2011 Genealogy Goals

It's that time again, the time to set goals for the coming year. Unlike my previous goals, which focused on research, I will be setting goals in multiple categories. These are research (obviously), organization, writing and education.

Research

• Determine who the parents of my great great grandfather James Thomas Hayes are and where he is buried.
• Determine exactly when my great great grandmother Minnie L Rice Hayes passed and where she is buried.
• Determine if Bonnie Lee Radcliff and Lenia Pearl Radcliff were actually twins or if there was an error in the birth records.
• Determine who the parents of Thomas Vanzandt were as well as his exactly date of death. 
• Determine parents of husband's great great grandparents Joseph Koch Sr and Therese Ospelt Koch.
• Continue transcription project of all vital records for my WV surnames.
• Look into ordering death certificates for those individuals in my tree that I do not have a date of death or am missing information on parents. 
• Look into alternative record sources instead of only census, immigration, military and vital records.
• Visit at least one archive or genealogy library.
• Visit local libraries to see what they have to offer that may be helpful in my genealogy research.

Organization

• Continue with project to rebuild family tree from scratch adding only those people that I have sources to back up their addition.
• Make sure I have copies of all sources with citations.
• Make sure all sources I already have copies of have citations.
• See if there is a way to do a timeline for the entire family tree with one of my family tree programs. If not, begin compiling one.
• Get all photographs scanned in and labeled.
• Consistently use my research logs to avoid repeating searches.

Writing

• Write at least three blog posts a week for both of my blogs. One of the three posts here at Ancestrally Challenged can be a daily blogging theme.
• Participate in a genealogy blog carnival.

Education

• Attend at least one genealogy conference.
• Take at least six family history-related classes or webinars.
• Look into joining a genealogy society.
• Look into professional certification.

I know it seems like a lot, but I plan to break these goals down into more manageable chunks for my monthly goals. With luck and some perseverance, by this time next year, I will hopefully be able to check everything off.