My Genealogical Year in Review – 2017

Dontaylorgenealogy.com

My blog received the most significant amount of effort from me during the year. I wrote 143 posts during the year – A couple of months with 14 posts, a couple of months with nine posts, but the result was 2.75 posts per week. My goal is to post a minimum of once every three days, so I met my goal by posting an average of once every 2.5 days. My number one post was the same as post as in 2016, “Why I’ll never do business with MyHeritage Again.” I guess people like to read rants.

My second most popular blog posting concerned learning of a half-sister for my mother. In “OMG – Another Half-Sibling,” I write about learning that my mother has a half-sister that no one ever knew about. A woman, given up for adoption in the 1930s, through Ancestry DNA learned of her biological family, and I had the opportunity to be a part of the discovery. I had the enjoyable experience of traveling to Chicago and meeting her and her daughter. It was a great experience.

Number 3 on my blog posts was a surprise. Website Review: Lost Cousins didn’t provide much insight on their website. Instead, it pointed out to me some of the weaknesses in my data and research citations.

Number 4 was a posting about “Family Tree Maker for Mac 2.1.” I had become frustrated with Family Tree Maker when a previous version had corrupted my source citations. I returned to Family Tree Maker last year and have subsequently updated to Family Tree Maker for Mac 2017. I am pleased with the decision. It isn’t as robust as some other products, like Roots Magic, but has an actual Mac interface, which I prefer to Windows runtime emulators. If Roots Magic had a real Mac interface, I’d be hard-pressed to decide which I would use.

Number 5 is the main menu for my Brown family tree activities. When I am in communications with folks about my genealogical activities, I suggest they watch my four primary family pages, My mother’s line Brown-Montran, my biological father’s line Roberts-Barnes, my wife’s father’s line, Howell-Hobbs and my wife’s mother’s line, Darling-Huber.  I have done more research on my Brown-Montran tree, so as I might expect that tree had the highest number of visits.

I receive the most significant number of compliments and “that was interesting” statements from individuals regarding my Donna Montran vaudeville articles. For me, learning of Donna’s trunk and the photos and news clippings that it contained has provided insight into Donna’s life. My process of digitizing them, incorporating them into a much more extensive Donna Montran story is one of the most enjoyable activities in which I engage.

Scarborough Historical Society

My number two area of activities is with the Scarborough Historical Society. Certainly, I have become their “technology guru” and an important resource for people who come to the society and museum with genealogical questions. I am slowly beginning to know about the vast genealogical resources there. If you have ancestors in Scarborough, I can probably help you find resources. I also manage their Blog site, Scarborough Historical Society dot Org and serve on the society’s Board of Directors.

Genealogy Groups

Greater Portland Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society (MGS)

I am the Treasurer of the Greater Portland Chapter of MGS. I regularly attend meetings with them.  Additionally, the Chapter president has appointed me to be the “Officially Designated Representative” (ODR) to the Maine Genealogical Society. As the ODR I am a board member on the MGS and participate in their board meetings.

Maine Genealogical Society

Besides being the ODR to the MGS, I am also an assistant webmaster for their website – Maine Roots dot Org. I don’t do design activities; instead, I keep up with routine maintenance activities adding user accounts, changing prices on items for sale, etc.

Scarborough Public Library Genealogy Group

I organized and lead a Genealogy Group at my public library.

Other

I am a regular participant at the Maine Genealogical DNA Interest Group and manage their website. I am a regular participant at the South Portland Library Genealogy Group.

Finally, add the MGS annual Fall Conference, the MGS Spring Workshop, and Summer Genealogical Fair and, somehow, I seem to keep busy. They say the key to a great retirement is to keep busy. I guess I am doing so and loving it.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoy my blog articles. I will try to do a few more reviews of services; they seem to be my most popular postings. If you don’t subscribe to my blog, please do so. Also, I intersperse affiliate advertising on my blog. I try not to make promotion the focus of my activities. As a matter of fact, I endeavor to keep them unobtrusive. However, they have the potential to help offset my costs (although they haven’t so far). Your use of my links will be much appreciated.

The most amazing thing about 2017’s significant discoveries was that they weren’t even thought of in 2016. So, I’m excited to learn what developments 2018 will bring. I expect them to be things I haven’t thought of yet. Hopefully, your new year will be as exciting as I anticipate mine will be.