“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
I’m celebrating 9 years of blogging today. It’s been an incredible journey. Thank you for joining me! Let’s look at a few statistics (or feel free to scroll past them).
All Time Stats of Views by Country
The top country on this list is not a surprise. Coming in second, the 10,599 views from Luxembourg are fantastic when considering the population of this tiny country.
What brought all of these visitors to my blog?
The Top Ten Posts and Pages
Other than the home page/archives, the top ten posts and pages were:
By the end of 2021, I’d written over a million words. Probably three times that many if you take into account edits and re-writes.
As of yesterday, 682 posts were written in nine years. They’ve been viewed 307,593 times by 170,438 visitors.
I’m 6 followers shy of 600!
Looking Back
Before I started blogging, I concentrated mostly on the census, birth, marriage, and death records in my genealogy research. When I started to write the stories I realized my early research had gotten into a rut. Actually, I’d noticed this earlier on, and deciding to start this blog helped me to grow and change.
Over the past three years, the stats on my blog have been going down. I wrote fewer posts as the priorities in my life changed. This has a lot to do with the coronavirus pandemic we’ve been living through. I don’t think the downward trend has hurt my blog.
Looking Toward the Future
Last year as I reviewed blog posts from my first year, I crafted missing source citations (learning while doing) and added them to my database. As I worked on these, research questions I hadn’t thought of came up. It was hard to NOT re-write some of the posts. I’ve saved the questions and hopefully the answers for future posts.
When you’re on a journey, it’s not always smooth sailing. There are canceled flights, delayed trains, and missed buses. My love for genealogy research remains the same. The journey continues, even if the road gets a bit bumpy.
The things I’ve learned over the past nine years have taught me to be a better genealogist, researcher, and writer. I’m going into year 10 motivated and determined to open doors in brick walls by using all the skills that blogging has brought me.
No goals or plans for writing were promised for 2022. Seven posts were published during the year. Of the seven, only four were articles about research and DNA while the remaining three were stats for the new year, blogiversary, and ancestors’ count. My blog was pretty quiet but I was still busy.
During the past year, I worked on adding source citations to the blog posts I wrote in 2014 for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. At the same time, I fixed some of the images, resizing them and adding watermarks. I also created a featured image for each post. Being new to blogging in 2014, I hadn’t used this feature.
Each Sunday I shared the link to the revised post of the week on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. Unfortunately, my email followers didn’t get notifications as these were not NEW posts.
Featured images of a full year of revised posts for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge.
The revised posts were well received in Facebook groups for genealogy with many distant cousins letting me know their connection to our common ancestors.
Making my life easier…
…out with the bad, in with the new.
I joined Twitter in 2015 to share blog posts and follow genealogy friends. Traffic from Twitter grew to about one a day in 2017 but dropped off from there. I deactivated my Twitter account at the end of October 2022 and removed the feed from my blog. It hasn’t been missed it.
I joined Instagram in January 2021 but didn’t really do much with it. In 2022 it was time to use it to share content from my blog. I resized the featured images for the 2014 posts to fit the Instagram format and shared the entire #52Ancestors series during the year. I love the way they look on my profile page!
I began using the free online version of PicMonkey to clean up images and add watermarks towards the end of 2014. Then in 2017 when they locked down some of the features I used, I began paying for the service. In late September 2022, I tried Canva and found that I could do everything I’d been doing with PicMonkey – for free – and canceled the subscription. Featured images for the last quarter of my 52 Ancestors posts were made with Canva.
What’s coming in 2023
Genealogy has been a hobby for 30 years. I’ve evolved during those three decades. As I’ve strived to learn from others, I’ve become a better genealogist. I take more time to research efficiently, record and cite accurately, and analyze the evidence. My blog has become an extension of my research method, a writing tool used to help evaluate the research.
My blog isn’t monetized and blogging isn’t a job. I won’t be making plans or promises for my blog but will reveal a few ideas I have to start off the year.
❦ While revising the 2014 posts, I discovered stories that could be told. I’ve been working on drafts for several of these and hope they will inspire me to become more productive in writing posts.
❦ In a couple of weeks, I’ll be celebrating my 9th blogiversary and will give a brief review of this adventure.
❦ On Valentine’s Day, I’ll bring you the Ancestor Score for the 10th time.
❦ March is going to be about some strong women in my family tree.
We’ll see how it goes from there.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. ~ Albert Einstein
Stats for the year 2021 show I haven’t been as productive as the pre-COVID years, 2019 and 2018, but staying on par with 2020 by writing 35 posts compared to 33 in 2020. Views were much lower at a bit over 34,000 compared to the past three years when they were 40,000+. The number of visitors in 2021 was lower but my followers grew to 577.
By the end of November, I finished writing about half of my maternal fifth great-grandparents. This avenue will not be followed up on any time soon. This was decided at the end of November when I wrote…
I took a break from writing in December hoping to come into the New Year with more energy and enthusiasm. Our lives, however, are often influenced by things we cannot control.
Mom’s husband died unexpectedly early in December. The month was spent helping her get through the first weeks of once again being on her own. I was suddenly made aware of the fact that I need to prepare for my own or my spouse’s death.
Focusing on the American families
Still, with all the behind-the-scenes goings-on in our lives, I hope to do more research and write blog posts on my paternal lines that have been in America for 250 years and longer.
There are no goals, no promises, or any kind of schedule for my blog posts in 2022. With less than usual time for genealogy, I’ve become more conscientious about keeping a log via entries in the Research Manager of Ancestral Quest and noting results that might make interesting reading on my blog.
Amy Johnson Crow started my blogging journey in 2014 with her very first edition of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I did three years of #52Ancestors (not consecutively). Yesterday, just to get some fresh ideas, I signed up for the 2022 edition and was delighted to read that she is changing things up a bit this year. I may try her new spin on the challenge…
Wishing you beautiful moments, treasured memories, and all the happiness a heart can know. Happy New Year 2022!
The year 2020 got off to a good start on my blog with The Ancestors series. The plan was 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. The WOOD, McGRAW, HONEGGER, and WISEMAN 6th great-grandparents (all on my paternal side) were done before Luxembourg went into COVID19 lockdown in mid-March. As these distant ancestors become more difficult to research and write about, a single post is not always feasible as seen in my having to break up the HONEGGER post into two parts.
A few how-to posts on using the block editor on WordPress, Luxembourg birth and marriage records, and an updated post on transferring AncestryDNA raw DNA files to Gedmatch got me to the end of the year.
Posts, Views, and Viewers
As you can see by the year in review, 2020 was not as productive as previous years on my blog. I wrote 33 posts compared to 50 in 2019 and 51 in 2018. Views were a bit lower than in the past two years but still 40,547. A total of 23,348 viewers visited my blog during the year. The number of followers grew from 500, a milestone reached in December 2019, to 544 by the end of 2020.
Even though it was quiet on my blog during the summer months, I was still busy.
Mom’s AncestryDNA results came in a few days before the first lockdown. I went through each of the steps I’d set up for my brother’s and my own test. The matches were clustered using Jonathan Brecher’s Shared Clustering Tool and notes with the cluster numbers were transferred to Ancestry. The raw DNA file was uploaded to FTDNA, MyHeritage, and Gedmatch. All DNA data (from the four sites) was imported into Genome Mate Pro, my major repository for DNA matches, trees, notes, correspondence, chromosome segments, mapping, and analysis.
I spent several Mondays in Walferdange at the Luxracines archive working with two other ladies from our genealogy society. With the archive being closed to the public, we had time to work on the inventory of the books in our collection, set up a classification system, and labeled all books with identifying numbers. The library was ready to receive visitors on an appointment basis due to COVIC19 restrictions. But before long we were once again under a soft lockdown and then a more strict lockdown at the end of the year. Other members of Luxracines were busy extracting marriages that took place in Belgium for people born in Luxembourg under the direction of our president Rob Deltgen.
I spent 241 hours (121 days out of 365) riding my racing bike with my husband. My longest activity was 114 kilometers. I rode a total of 5,657 kilometers while he chalked up 10,100 kilometers.
And still, I had time to keep up with new DNA matches. I developed a new color system for my AncestryDNA matches. It is so brilliant that I plan on sharing it in a future post. What I had before was good but this is even better – and transferred over to chromosome mapping it clearly shows from which of my father’s four grandparents matches with MRCAs are coming from.
What’s coming in 2021
Along with the last mentioned, I’d like to write about DNA discoveries and highlight the tools I’ve been using.
I hope I will be inspired by my mother’s DNA matches to work on my children’s 6th great-grandparents who have not yet been introduced here.
With two of her five children tested, Mom’s results include one 2C1R, three 3C2R, three 3C3R, and all other matches being “4th cousins or more distant.” Mom was an only child, had only three first cousins (1 paternal and 2 maternal), and her entire ancestry lies in the “greater” Luxembourg area. Clusters of matches include descendants of Luxembourg and German (from areas once part of Luxembourg) emigrants who for the most part settled in the US.
One FOURNELLE post still needs to be written on my 5th great-grandparents Pierre FOURNELLE (1713-1765) and Jeanne NEU (1723-1783) to complete the line between my grandmother Marie Marcelle FOURNELLE (1909-2005) and her most distant FOURNELLE ancestor.
These are things I would like to work on in 2021 but I’m not setting goals. 2020 taught us to slow down and enjoy what we can as long as we can. The year also brought blessings in the form of a granddaughter, our first grandchild.
Happy New Year 2021. May it be filled with hope and a brighter future.
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.
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.
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!
….get my money’s worth out a 6-month Ancestry.com subscription.
I believe one of my ancestors was looking out for me over the holidays. Ancestry.com was offering $10 off their regular $99 price for the 6-month gift subscription of the US collection and I wanted it.
I tried to get the offer but was thrown in a loop going from Choose gift to Pay now to Choose gift to Pay now to Choose gift. I could NOT get to the billing page. I was told to try another browser or call in. I gave up before the offer ran out on Christmas Day even after I found a browser I don’t use which worked. I’m kind of stubborn that way.
Two days after Christmas I see 50% off on the regular $99 price!! Stubbornness on my part or someone looking out for me? Whatever, this time billing worked!
In May 2013 when Ancestry said, “We’ll be seeing you” they didn’t know it would be two and a half years later. 🙂
The four Virginia Vital Records databases at Ancestry, primarily “Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014,” were the reason I finally caved in and took this great deal for six months. Let the research work begin….
Last Saturday I participated in an interesting visit of the Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (National Library of Luxembourg) with my genealogy society Luxracines.
A Brief History
The origins of the Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (BnL) date back to 1798, a time when French troops occupied the former duchy. In 1802 part of it’s most ancient collections, the manuscripts from the Benedictine Abbey of Echternach, were moved to the National Library of France. The library went from being a central library of the Département des Forêts (during French occupation) to ownership by the city of Luxembourg after 1815. The Luxembourg state, after gaining independence through the Treaty of London in 1839, reclaimed ownership in 1848 when the name was changed to Bibliothèque de Luxembourg. In 1899 following a rise in national sentiment among the Luxembourgish population, the name was changed to the present form, Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg. It’s role as an encyclopaedic library to the education system prevailed during the early years. Today BnL is also a heritage library.
The BnL has been housed in the former Athénée grand-ducal (Athenaeum), located next to the Cathédrale de Luxembourg, since 1973. To give you an idea of the age of the building, the Athenaeum was originally founded in 1603 by the Jesuit Order. Steel beams have been added in the old building to support the weight of the collections housed there.
Luxembourg’s national library is a small institution compared to other national libraries. It is the largest repository in Luxembourg with 1.5 million physical documents and a growing number of digital publications. The library is bursting at it’s seams and at the moment documents are located at several different sites.
Introduction by Mr. Pascal Nicolay
Before taking us on a tour of the premises, Mr. Pascal Nicolay, librarian and documentalist, explained the mission and collections of the library.
An important role of the library is the collection of cultural heritage of Luxembourg. Materials printed on different media (books, periodicals, video, CD, DVD) and produced nationally are preserved for the future generations. Because several languages are spoken in Luxembourg publications are usually simultaneously produced in Luxembourgish, French, German and English. This means that the number of copies kept is greater than in a country with only one language.
Through legal deposit BnL collects and makes all Luxembourgish publications accessable in their comprehensive collection. This is a legal requirement to submit a certain number of copies of a publication to a repository, usually the national library of a country.
Léa Linster signing books Nov 8, 2011 in Bitburg. Photo credit: Egon Meder, used with permission.
They also collect works published in other countries which deal with Luxembourg in some way. If a book published in another country includes a biography of a well known personality from Luxembourg, the library takes steps to acquire the required number of copies of the publication. For example, a German publication on restaurants in Europe may include a section on the Luxembourgish chef Léa Linster, gold medal winner of the 1989 Bocuse d’Or, the first and to date only woman to accomplish this.
More importantly, for the genealogist, the library collects publications that may mention the not so well known people. Top of the list are newspapers followed by town bulletins; political parties paraphernalia; local fire department anniversary brochures which often discuss early members of the corps, history of the “house names” and town; yearbooks. Imagine the stories that can be told about an ancestor mentioned in any of these.
The Tour
We began the tour by visiting some of the rooms accessible to the public. The periodical room where, for example, patrons can read the daily newspapers or recent publications that may be harder to find on the local newspaper stand. The tiny microfilm room where newspapers can be viewed and prints made. Very old newspapers, from 1850 and earlier, can be found and searched on BnL’s eluxemburgensia site. The general reference (dictionaries, encyclopias, etc.) and more specific reference (agriculture, science, etc.) material also has a place in the library.
The best part was when Mr. Nicolay took us “behind the scenes” into the areas not normally accessible to the public. We saw books stored in electrically powered shelving systems and hand crank shelving systems.
Shelves filled with old, old books!
We climbed up a spiral staircase to the attic where old wooden beams held together by wooden dowels could be seen along the full length of the building.
Banana boxes filled with books are stacked in the spaces between shelving.
Fire extinguishers are everywhere. The fire department can be on site in five minutes. However there is no modern sprinkling system in the building.
Back in the public area we saw the multi-media room where material can be viewed or loaned out for a week.
Finally, in the projection room, Mr. Nicolay explained how their collections can be searched from the library’s homepage using the new joint search interface of Luxembourg’s libraries’ network a-z.lu.
With a free library card patrons can order material online that they are interested in borrowing or viewing at the library. Orders can be picked up at the library a half hour later.
Unlike other national libraries, the Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg is a loaning library and allows patrons to “check out” books, periodicals, multimedia, etc. with a valid library card.
As mentioned in the begining the library has outgrown its location. Last month a ground breaking ceremony took place for Luxembourg’s new National Library. The construction is is estimated to take four years to complete.
This was the first time I’d set foot in a library since I was in college in 1977. One of my favorite pastimes while going to school was the hour once a week when we went to the library. Beelining to the biography section or fiction for the newest Nancy Drew, learning how to use the card catalogue and how to research. I didn’t know at the time that those skills would help me later with my genealogy research.
Next time I go to Luxembourg City I’m going to apply for a library card. I want to learn how to use the National Library before they move into their new premises, hopefully, in 2018!
The BnL has been housed in the former Athénée grand-ducal (Athenaeum), located next to the Cathédrale de Luxembourg, since 1973. To give you an idea of the age of the building, the Athenaeum was originally founded in 1603 by the Jesuit Order. Steel beams have been added in the old building to support the weight of the collections housed there.
Opening Doors in Brick Walls 