JANUARY REVIEW
Blogging
My goal was 8 posts; I had 12!
Education – Book
Instead of reading Biedler’s German book, I read Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case, 4th Edition Revised by Christine Rose and participated a little with the DearMYRTLE group which was studying the book. I wrote two blog posts: week 1 is here, and week 2 is here.
A quick review of the book: The booklet is short at only 56 pages. The five chapters do a great job of explaining the genealogical proof standard. One of my favorite sections was on page 39 when the author listed “six critical questions” for “analysis of evidence.” The questions are:
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- Was it based on primary, secondary or indeterminable information?
- Was it from an original, derivative or authored source?
- Was it direct, indirect or negative evidence?
- When was the record created and recorded?
- Why was the record created?
- Who supplied the data?
On a bit of a negative, though, the font size changed fairly often and some of it was quite small.
Education – Webinars [Each title is a link.]
My goals were to watch at least 4 webinars and finish reading Biedler’s Trace Your German Roots Online: A Complete Guide to German Genealogy Websites. I did a couple of “hangouts” instead of traditional webinars, and I read a different book than the one I’d originally intended.
DearMYRTLE’s WACKY Wednesday – Digital Scrapbooking
This is the first WACKY Wednesday I’ve watched live. In it, Christine Woodcock demonstrated how to use Forever.com to create family heritage books and store photos. If you’re interested in this site, the hangout is especially useful in explaining how you can save money by becoming your own ambassador.
Acumen Presents: Chris Anderson’s on Public Speaking
As I am interested in speaking as a genealogist in the future, I started watching a public speaking course through Udemy by Chris Anderson of TED Talks. One concept he discussed, which is also relevant to writing, is the “through line” which he defined as a “connecting theme that ties together each narrative element.” When you are speaking or writing, every piece should connect to this through line or key idea. If it doesn’t, even if it is interesting, cut it out!
BCG’s Writing Up Your Research by Michael J. Leclerc, CG
I watched BCG’s free monthly webinar “live” in January, but it is also now available on Legacy Family Tree Webinars. A few things I learned:
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- A proofreader is your best friend; they keep you from looking like an idiot.
- Even a blog should be scholarly and include citations.
- Your family history book doesn’t have to be as thick as War and Peace.
DearMYRTLE’s DNAGen with Blaine Bettinger
On Wednesday, January 18th, Dear Myrtle hosted Blaine Bettinger as he discussed the first chapter of Blaine and Debbie Parker Wayne’s book, Genetic Genealogy in Practice. What a treat to work through this book with Blaine! The first chapter and hangout were about basic genetics. Blaine discussed two terms which I’ve just started seeing in the past few months:
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- endogamy – “intermarriage in a group for a prolonged amount of time” so they share more DNA than would typically be expected
- pedigree collapse – “recent intermarriage for just a couple of generations” which I see in, for example, my Tennessee ancestors/cousins who are often related to each other in multiple ways
DNAGenStudy Group 2 is on Wednesday night, February 15th, and you can register here.
Volunteering
Although I had volunteered with indexing at FamilySearch several years ago, I hadn’t done any work with them in several years. For January, I had a goal of 100 records, which I met. I spent the time indexing obituaries from 2010, and it was fascinating! A few highlights:
Tony Curtis (image from Wikipedia)
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- An obituary for Tony Curtis, actor and father of actress Jamie Lee Curtis, which mentioned Princess Diana and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Dr Herbert Spiegel, a psychiatrist who used hypnosis and treated “Sybil” whose multiple personalities inspired a book and two movies.
- An older woman who survived an explosion when she was 5 years old. The explosion killed her sister, her parents, and another child.
My goal was to catch up on my email. This goal was NOT met.
FEBRUARY GOALS
Blogging
Share at least 12 blog posts.
Education -Webinars & Hangouts
Watch at least 4 webinars and/or hangouts.
Education – Books & Magazines
Read Blaine T. Bettinger’s The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy and spend at least one hour reading “old” genealogy magazines which have piled up.
Volunteering
Index at least 100 records at FamilySearch.
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