Looking back at May, I realize that I wasn’t able to research a whole lot. Life got very hectic in the middle of the month when my husband was in a bad car accident that left him unharmed but his car very harmed. It was a total loss and we had to shop for a new car, which is always surprisingly time consuming. Between that and his negotiating for and accepting a new job, I probably went two weeks without doing any genealogy research.
I love doing daily research, so this made me feel really disconnected from my ancestors. Over Memorial Day weekend, I got back into it, thank goodness. I went to my research log and was reminded that I’d been transcribing deeds recently.
I’m here to tell you that transcribing deeds isn’t my idea of a great time. Which is probably why I didn’t get an itch to research when other priorities took over. So I shook things up a little, just to make things more interesting.
I’ve been researching my Adams family line for the last 16 months. Desperate to get away from deed transcribing, I poked around on Ancestry and took a look at the small family tree of my first cousin (my father’s sister’s daughter). She had the parents of our great grandmother listed (though not sourced). I took that clue and ran with it. I found conflicting evidence and I have not yet resolved who my second great grandparents are, but I’m all energized by the possibilities. I enjoyed the digging and the problem solving.
I think that I will shift my genealogy focus from my father’s paternal Adams line to his maternal line, the Rascos, at the end of the quarter (or perhaps before). I’m feeling the need to explore some fresh names.
I loved being focused on the Adamses for so long because I was able to remember who was who and it kept clarity in my research. But after more than a year with them, I’m taking the blinders off and shifting to the Rascos. I’ll stay focused, just on something else. That feels good and exciting to me.
How about you? Do you focus on a specific family group or line in a single session, month or quarter? Or do you like to mix it up?
Glad your husband is OK!
Thank you, Steve! We feel very fortunate, especially since he was driving a small car.
Glad your husband was not hurt. Sorry about the car. I have been doing Census research, so I have dealt with various families. I am getting a little bored with transcribing the census. May try to research a single family on a monthly basis and see how that goes.
Thanks for your comment, Jerry. Yeah, sticking to a single source type can get a little monotonous. I think the trick is to balance the need for variety while maintaining enough focus to keep from falling down the rabbithole.
I also share Steve and Jerry’s relief for you.
In addition, I am relieved that you aren’t shifting focus away from genealogy!!
I have often jumped around too much, and I really need to concentrate on lines to build that richness. Lately, I’ve been focused on learning technologies better… Genome Mate Prod for bringing all my tested relatives and their matches together and solving puzzles.
Also, building a cousin spreadsheet to track my email conversations and notes with them (when they are strictly records and not DNA, this is handy).
You’ll be PROUD to know that I’m AT LAST a research log user! I finally turned that corner.
I think once I’ve done these foundational things, I’m going to work on learning better citations and start along my Brady line all the way up. I’ve started contributing to WikiTree, hence the need to do higher quality work!
So, I’m going to actually experiment with concentrating on a line. I tell you just one email from a new cousin from any line is guaranteed to get me running after new rabbits!
Oh, gosh, I didn’t think about how the post title might be interpreted. I doubt I’ll ever shift my focus from genealogy!
Bravo to you for keeping a research log!! I hope that you’ve found it helpful. Enjoy your research!
Good to hear your husband came through that car accident. I have taken a bit of a turn on my own family history, wanting to leave it so that my children and grandchildren will understand the research. As such, I am building Biographical Sketches for my ancestors. Each one, yikes! However the excerise reminds me of what is missing and where to go. I am finding that having kept research logs for this endeavor is paying off in a huge way. I have sent the first one off to my kids to see if they, as non genealogists, found it understandable and valuable. They loved it. So, I am working at doing one every day, and have “completed” 8 of them, with a list of follow up research to do on the weekend.
Wow! That is awesome!!
I’d love to read one of your biological sketches! The ones I’ve attempted have everything to be desired!
I based the bio sketches on those found on the NEGHS. They offer templates for their members. I would be happy to share one of them, I will leave that to Janine to decide, meanwhile, http://www.americanancestors.org will have some examples.
Maria, I would love to run one of your bio sketches as a guest post, with the link to the NEGHS website. Feel free to email me one. That’d be great!
My thanks to both of you!!!
That is amazing and wonderful, Maria. What a gift you are giving your children, and genealogists to come! I love your daily diligence!
Glad your husband is ok. It is sure an inconvenience to have to deal with the car but glad he is good. My 86 year old mother is about to meet a newly discovered 83 year old 2nd cousin. I get to go too and am so happy. We’ve been tweaking that family branch on the tree.
Barbara, what a wonderful meeting that will be. I’m so glad you get to be there! That’s a glorious outcome of genealogy research!
Glad the car not your husband took the brunt of the accident! I always try to research one member, but so many of them lived in the same area it is hard not to spread out.
Carol, I find it virtually impossible not to take a look at a different family member I find in the same source as the one I’m researching! I just try to ratchet my attention back to the subject at hand. Thanks for commenting!