My Genealogy Goals for 2017

Over the past few years I haven't posted very much primarily because I have been too busy to write many posts; however, I hope to publish more frequently this upcoming year than in previous years. So, to kick-start my writing I have decided to post my genealogy research goals for 2017 a little earlier than usual. Here are my resolutions for 2017:

1. As I already stated above, my first goal is to increase the number of articles I post to this blog. For several years, I have been promising to either post articles updating my research in a couple of series or articles on specific topics, and I hope to finally publish articles on the topics I have listed under the Coming Soon section of this blog.
2. To further branch off of resolution number 1, the second goal is to continue my series on my ancestor, Irene Havens. I haven't posted in a long time on my research on her, and I want to post an update in this series as I have been doing some rethinking on my conclusions so far.
3. A third writing goal would be to write an update or two on my research into my Oswalt ancestors as I've made some progress in the past few years.
4. For my fourth goal, I would like to obtain the naturalization records for any of Anton's siblings, children, nephews and nieces that applied in Michigan after the cut-off date in Ancestry's naturalization database for Michigan. I would have mentioned Anton's records; however, Ancestry posted his Declaration of Intent online, and I was able to download a copy of it. (He apparently never completed the naturalization process, so this appears to be the only record available.)
5. Fifthly, I would like to be able to obtain a record of Joseph Stout and Susan Kelly (or Kelley)'s marriage record as I believe that record would identify their parents. I have my suspicions about who their parents may be, but I am not completely sure that I have correctly identified them without obtaining further records that prove or disprove the connections.
6. I also hope to visit the Saint Joseph County, Michigan courthouse to obtain copies of probate records for ancestors and siblings that I have not yet obtained.
7. To further branch off resolution 6, I would also like to view and obtain copies of any court minutes and court records of cases my ancestors may have participated in while residing in Saint Joseph County, Michigan.
8. I would also like to order the Civil War Pension files additional relatives of my ancestors who served in the Civil War. I would also like to obtain the service records for my Civil War ancestor and his relatives, but I want to finish obtaining the pension files first.
9.  I would also like to order microfilms of church records from the Family History Library. At the top of my list would be: records from a couple places in historically Russian Poland that are not available online and may be places where my German ancestors resided, and the records from the church where my great-great grandparents married in Ireland.
10. I also hope to contact the church where my ancestors, Carl and Anna, married to see if the church has additional information on where in Germany Carl may have been born or lists the names of his parents.
11. Another goal is to uncover the maiden name of my ancestor, Mary Oswalt, who is the wife of Benjamin Oswalt (the son of Adam Oswalt and the father of Adam Oswalt, my Civil War ancestor). I have two possible maiden names, and I am uncertain as to whether or not either one of those surnames is correct. In the future, I will write a post about this mystery.
12. I would also like to order a couple of marriage records from Wales for an ancestor's two marriages. As the ancestor and her husbands have extremely common surnames, I am hoping the father's name on the marriage records will help me narrow down possible locations of these ancestors in the 1841 and 1851 censuses. (In addition, the two marriage records may be both be civil marriages, so I might not be able to order microfilms of parish churches in the area. One of the marriage records is definitely a civil marriage, so I will have to order that marriage first as it is the second marriage and most recent.)
13. Another goal connected to my ancestors from Saint Joseph County, Michigan is to contact the cemetery sextons where my ancestors are buried to see if the sextons have additional information on my ancestors. As a couple of my female ancestors' deaths were not recorded by the county, I am hoping the cemetery may have more information on the cause of death, etc.
14. An additional goal connected to my Saint Joseph County, Michigan ancestors would be to visit the Zhang Legacy Center (Archives and Regional History Collections) at Western Michigan University, especially if I am unable to make a visit to the courthouse in Centreville, Michigan, as there are records from Saint Joseph County available at that archives.
15. Lastly, I would like to find out who Jacob Detwiler's grandparents are as that has been a mystery for me and another cousin, who has researched the family a lot longer. We know who his parents are, but we don't know who are the parents of Jacob's parents. Hopefully, some progress can be made on that line.

So, as you can see, this list is longer than my resolutions in the past, and I hope I may be able to accomplish at least a couple of goals on this list, if I can't complete all of them. Realistically, I won't accomplish all of them, but I can still work on making progress. Stay tuned for future updates on my goals in 2017!