Goals for 2013

Well, it's that time of year to set my genealogy goals for 2013. I did not really set any major goals last December. Instead, I started setting monthly goals for about the first three months of 2012 and I posted about my accomplishments each month. I think I may re-instate monthly goals for 2013. However, I think I will also set some high-level goals in this post.

The first big goal that i would like to accomplish would be to blog more. I did so well on my blog in the beginning of 2009 when I first started. I was posting at least twice a week. Now I barely post once a month. I just haven't been making it a priority. I would like to at least post Surname Saturday, Census Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, and Treasure Chest Thursday posts each week. Well, that seems like a lot for someone who has only been posting once a month. Maybe I will just try to accomplish Census Sunday and Wordless Wednesday for the first couple of months, with my overall goal to be posting all four series each week by next December. I also need to pick back up on my Arthur Chamberlin series of posts and my Pemberton Obituary Project posts that I started several moons ago. I think I need to set up a concrete plan in writing with the posts I am going to do each week. Maybe that will keep me on track.

The second big goal that I would like to accomplish would be to finish my RootsMagic database maintenance. I have been working on it since at least fall 2009. I believe that I am at least 75% of the way through. I have been cleaning up source citations and adding a few new source citations as I go along to keep it interesting. Database maintenance can get tedious. The new city directories database that Ancestry.com posted several months ago has given me lots of info about many of my distant aunts, uncles, and cousins. I've also been adding citations from the 1940 census and Find A Grave as I do my cleanup. In addition to source citations, I've also been cleaning up some of the events in my database. The source citations and events kind of got gargled when I transferred from Legacy to RootsMagic. Plus, I have a lot of events/facts that are only supported by online family histories with no sources cited. I've been trying to remove those facts/events and add them to the research notes for the person with a note about the online family history.

Once I finish the goal of cleaning up the database, I would like to run some reports to see where my source is an index entry rather than the actual record. I have a lot of sources for deaths in Michigan as the index at Ancestry.com. It's time to start ordering the actual record to verify if I have the correct person.

Finally, I would like to start researching my Mertena ancestors. These are the ancestors of my paternal grandmother on her father's side. I believe with all the new online databases and access to microfilm from the FHL, I can make some more breakthroughs with this line. I need to document the breakthroughs I have already made the past few months. I would like to try out the new Evidentia software to help me with this.

So, those are my goals, folks! Let's see how I do....

I am an Aunt Again!

Dominic Alexander DeLuca

Born November 8, 2012

Dominic with his big sister, Violet

Violet Cecile DeLuca

age 2