Saturday, January 5, 2019

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your Best Find of 2018, and Research Challenge for 2019

It's Saturday Night - 

Time for more Genealogy Fun! 


Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:


1)  What was your best research achievement in 2018?  Tell us - show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph.  Brag a bit!  You've earned it!

2)  We all have elusive ancestors.  What research problem do you want to work on in 2019?  Tell us where you want to research and what you hope to find.

3)  Put the answers in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook post. 

Here's mine:


1)  I did not have a "really big" research achievement in 2018.  I had a number of small achievements, including:

*  The DNA Match that led to my conclusion that Isaac and Rosina (Laun) Lanfear are the grandparents of my 2nd great-grandfather Devier James Lamphear Smith (1839-1894), who was adopted by Ranslow and Mary (Bell) Smith in Jefferson County, New York.  The problem is I don't know which of Isaac and Rosinas's children is his parent, nor do I know the name of his other parent.

*  The George W. Seaver life story in February and March was a significant research effort, and turned into a fun presentation.


*  Thanks to Yvette Porter-Moore, I was able to obtain my mother's, grandfather's and grandmother's San Diego High School records from the Alumni office.  

*  I completed research and made a presentation about the ancestry of a local politician, Supervisor Greg Cox for the Chula Vista Genealogical Society for Family History Day on 29 September.  Eleven family members attended and were fascinated by the records and the research.

*  The most fun research was finding my 103-year-old friend's grandparents names in Denmark records.  She and her son were very appreciative for the information and the record printouts.
2)  For 2019, I anticipate adding to my RootsMagic database using information found online and at the Family History Library in San Diego (throughout the year).  In the process, I may get a breakthrough on a brickwall ancestor, or perhaps another researcher will find my blog posts and be able to extend one or more lines. 

I will continue to add content and source citations in my RootsMagic family tree using all available resources, including FamilySearch Family Tree, WikiTree, Geni World Tree, and Record Hints from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast and FamilySearch, plus correspondence from blog readers.


I don't anticipate being able to travel much to do onsite research in 2019 due to my and Linda's health and mobility limitations.  We will go to the Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank in June, and perhaps fit in a cruise in the fall.  

In the future, I want to return to Massachusetts again to do onsite research, especially at the NEHGS and in local libraries, historical societies and cemeteries.  I want to go to southern Ontario to do onsite research on my Kemp and related lines.  I also want to visit northern New Jersey to try to find information about my Auble and Knapp and related lines.  



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The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2019/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-best.html

Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

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4 comments:

Janice M. Sellers said...

I was a little surprised to see that my goals haven't changed from last year.

http://www.ancestraldiscoveries.com/2019/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-best.html

Lisa S. Gorrell said...

I have new goals for 2019 but had a good list of finds for the past year.

https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2019/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your-best.html

Linda Stufflebean said...

Happy New Year, Everybody! Here is my post: https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2019/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-29/

Fax said...

My big breakthrough in 2018 is here: https://dorisgendna.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for prodding me to write it up. Please keep up the good work, Randy.