad you’re enjoying the challenge.
I am more than on track. I got my blog cleaned up with a bit of re-organizing and lightened the image load to cut down on the size of the website. I am back to researching and finding some difficult to track descendants. I’m enjoying this month’s challenge.
So glad this month’s challenge is enjoyable, Linda! Good for you for spending time cleaning up your blog. That’s not my idea of a good time. 🙂
I have been organizing the information that I have. I have sorted my pictures by family and are ready to scan. I have learned how to use a negative scanner I was given to scan a box of negatives. I went thru my excel sheets and figured out which worked the best and made blank ones that I could make copies for each family. Sorted my research and found information that answered questions that I had been searching for. So I would say I’m having a great month.
Wow, you’ve been productive Trisha! It’s so great when in the process of organizing your research you find answers you’ve been searching for! So glad it’s a great month.
I have not been having a great month. (I have only gotten the equivalent of 7 days of genealogy research done.) However, this month isn’t over yet! I’m hoping to be able to catch up by the time this month is over!
You’re right, Rebecca. The month’s not over. And any research you do is better than no research!
I wasn’t able to commit to the 30 in 30 challenge this month. However, I’ve been doing a little bit as often as I can. I had an epiphany of sorts in March due to the 3 month stay at home order my state has been in. One was that I’ve put other people’s dreams (and I’m not talking family members) in front of my own dreams. The other was my dreams are just as important even if they aren’t earth shattering life changing dreams. Thus, I really have made genealogy an important part of my day now. These 30 in 30 challenges are a nice way to be motivated and connect with others.
Mary, that is quite an epiphany you had! That’s terrific. Enjoy pursuing your genealogy dreams.