Research
* continue to look for sources for births/marriages/deaths of direct line ancestors as part of sourcing goal.
* work on finding my Boothby cousins and trying to get more information on Grandma Carrie and her life. I want to try to get the unknown people in her photo album identified.
* work on connection between James Boothby in Ohio and who his parents were.
* plan trip to Neversink with my sister; get dates on calendar.

Organization
* file all the information recently received from Denman family members.
* scan the pages from my father’s photograph album found recently.

Education
* watch one online video or webinar about genealogy. Geoff Rasmussen’s webinar on adding a marriage record is available unitl June 6. [I did two in-person workshops in May, the full-day NEHGS one by the Genealogy Guys (and Judy) and one short one on Revolutionary pictures with Maureen Taylor at the Boston Book and Paper Expo; I also did a webinar with DearMyrtle about using Facebook.]
* learn to use the Organizer part of Photoshop Elements (which I just bought and installled).

There is a nor’easter headed for New England and I am planning not to have to leave the house tomorrow.  With any luck the electricity will stay on, and I will have a genealogy day all to myself.  Fingers crossed!

Research

• process 4 more headstone photos from my first Ashford cemetery trip (August 2009). [I’m finally making actual progress on this goal. I have settled on several templates for how to do this sort of work which feel ok to me - I realized that there is no right/wrong answer, but that settling on a standard way of doing is the important thing. I have now done that, and am now making progress on my digital images of gravestone. YAY!! Best of all I figured out how to add metadata to each file that gives all the information about the image. I got sidetracked going back to add some of the headstone pictures I took on a trip to Ohio in 2005, and so I added at least 4 of those as well as some Ashford ones in March.]
• continue to look for sources for births/marriages/deaths of direct line ancestors as part of sourcing goal. [I received more photocopies from the FHL in March and added them to my sources in my database. I also sent for another set of records, mostly marriages toward the end of March.]
• continue to try to track the current owners of the old Salt house to get some information. This has been on a back burner and I want to bring it to the front this month.
• success with tracking the original Denman deed! I talked with the Town Clerk in Neversink and then the next day with the source she recommended and I met a new cousin (well, his wife). We had a very nice conversation and I learned a little about how they fit into my family tree. Best of all there may be a picture of the original William Denman.

Writing

• write at least 2 blog posts (plus To-Do list) [Since I don’t have a current goal for other genealogical writing I am going to remove this category from my To-Do list. First, though, I have to come up with another category to take its place. Gotta keep myself moving forward.]

Organization

• copy marriage sources for Dan’s side in Clooz to RootsMagic (sourcing each certificate and attaching to individual who is primary) [I got some of these done in March but not all, so it’s on the list to finish up in April.]
• process info in one file in Research Notes 2010 directory (enter into RootsMagic; move file to appropriate directory) [I got another one done in March and will continue to plug away at this goal. Since this is one more place I have stashed info, I need to catch up with myself on this one, so I don’t re-invent the wheel too many times.]
• create the database of images scanned and labelled with metadata.

Education

• watch one online video about genealogy [I watched Thomas MacEntee’s webinar on backing up your data in March, although I couldn’t attend live. Not strictly genealogy education but important. I think this month I’ll watch another RootsMagic webinar, since learning how to use the program more effectively can only be helpful.]

Research

* process 4 headstone photos from my first Ashford cemetery trip (enter data into RootsMagic; make sure saved as tif file; save in archive directory) [Note: I’m having trouble addressing this one and I’m not sure why. I need to change it to something I can and will do, rather than just repeating it from month to month.]

* find way to contact Steve P. and/or his mother about pictures of the old Salt house before all the work was done [This is another one that I need to move on, or take off the list.]

* In February I found another address for the Denmans and sent another letter out to them, looking for the original deed to William Denman and seeking a copy

* Send for another set of certificates, etc. from FHL

Writing

* write at least 2 blog posts (plus To-Do list)

Organization

* spend half an hour a week, either Monday or Wednesday, dealing with the things already in sheet protectors on my desk (enter any data in RootsMagic; if photo make sure scanned; file in appropriate binder) [So far, even with putting it on my calendar, I’m not getting this done either. Not necessarily a fun job, but it really needs to be done - so I know what I already have and so my desk is clearer for the next round of research.]

* copy marriage sources for Dan’s side in Clooz to RootsMagic (sourcing each certificate and attaching to individual who is primary) [I got the births done, and am starting to understand how to use the sources in RootsMagic. Yay!]

* process info in one file in Research Notes 2010 directory (enter into RootsMagic; move file to appropriate directory) [I got another one done in February and will continue to plug away at this goal.]

Education

* watch one online video about genealogy (I watched the RootsMagic webinar on sources and citations in February and found it helpful. I have another RootsMagic one to watch, and am planning to attend Thomas MacEntee’s on backing up your data on March 23.) [Looks like I am better at pursuing education than organizing! I have also discovered that I like having things I can go back to and re-watch or re-listen to. I just went back to the sources one to verify how something works. Handy!]

* read first chapter in Evidence Explained

After the excitement of the iGenes, I turn to more mundane issues.  And here, ta-da, is my genealogy to-do list for February.  As I explore using this method of holding myself accountable, I would like to particularly thank Tonia for the Writing and the Education headings.  For now my goal is to keep up the every other week blog post that Judy and I alternate.  I am often surprised at how much time and how much thought it can take to get one done.  And I like the idea of pushing myself to do educational activities each month, even if it is only watching a video to start with.  Maybe I can build up to doing a course.  Education is the area I fall down in most, although the others are all a close 2nd place.

Research

• process 4 headstone photos from first Ashford cemetery trip (enter data into RootsMagic; make sure saved as tif file; save in archive directory; there may not be more than a few that are really useable) [I got started in January and got discouraged by the number of images that could not be read. I also still need a consistent way to name files.]

• find way to contact Steve P. and/or his mother about pictures of the old Salt house before all the work was done [This was on the January list and I still haven't found a way to contact them. Perhaps the realtor would give me that information?]

• find a new address for the Denmans I want to contact about the original deed to William Denman in 1795 in New York. The letter I sent off in January came back with a mysterious postal code that there was no mail receptacle and that it couldn’t be forwarded. Wonder what no mail receptacle means exactly? Was their mailbox buried in the snow (always possible this winter)? Hm.

Writing

• write at least 2 blog posts (I’m on the schedule to post for the 14th and 28th I think) [Plus my Genealogy To-Do List which doesn't count as a regular post I have decided. Judy will be glad to hear this.]

Organization

• spend half an hour a week, on Monday or Wednesday, dealing with the things already in sheet protectors on my desk (enter any data in RootsMagic; if photo make sure scanned; file in appropriate binder)
• copy birth sources for Dan’s side in Clooz to RootsMagic (sourcing each certificate and attaching to individual who is primary)
• process info in one file in Research Notes 2010 directory (enter into RootsMagic; move file to appropriate directory)

Education

• watch one online video about genealogy (TBD which one)
• read DearMYRTLE’s February Organization Checklist which I’m hoping will help me with my image file naming and filing issues. I’m not sure whether this is Organization or Education, but since it is something I need to learn I’m putting it here.

I have to start this by giving all the credit to Tonia over at Tonia’s Roots.  The first week in January I was reading a backlog of blogs in my Google Reader and looking at all the 2011 goals and organization posts.  When I found Tonia’s blog I got stuck for a while wandering around her site.  She has set it up in a very useful format, with various categories for the posts.  I keep thinking that I would like us to have more than one category and that “Miscellaneous” (which is the default) isn’t very helpful and is only descriptive in the broadest way.  That is an item to put on my to-do list.

Tonia has several types of information she posts regularly, but the one that really caught my eye is her genealogy to-do list for the month which she maps to her yearly goals. I particularly like the headings she has used on her lists.  I tend to lump all my genealogy work into a single category in my mind and then feel overwhelmed.  And some things don’t get the priority I would actually like to give them.  For example I have been saying that I need to learn how to use a software program to touch up and fix digital photos for more than a year, but I haven’t done anything about it.  That counts as education, don’t you think?

The big part of making a public list like this is that it helps hold you accountable.  We all know that saying out loud you’re going to do something, better yet saying it to someone else, is a good way to help motivate you to actually do whatever it is. It doesn’t always work, but does seem to help. I know I am more likely to accomplish something if I have committed to it out loud. So I contacted Tonia and told her I really liked her format and asked if I could borrow it for myself. She graciously said “sure”, so here I am.

And with this post, I am taking a page from Tonia (almost but not quite literally) and starting what I intend to be a monthly posting of my Genealogy To-Do List for that month.  I am an inveterate keeper of lists, and of course I already have to-do lists sitting on my computer desktop and on my physical desktop.  My hope is that by being public and by being very specific about what I will do, and how many,  and the timeframe (this month) I can break down some of the scary tasks I face and make progress on them.  Notice I didn’t use the word finish in association with these scary tasks.

Of course, in my usual fashion, I missed making it a New Year’s resolution or even goal for the year. But I decided better late than never. As was true last year, my goals for the coming year are to get better organized, to get some research questions answered, and to learn more about how to do genealogy.

I don’t know how my monthly list will work, but am pretty sure I will have to learn as I go how to make lists of things I can actually do. Here is my first approximation for January 2011. Since I made the original list more than a week and a half ago I have already done some of the items, or tried them out, so my comments about how it has worked so far are in brackets. The items will change from one month to the next as I fine-tune this idea, and (fingers-crossed) get things done.

Research

1. process 4 headstone photos from first Ashford cemetery trip (enter data into RootsMagic; make sure the jpgs are saved as tif files; save in archive directory)   see what it really takes to do this – maybe 4 is too many or too few… [Converted to tifs already; haven't yet moved to archive directory; not many good pictures-stones eroded and covered in lichens etc.; I remember that I need to think about file naming; also, where should the archive directory be]
2. write letter to Denmans in NY about original deed to William Denman [written 1/17, mailed 1/18 - Yay Pat!]
3. find way to contact Steve P. and/or his mother about pictures of the old Salt house before all the work was done
4. process info in one file in Research Notes 2010 directory (enter into RootsMagic; moved file to appropriate directory) [did several files already; I tend to keep going once I start.]

Writing

1. write at least 3 blog posts [2 done as of 1/17, 1 in draft form]

Organization

1. spend half an hour a week dealing with the piles on my desk
2. read DearMyrtle’s January organization checklist (have pdf already) [read; and raised questions about organization: I agree that binders work better for me than files, but I'm not sure about making multiple copies of documents so I can have them in more than one binder.  Hm.]
3. backup blog [this is something I haven’t made routine yet, but I really do know that I need to, so maybe putting it on a list will help]

Education

1. watch one online video about genealogy (rootstelevision, not sure what other options there are or which topic to start with) [I signed up for a RootsMagic webinar in the beginning of Feb., does that count?  It definitely counts for February.]