Friday, January 1, 2016

My Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2016

I last updated my Genea-Musings readers on the "numbers" in my genealogy database in Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2015 (and before that in Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2014.)  I was curious to see how much progress I had made in the last 12 months.

Here is the family tree database summary from RootsMagic on 1 January 2016:




Here are the "numbers" from 1 January 2016 in my RootsMagic database (with increases from 2015):

*  45,389 persons (+ 1,403)
*  18,170 families  (+ 498)
*  144,622 events  (+ 8,196)
*  8,862 places (+ 1,025)  
*  1,312 sources (+ 177)
*  68,295 citations (+ 10,512)
*  1,124 Multi-media Items (+ 53)

*  3,047 2,888 Multimedia links (+159)


In the past 12 months, I've averaged adding 22 events and 29 source citations a day.  I've been trying to work at least an hour in the evening (since baseball season ended) adding sources to the database, although vacations and the holidays intervene.  Consequently, I've  managed to improve my  citations/person from 131.37% to 150.46%, and my Citations/Events from 42.35% to 47.22%.  Obviously, I don't have a citation for every event, and in some cases I have more than one citation for an event.  At that rate, to reach 100% in citations/events will take about 20 more years!  

I added over 1,400 persons to my database in 2015, some in my son-in-law's Lincoln and Lowell lines, and also from further research on my ancestral families.  Some additions are the result of systematically "mining" online databases (notably vital records and newspaper records) using MyHeritage Record Matches, and Ancestry.com Hints (1920, 1930 and 1940 census records).  I also mine 
new Ancestry and FamilySearch databases for my one-name study surnames, and add content and source citations.  I am  intentionally finding additional information (dates, places) for persons in the database in the U.S. census records and American Ancestors databases.  I have deleted many persons in peripheral lines for whom I have no data - most of them living persons gleaned from GEDCOMs received from distant cousins long ago. I have also corrected some relationship and date errors found while working on the database. 

Doing the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge in 2015, along with deciding to start with my great-grandparents and doing it by ancestor chart numbers, has greatly improved the events, source citations and notes for the ancestors I wrote about.  I finished the 4th great-grandparents and am starting on the fifth great-grandparents this year, doing them in ahnentafel number order.


My trip to the Family History Library in February adds more ancestral records to enrich my database - recently they have been probate records and land deed records for my ancestors found on FHL microfilm.  I am also mining the probate and land records now available on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch and AmericanAncestors on a regular basis.

I last updated my ancestral Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) on Ancestry.com in August 2014 with the latest tree information, and will update it again sometime in 2016.  I do not attach "shaky leaf Hints" to that Ancestry Member Tree because I know that it will be replaced eventually.  I do attach selected records to my RootsMagic database manually and those will upload to a new Ancestry Member Tree if I GEDCOM it to Family Tree Maker and then upload it to a Ancestry Member Tree..  I will lose this capability in 2017.


There are only so many hours in my genealogy day - usually 10 to 12 hours, but often only 6 to 8 hours.  I spend one to three hours each day reading blog posts and answering emails, one to three hours writing blog posts, an hour or two doing online research, one to three hours adding content and sources to the database, and the balance doing society support tasks, creating presentations, watching Hangouts and webinars, or working on other projects.  My genealogy life is varied, and definitely not boring (I gave up doing boring genealogy things like extended client research, or going  often to libraries and archives - with some exceptions!). 

My conclusion is:  I'm still actively improving my database in both quantity and quality, but still have a long way to go to have a "fully sourced and accurate" family tree.  It's better than it was, and can still be improved.  It is a lifelong task, I think!  




Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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