A Thank You Note to Amy Johnson Crow

Dear Amy,

Thank you for a fantastic journey. I don’t know if I ever would have taken such a big step on my own. Your 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge is the reason that I began my blog on 23 January 2014. Although people who drop by may think that I began in 2012 as I’ve included some things I wrote on my Facebook page prior to your challenge.

I shared #1, #2, and #3 on our closed family group on Facebook. It was going so well that I decided to start a blog so that I could also reach the more distant cousins.

I had a plan and followed it! Not only did I write a story for every paternal ancestor from my father to my 4th great-grandparents, I got my family tree cleaned up, added sources, made new discoveries, met other genealogy bloggers, and found new cousins. And a secret dream to write something that someone would enjoy reading came true.

The challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor.

Who could have known when you wrote this on January 3, 2014 that you would start an avalanche of family stories.

I plan on continuing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (2015 Edition) next year. Love your idea of doing optional week themes but I have another idea! I’ll be posting my schedule for 2015 before the end of the year.

Merry Christmas and thank you Amy!!

Best wishes,
Cathy