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Search Results for: 30 x 30 challenge

Preparing for the 1950 census release

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April 1, the day the 1950 U.S. Census will be released, is less than a month away. While I declared that my March 30 x 30 challenge would be around watching RootsTech classes, it hasn’t worked out that way. Instead, I’m focusing more on getting ready for the 1950 census release.

I managed to work on both those goals simultaneously by watching Steve Morse’s RootsTech session called Getting Ready for the 1950 Census: Searching With and Without a Name Index last week. This is 50-minute session with great instruction on how to use Morse’s Unified 1950 Census ED Finder to find the enumeration districts of your relatives whose 1950 addresses in case you can’t find by using the index. (By the way, there’s a transcript version of that session, including the slides, here.)

So I’m busy filling out my spreadsheet of ancestors to look for with enumeration districts to check out on the morning of April 1. (I probably won’t stay until midnight to do it in the wee hours of the day.)

I blogged about Marian Burke Wood’s terrific presentation to the Kentucky State Historical Society on preparing for the census release. Today I received an email with a link to a video short of tips extracted from that talk. (And there’s a transcript!)

Other great resources for the 1950 census include this page from the Genealogical Forum of Oregon with information on the 1950 census, including instructions to enumerators, blank forms and a sample filled-in questionnaire. The site also has links to instructions for creating a list of ancestors who were alive in 1950 in Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree and RootsMagic.

The National Archives is holding a series of webinars this spring on the 1950 census. Check out this webpage for the schedule and for links to past webinars in the series.

According to the National Archives 1950 census page, there will be a name index for the 1950 census as soon as it’s released. But since it’s created by artificial intelligence, there are bound to be inaccuracies. That’s why I’m looking up enumeration districts so I don’t spend my April Fool’s Day being frustrated. The National Archives is asking for our help in correcting the AI-generated index. There will be a transcription tool we can use to help. Check out NARA’s 1950 webpage for more information.

Where will we go to look for the 1950 census on April 1? If I’m reading NARA’s 1950 census page right, it will be available right on their page.

Keeping track of my backlog busting

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One of my primary goals in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge is to get rid of the formidable backlog of documents to be processed that I had let pile up. I had a backlog of 88 files that I had not processed. I disappoint myself when I do that. But I’m bound and determined to get caught up this month.

To help keep me motivated, I created a little spreadsheet as I’ve done in the past. Here’s what it looks like:

I started January with 77 backlogged files because I was able to reduce the number from 88 in late December. Here are a few things I like about this spreadsheet:

  • I can highlight the Amount of Time Worked column and see the total number of minutes for the month and average number of minutes worked per day. (Right now, I’m at 3 hours of work and an average of 32 minutes a day.)
  • Entering the numbers and watching the # remaining column go down is very motivating to me!
  • If I have to do a little research that results in my downloading documents in order to process a document, this spreadsheet takes that into account. I want to have a net reduction each session!

I do this in Numbers on my Mac, but it could easily be done in Excel or Google Sheets. I’ve also been keeping track of the types of documents I’m processing my informal Evernote research log.

I hope you find this a little bit helpful and that your 30 x 30 challenge is going as well as mine!

 

My 2022 genealogy goals

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Are you a goal setter? I sure am. Every year I set aside a day to work on my personal and business goals. This year, I did it on December 16. But I ran out of time to consider my personal genealogy goals, so I did that this morning.

I sat down with a pad of paper and I did a little brainstorming session with myself. I achieved some clarity really fast. The release of the 1950 census on April 1 creates a natural break in the year. I decided to focus the first quarter of the year on preparing for that day and cleaning up my existing research. The latter three quarters will be about new research and avoiding a backlog.

So here’s what I decided:

First quarter 2022:

Rest of 2022:

  • Glean as much information from the 1950 census as possible
  • Shift my family focus to the Jeffries line (that’s my maternal grandmother’s line)
  • Do a deep dive on my Civil War ancestor Richard Anderson Jeffries

One overarching intention for the year is to try harder to do daily research. For the last few years, I’ve found that in the absence of a 30 x 30 challenge, I ignore my research. Sometimes, I’m able to sustain daily research for months at a time, but that’s fallen by the wayside. In 2022, I’m going to try to do at least a little something every single day to keep my mind in the game. I know that, for me, that means researching in the early morning. Perhaps I’ll try to go to bed a little earlier so I can get up earlier to accomplish this. I plan a 30 x 30 challenge starting January 1, 2022, so I’ll have that support as I kick off the year.

I realize that I didn’t so much set goals this year as clarify my focus. And that’s good enough for me. It feels great. The plan for the year feels simple and attainable.

If you’ve set goals that you feel like sharing, please share in the comments. I’d love to hear them!

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

August 2021 mid-month check in!

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It’s almost half way through the month and since I ordinarily post on Tuesdays and Fridays, I thought I’d do the mid-month check in for the 30 x 30 challenge a little early.

How’s it going? For those of you participating in the challenge, have you been able to get in 30 minutes a day?

My challenge is going very well. Except for last Saturday, when I forgot (it was a particularly busy day), I have researched each day. It hasn’t been 30 minutes every day but I did have one session that was nearly three hours so I’ve averaged 38 minutes per session. Yesterday I got through the last document in my backlog of unprocessed files. I started out with 20 in my backlog and was whittling it down until Day 8 when I added 16 files. (Yikes!) So I’m glad to have it down to zero. Now I get to do some new research. This feels great.

In case you’re interested, here’s a screenshot of the Surnames Backlog spreadsheet I created a while back that helps me focus on getting rid of the backlog during a 30 x 30 challenge. I also add the amount of time I researched so I have a nice record. (You can click on the image to see a larger version.)

How about you? Please leave a comment and let everyone know how your 30 x 30 is going!