I was curious to see how much progress I had made in my family tree during the last 12 months.
Here is the family tree database summary from RootsMagic 9 on 31 December 2023:
* 71,807 persons (+ 1,573)
* 29.078 families (+ 663)
* 225,236 events (+ 5,656)
* 15,022 Alternate names (+ 471)
* 19.149 places (+ 732)
* 2,286 sources ( + 59)
* 146,403 citations (+ 897)
* 1,262 Multi-media Items (- 343)
* 3,209 Multi-media links (- 8)
* 50,212 Persons matched to FamilySearch Family Tree persons (+ 1,436)
In the past 12 months, I've averaged adding 4.3 persons, 1.8 families, 15.5 events and 2.5 source citations each day. I try to work at least an hour in the evening adding content and sources to the database, although baseball, my health problems and the holidays intervened.
Consequently, I've managed to reduce my citations/person from 2.07 to 2.04, and my citations/event from 0.660 to 0.650 this past year. Obviously, I don't have a citation for every event, name or relationship, and in some cases I have more than one citation for an event, name or relationship. At this rate, to reach 100% in citations/events will take about 8 more years!
I added 1,537 persons to my database in 2023, some in my 4th great-grandparents' descendant lines (including lines to DNA matches with known common ancestors), some in my one-name studies, and some from further and ongoing research on my ancestral families. My one-name studies include Seaver (with variations Sever, Seever, Sevier and plurals), Carringer, Auble, Vaux, Dill, and Buck in my tree, and McKnew in my wife's tree.
I "mine" new Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, and FamilySearch databases and use RootsMagic WebHints for my ancestral and one-name study surnames, and add content and source citations. I add or correct name, relationship, date and place omissions or errors found while working on the database. I use RootsMagic to match my tree profiles to the FamilySearch Family Tree profiles, and exchange source-verified information both ways on a near-daily basis.
I added a new ancestral Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) on Ancestry.com in August 2022 with a new tree TreeShare upload using RootsMagic 8. I TreeShare every week now to keep the AMT up-to-date, which generates more Record Hints. I do not attach Record Hints to that Ancestry Member Tree because I know that it will be replaced eventually, so doing that would be a time suck. I need to add a new Findmypast tree. I review and manually add records from Ancestry Hints, MyHeritage Record Matches, Findmypast Record Hints, and FamilySearch Record Hints to my RootsMagic database to add content and sources to my family tree database. I uploaded a new MyHeritage tree in March 2022 and need to do that again this year.
Doing the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge for a tenth year in 2022, 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 write about. I am now up to #1006, in the seventh great-grandparents, at the end of 2023, doing them in ancestor chart number order. When I post a new biography, I add the Notes and Sources to the FamilySearch Family Tree profile for that person. I will continue this weekly meme because it helps me focus on one specific ancestor, and their family, each week and improves my database and my family history.
I did not visit a physical repository (e.g, local library, Family History Library, local FamilySearch Library, or a regular library) this year to perform genealogical and family history research. My life situation precludes being away from home for more than two hours. I did lots of online research in commercial record providers (Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, Fold3, Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank, AmericanAncestors, etc.), and free record providers (FamilySearch, Find A Grave, Billion Graves, Chronicling America, etc). Since many Family Search Library catalog items are not available from home online, I have a to-do list for the local FamilySearch Library in order to use the digital microfilm that I cannot read at home, and will need to visit the local FSL to view them.
There are only so many hours in my genealogy day - usually only 5 to 8 hours nowadays. I have cut back this past two years because of my health issues. I spend one to two hours each day reading blog posts and answering emails, one to two hours writing blog posts, an hour or two doing online research, one to two hours adding content and sources to the database, and the balance of my time doing society support tasks, participating in or watching webinars, analyzing my DNA matches, 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!). I'm having great genealogy fun, but have no clue how long I can go on like this due to health or family circumstances.
My conclusion is: I've made steady progress, and I'm 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, but it can still be improved. It is all a lifelong task, I think! I truly need a genealogy clone or assistant. I doubt that Siri, Alexa, Google Home or any other virtual assistant is yet capable of doing genealogy research, source citations, etc.; I know that Artificial Intelligence is not able to do actual research, but it can help document submitted information.
I last updated my Genea-Musings readers on the "numbers" in my RootsMagic 9 genealogy family tree database in:
* RootsMagic Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2023
* My RootsMagic Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2022
* My RootsMagic Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 1 January 2021
* My RootsMagic Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 31 December 2019
* My RootsMagic Genealogy Database Statistics Update - 31 December 2018================================================
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Copyright (c) 2023, Randall J. Seaver
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