2020 Genealogy Year in Review

 I have often longed for long stretches of time at home for genealogy and this year I certainly got it. Unfortunately, like most Americans, I was often distracted and struggling to focus. It took me some time, but I did develop a rhythm with working from home, staying safe and working on my research.  

February 22, 2020 was the last time I attended an in person genealogy program. I think about it now and I feel so naive, so unaware of what was to come.  It was the the Pinellas Genealogy Society Seminar featuring Dr. Tom Jones at the near by Largo Library. I was able to attend with two friends and it was an inspirational and exciting day. Less than two weeks later, the next PGS event was cancelled and we were figuring out how to work and research from home.  

Making lemonade out of the lemons of 2020 has been a recurring theme of my work life this year and it applies to genealogy research too. It is amazing to me how quickly societies and organizations were able to turn around and offer quality virtual programming! I participated in more than 30 webinars and I was able to attend conferences I would have never been able to attend in person, including the NH and MA Genealogical Societies Conferences.

I was near tears when I realized I was not going to be able to travel to NY this year for research and family and to attend the NYG & B's wonderful Family History Conference. 

Fortunately for me and many others the conference was held virtually and I am still astonished when I think about how smoothly run the whole conference was. The speakers and programs were high quality and communicating with others attendees was easy and fun. I missed my trip to NY but I was so happy to be able to participate fully in the conference and activities and I am still impressed with the platform through which we participated. Three cheers for Josh Taylor, Sue Miller and everyone on staff at NYGB!  

Vivid Pix software sponsored a 12 week series of Genealogy Education exclusively for librarians. This was a great opportunity for me, as I long to grow the Family History programming at my own library. As soon as we can have in person programming, I will be trying out all of the program ideas this series inspired. 

 One project I was able to get off the ground was a genealogy podcast for my library. My genealogy pal and collaborator Lois Powell and I have really missed being able to offer library programs and a podcast seemed like a natural substitute for the time being. You can listen to episode 3 here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRcO-npN2tg&t=206s 

One of the best investments I have made in myself and my research was completing the Research Like A Pro E-course. I look forward to my Monday commutes with Diana Elder and her daughter/ podcast partner Nicole Dyer. I have been listening to and learning from their podcast for a year or so and the day my library closed I decided this e-course was a productive way to spend some of my down time and a great first step to more serious genealogy education.  

The RLAP course did not disappoint. I read and re-read chapters, worked on the assignments, watched the videos and cheered when I nailed the quizzes. I worked hard on my research project. I purposely selected an ancestor and locality I was not too familiar with, thinking that if I was going to be out of my comfort zone, I may as well go all out. I am proud of my final paper and that I have mastered source citations. This course helped me think differently about my preparation and organization going in to a research project. I am a better researcher for it and I highly recommend the Research Like a Pro E-course to anyone who is ready to up their research game.  

While I did spend a great deal of my research time this year working through the steps of Research Like a Pro completing the assignments and completing my research report. 

The focus of my research was my second great grandfather Henri Schuler also known as Harry. Harry immigrated to the US from France in the 1840s, he lived in New Orleans, LA before living in NY. Harry I discovered served in the Confederate Army. This was shocking information for me, before I learned of Harry's American beginnings I firmly believed that all my ancestors were New Yorkers. It was a great lesson in keeping an open mind.  

Before the pandemic, I had made strides with one of my maternal lines and was close to proving my 5th great grandfather, Jacob Rose was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Just before the world shut down I applied to NARA to obtain the pension file of Jacob's grandson, hoping prove or disprove a few things. So this project is in limbo until NARA reopens.  

Finally, I broke down a brick wall that I had been working on for ages, involving my 2nd great grandmother Josephine Rose. Her death was a complete mystery to me.  There were several Josephine Roses in the NYS Death Index but none of them were in towns that I thought would be logical. I knew the area she lived in and assumed looking in other counties would not worth my time. Searching newspapers for an obituary for her daughter, I found Josephine's obituary!  She died in a neighboring county while visiting relatives. I was able to reach out to the Town Clerk for that area and he quickly sent me her death certificate.  Another great lesson!  

I was not able to travel or do the on the ground research I wanted to do this year.  I feel that I did the best I could to stay busy, make progress and become a better researcher despite the obstacles 2020 gave us.  

I hope and pray that 2021 is a better year for all of us and our genealogy research!  I am looking forward to learning and doing more in the coming year and I hope you are too.