My Genealogy and Blogging Resolutions For 2009

For this carnival, I am supposed to list my New Year's Resolutions for genealogy and blogging, and as you may remember, I created my first New Year's list last year. I posted my results for last year, and I did fairly well. So I'll now post two lists for resolutions. For my research, here are my resolutions for 2009, and hopefully, I'll do just as well in 2009 as 2008:

1. Look up and print other probate records of ancestors who lived and died in Saint Joseph County, Michigan. As you may remember, this resolution was one of my resolutions from this year that I did not accomplish, so I am carrying this resolution over to this upcoming year.
2. Order more microfilms of Trippstadt, Germany's civil records. I only ordered one microfilm from Trippstadt this year, and I hope to order a few more microfilms in this upcoming year.
3. Order naturalization records for my German-Russian ancestor Anton and his siblings. I am hoping the naturalization records will list where he and his siblings were born, so that I can trace Anton and his family back to the Russian Empire.
4. Obtain the Civil War Pension files for Benjamin and William Oswalt, and try to strengthen their relationship to my ancestor, Adam Oswalt.
5. Find more information on my ancestor, Irene Havens. I am hoping to figure out who her parents are, and what her connection is to Rhoda and the Mandigo family.
6. Find more information on my WWI veteran great-grandfather's family and ancestors. I do not know very much about his side of the family, and I hope to uncover more information on his family.
7. Order birth, marriage and death records of ancestors from the United Kingdom. This resolution is the same from last year, and I hope to be able to continue doing research on all of my ancestors from the U. K.
8. And last, but not least, I hope to make more connections and to find more ancestors and relatives. Of course, this was a resolution from this past year, but I hope to continue to be able to find more relatives and make some more connections.

So, those resolutions are my goals for doing genealogy research in this upcoming year. I did not mention any blogging resolutions in the list above because I am going to list them below. So, here are my blogging resolutions:

1. Publish posts listed in the "Coming Soon" box in a timely manner. As some of you may have noticed, I have listed posts that I plan to post in the future but I do not always post those posts at the time that I say I will. I hope to improve on my timing in this upcoming year.
2. Improve the writing quality of my posts. As always, I hope to write posts that are more eloquent and more professional, so I would appreciate it if you could give me feedback on how well I am writing my posts.

So, those are my two blogging goals. I have only made two because I am not sure what other goals I want to create. I did come up with a number of posts to publish for 2009 because I do not know how much time I will have to blog in the future, and in addition, I want to focus more on quality than on quantity.

So, as you can see, I have come up with some more goals for 2009. I hope I am able to accomplish as many of my goals for 2009 as I was able to for this year. As 2009 progresses, I will post updates on my progress every couple of months. Please stay tuned for this coming year, and enjoy the holidays!

My 2008 Resolutions - My Results

Over a year ago, I created my first resolution list, and over throughout this year, I updated everyone on my progress on completing my resolutions. So, here are my final results a year later:

1. I hope to get a chance to go to the Grand Rapids Public Library this year. The main branch of the library has records of the Old Soldiers' Home where my ancestor spent the last two years of his life. I am hoping to find more information than I did at the state archive of Michigan. Results as of May: I have yet to visit the library and look up that record. (I have been to that library before, I just never thought to look up the record in the past.) I guess I can always send a letter requesting a copy of the records. I don't know if it will cost more to order it than to copy it myself, but it is an option. Results since I posted in May: I still have not visited the library or made a request for his papers. I'm still hoping that I might be able to get a chance to do so this year. Results as of now: I have finally obtained Adam's Old Soldiers' records from the Grand Rapids Library. I have briefly looked over the four pages, and I hope to post an article on those pages in the near future.
2. Order more microfilms of probate records for Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Results as of May: I have not ordered any microfilms for Huntingdon County. Since I still have plenty of time, chances are that I will do so. Results since I posted in May: I did order two microfilms of Huntingdon County records this summer, but for one of the microfilms, I wrote down the wrong number. The other microfilm is of Orphan Court records for the county, and I am still waiting for that one to come. Results as of now: The microfilm finally came into the local Family History Center in mid-August, and my grandfather took a look at the microfilm as I mentioned earlier this year. I have just recently looked at the record my grandfather printed, and unfortunately, I was not able to gain any more information on the family of Benjamin Oswalt and his wife, Mary.
3. Look up and print other probate records of ancestors who lived and died in Saint Joseph County, Michigan. Results as of May: I have not done this yet. Also, I can't seem to find the call numbers for those microfilms anymore on the familySearch website. I think I wrote down the call numbers, so I'll look and see if I can still make a request. Results since I posted in May: I still have not got around to looking up more probate records for Saint Joseph county, Michigan, and I have not looked for the film numbers I might have copied from the site. Results as of now: I have not ordered any film probate records or viewed any probate records for Saint Joseph County. I hope I will be able to do so in this upcoming year.
4. Order birth, marriage and death records of ancestors from the United Kingdom. Results as of May: I have ordered a microfilm of baptismal records for the church that was closest to my ancestors' residence. Hopefully, I'll be able to find my ancestors and their siblings in these records. Results since I posted in May: I was able to able to find baptismal records for my ancestors and most of their siblings. I did also order another microfilm of church records, but I was not successful in finding a baptismal date for another ancestor. Results as of now: I did order a couple of microfilms this year, as I have indicated above, but I have not ordered any other microfilms since this summer.
5. Order microfilms of Trippstadt, Germany's civil records. Results as of May: I have ordered one microfilm of death records for the time period that a known ancestor had died. Of course, I still plan to order some more microfilms, especially of birth records. Results since I posted in May: The microfilm of death records I ordered finally came in last week, but it turned out to be the wrong years for the person I was doing research on. Instead, I was able to find a death record for another of my ancestor's children. Results as of now: I have not been able to order any more microfilms of records from Trippstadt, Germany, and I hope I will be able to order more records next year.
6. And last, but not least, I hope to make more connections and to find more ancestors and relatives. Results as of May: I have been contacted by two more distant cousins. I haven't yet been able to find more ancestors, but hopefully, I will have done so by the end of the year. Results since I posted in May: I did receive an e-mail from someone who was also researching a possible Householder ancestor, and I did send a response. Unfortunately, I have not heard back for that person since I sent my e-mail. Results as of now: I still have not heard back from a possible cousin. I also have found another person who might be connected to one of my branches, but I haven't been able to contact him yet. I hope to do so within the next few days.

Well, as you can see I have been able to accomplish at least four or five of my resolutions. I think I did pretty well this year, and I hope my next year will be just as successful as this year was.

Winter 2008 Edition of Michigan Genealogist Posted!

The Winter 2008 edition of the Michigan Genealogist has been posted! I learned about the posting from Miriam's post, and you can read the newsletter here.

Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy Submissions Due Sunday!

Submissions for the upcoming Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy are due Sunday. The topic for this edition will be on Christmas/Hanukkah traditions. You can submit your articles here.

62nd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy Posted!

The 62nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on "New Year's Resolutions! What plans do you have for your genealogy research next year? How about for your blogging? No groaning or whining now. Write 'em up and let us know! The deadline for submissions is January 1st, 2009." Enjoy!

An Interesting History Book On The November 5, 1605 Gunpowder Plot

I finally finished reading today a history book that I had been on and off for the past couple of years due to be busy with school. I read Faith and Treason: The Story of the Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser.

As you can tell from the title, the book is on the plot to kill James I of Great Britain and members of Parliament, famously known as the "Gunpowder Plot." The book opens with Elizabeth I's death and the negotiations with James over ascending the crown of England. English Catholics believe that Jame's ascension to the throne would lead to more tolerance for those who practice Catholicism in England, and James gives hints that he might do so. After James has been on throne a short while, the Catholics realize he is not going to end the persecution of the Catholics, and a small group of Catholic extremists begin to plan to destroy James and Parliament.In addition to explaining how the Gunpowder came about and why a small group of young Catholic men decided to overthrow James, t he author also focuses on the aftermath of the plot and how the plot affected other English Catholics.

Although I read the book off-and-on, I still enjoyed reading the book, and I believe the author did an excellent job in bringing early-seventeenth century England to life. If you are interested in the history of the Elizabethan area and early-seventeenth century England, I would put this book on your list to read. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

Does Anyone Know?

Does anyone know when the Michigan 1897 to 1920 deaths will be posted? I read in the latest Michigan Genealogist Newsletter that the death records were supposed to be posted in October, but of course, that never happened. Has anyone heard or know anything about the project? Thanks.

Who Are They?

As you probably can guess, the photograph above of the woman and baby is another mystery photograph for me. I have no idea who either of them are, although the baby almost looks like a doll to me. This photograph along the other mystery photographs I have posted for previous editions of the Smile For the Camera come from my great-aunt's photo album. Outside of that, I do not have any further information as my great-aunt did not write on the back of the card. I do not know if they are relatives or friends of my great-aunt. If anyone recognizes the people in the photograph please contact me at jess_history at yahoo dot com. Thanks.

December Edition of the History Carnival Posted!

I forgot to mention that the latest edition to of the History Carnival has been posted, so I am posting this late. You can read the edition here. Enjoy!

8th Edition of the Smile For The Camera Carnival Posted!

The eighth editon of the Smile For The Camera Carnival has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next post will be on:

Who Are You - I Really Want To Know? Show us that picture that you found
with your family collection or purchased, but have no idea who they might
be.Someone took the time to be photographed, someone took the time to send it to
a loved one, someone didn't take the time to identify the photograph. And you
really want to know who they are. Bring it to the carnival. Share! Maybe one of
our readers can help. Admission is free with every photograph!
Your
submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to
describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an
expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), a
scrapbook page, or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!
Deadline for
submission is midnight (PT)10 January, 2009

Enjoy!