Perhaps you have guessed what some of my 2020 business and genealogy goals are based on my previous post looking back at 2019. Here are my main areas of focus for 2020.
1) Write more articles and submit them to journals and magazines. I have several ideas in mind that I can write about. Publishing seems more permanent and accessible than giving talks at libraries and genealogy societies. My goal is to submit at least 2 genealogy-related articles this year, including the one I was invited to write. The second one will likely use more family stories to tell the impact of the 1918 flu.
2) Write a life history of my great grandfather Robert Lee Ison for my teenage nieces and nephews. I’d like it to be well cited, but endnotes will be just fine. I’d really love to bring him to life because he lived an interesting life, even though he died relatively young. I may not finish it, but will happy with a good start. After that I’ll write about my great grandfather Alfred Heber Powell.
3) Make progress in proving or disproving my Mayflower connection with James Chilton. The first step will be a review of Luana Darby’s Legacy Family Tree webinar on researching early LDS ancestors, as at least 3 of the generations fall into that category.
4) While my focus is transitioning to writing, I will continue to do speaking. I have 2 new talks that I will be giving this year. One is about researching your suffrage ancestors and the other is about using town records. As neither talk is started yet, developing these two talks are also applicable goals for 2020.
5) Start formal education. I had planned on going to GRIP but it doesn’t look like that will happen. Instead, I am exploring doing the American Records certificate through the National Institute of Genealogical Studies. I am taking the first 2 courses and will go from there. I’ve been self-taught this far and am lacking in several areas, so this will help make sure I have expertise/knowledge in all applicable areas. The envelope below contains the material for the first class.
bridgingthepast.com 