No resolutions and no promises were made for 2019. I wanted to work on whatever needed to be researched, reviewed, or updated.
Researching and writing without a schedule worked for a while. I wrote about my 3rd great-grandfather William CLONCH’s estate and the strange goings-on in the lives of his sons John and Alex, my 2nd great-grandfather.
With the questions on the CLONCH line answered, I realized I needed to formulate a research plan and/or schedule. Which families or geographical areas did I want to work on while leaving me time to keep up with new matches on my brother’s AncestryDNA test?
My children’s ancestors had been covered from their grandparents to their 5th great-grandparents during three rounds of Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors. The 6th great-grandparents were waiting to be reviewed, researched, and written about. The posts were supposed to be short and informative but the couples I started with were a bit more complicated than expected.
Johannes HAMES (c1756-1826) and Agnes BOUR alias HEITZ (1755-1836) were first up and I was able to write about them in a single post. While researching Remacle TRAUSCH (1761-1804) and Theresia BRAUN (1766-1798), I felt I needed to prove his parents and her parents which led to proving their parents. I ended up writing a series of seven posts. The same thing happened with Jean MAJERUS (1766-1852) and Margretha BREGER (1767-1851) and with Hubert CORNELY (ca. 1753-1816) and Margaretha EVEN (1756-1839). I wrote five posts for the first couple and three for the second. At this rate, I’d not be getting one couple done per week as I’d hoped. But I was getting some great research done as well as discovering new generations of ancestors for these lines.
The Slave Name Roll Project was put on ice in April as I worked only with Luxembourg civil and church records. It’s a bit difficult to find slave names when you aren’t working with US records.
My DNA results were ready in October. Research and writing were put on hold while I set up all my tools and worked on matches I didn’t have in common with my brother.
In December, wanting to get back to blogging regularly, I wrote about Holiday Traditions. These short posts about the season reminded me that genealogy also means saving the stories of the present and not only the past.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the content I added to my blog this year and the stats look good.
A Milestone in 2019
On the 4th of December, the total blog followers reached 500!
Posts, Views, and Viewers
During 2019 I wrote less than one post a week. This will be the 50th post, one less than last year. In comparison, I wrote 88 in 2017 and 129 in 2016. Views will be a little below 2018 while visitors remained the same.
Top posts for 2019
ThruLines™ Introduced by Ancestry: TrueLines or TrueLies?
I Found the Coolest Site to Use for Land Records in West Virginia
Wowsers! Ancestry Fixed My ThruLines
Look Who’s Finally Taken the Autosomal DNA Test
I No Longer Need that Lookup, Folks! – a reminder to check the FamilySearch catalog
Referrers
Google Search brought the most visitors and views to my blog followed by Facebook, WordPress Android App, and WordPress Reader. Number five referrer was Linda Stufflebean’s Friday’s Family History Finds on Empty Branches on the Family Tree. Thank you, Linda, for the mentions.
I Published a Book
One of my proudest moments in 2019 was when I received my first blog book. Now I need to find time to get the rest of the content of my blog ready to print.
What’s Coming in 2020?
- I want to get back to working on my children’s 6th great-grandparents on a more regular basis AND write a single post about each set.
- I’d like to write about DNA discoveries and highlight the tools I’ve been using.
- The Slave Name Roll Project will come back monthly.
- Several updates on older posts are in the works.
- The Old Photographs Saved From Trash Can series’ final post, a synopsis of the family connections made during the process of writing about over 150 photos, still needs to be written. This was promised back in March 2017 and I never got around to working on it.
Happy New Year 2020. May it bring peace and hope for a better world and new keys to open the doors in your brick walls!
© 2019, copyright Cathy Meder-Dempsey. All rights reserved.
Happy New Year, Cathy! Looking forward to following your adventures in 2020.
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I’m looking forward to following yours as well. Happy New Year to you and yours, Amy.
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Happy New Year Cathy! Cheryl and I are wishing you and your family the best of the new year to come! You continue to mentor and inspire me…Rock on!! Brian
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Thank you, Brian. You also inspire me. Happy New Year to you and Cheryl.
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Happy New Year Cathy. I enjoy reading your blogs. I like to learn more about Luxembourg and my ancestors.
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I think we still need to find a connection, Richard. Happy New Year to you and yours.
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HaPpY New Year Cathy! – I’m so looking forward to hearing all the news and research from Luxembourg! Thank You so Much for contributing to the Slave Name Roll Project! You did so much in this decade on behalf of that. You truly Opened Doors and tore down some Brick Walls for fellow researchers to take a step forward! I’ll forever be Grateful that I can tell my Descendants that I knew the Woman who did that! – Here is to so many more memories we will make in 2020! love always, True-
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Dearest True, the “woman who did it” will be forever grateful for your guidance. I don’t know if anyone is keeping up Schalene’s blog she set up for the Slave Name Roll Project or if she’s turned it over to another site. If you hear anything, please let me know. For now, I will continue to do the posts under the SNRP title and share on Facebook and Twitter. Love from your blog sister, Cathy.
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Happy New Year!! We love you!
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I love all of you too, Buddy. Wish we were closer. Happy New Year to both of you.
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Best wishes for 2020, Cathy.
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Thank you, Dara. I look forward to your posts in 2020!
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Happy New Year Cathy! Looking forward to all your posts this coming year!
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Happy New Year, Becky. I love it when close family is interested.
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Glad my Friday Finds are bringing you new readers and thank you for the mention. 🙂 Have a happy, healthy, and (genealogically) prosperous 2020.
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I like that! A genealogically prosperous 2020 to you too, Linda.
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Hi Cathy, Looking forward to read your posts. Happy New Year! 🙂
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Hi Diane, I’m also looking forward to reading all my blogging friends’ post in the new year. Wishing you a great 2020!
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