ANOTHER YEAR COMES TO A CLOSE~Has 2022 been a good year for research?

It’s that time of year again. 

Time to review what I've accomplished in my research.

This has been a much better year in regards to research, than 2021.  I’ve been able to spend more time at my computer.  I have published just a couple of blog posts less than last year, but still tried to keep posting.  Blogging is something I very much enjoy.  Sharing family stories and hearing from readers makes me smile.

So, what has changed in my tree on Legacy this year?  Let’s have a look.

These are the stats from 2021

2021 Stats

How do they compare to this year?

Here are the stats from 2022

2022 Stats

Here is a comparison between years

There was progress made in all areas. Whether small or big progress it's important to move forward in our research.

I’m happy to that I’ve added more ancestors (240) and that I am also citing my sources.

More importantly, I've made some great discoveries, connected with new cousins and increased my knowledge in many areas.  

My research goal has never been to see how many ancestors I can collect.  Just to do thorough, documented research and let the numbers take care of themselves. 

Have you had a good research year in 2022? 

Did you have specific goals?  Did you achieve them?

My goals for next year will remain the same as most any year.  To continue to do good research.  To connect with more cousins.  To keep sharing family stories on my blog. To attend our first in person Rootstech since 2020 (my tickets are already booked).  To teach a few classes here and there.  And LAST but not LEAST, oh please, can I solve at least one of my two BIG brick walls.

Happy New Year,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

THE END OF ANOTHER YEAR ~ 2021 comes to a close–What have I accomplished this past year?

Hello readers.  It’s been a very quiet year here at Michigan Family Trails.  I have not blogged as regularly as I have in years past.  Truth be told, I haven’t done much research either.

What are the reasons?  If I thought 2020 was a rough year, 2021 has proved much tougher.  My husband has had some health issues in the form of needing back surgery and hip replacement. I’ve had to pick up the slack of chores and animal care etc. here at home. 

I have noticed in past years that if I have distractions in my regular life, my research and my writing take a hit.

However, all was not lost as far as family preservation.  I began digital scrapbooking in April, taught myself how to use Photoshop Elements, and have created 75+ pages honoring our ancestors. You can see some of those pages here Ancestor Scrapbook  In addition, in August, I started my own Facebook group devoted to heritage scrapbooking, here is the link for that, Digital Heritage and Vintage Scrapbooking We have 168 members so far.  There are some very talented people in the group.

Other good things have happened as well.  My nephew Joshua married his wonderful fiancé Katya, we had a visit from our granddaughter Chalyssa and great grandson, Conrad. I was officially welcomed into the San Diego Mayflower Colony at the November meeting (first in person meeting since before Covid) and we welcomed a puppy into our home in January. Her name is Libby and she’s a Bernadoodle and we love her to pieces. I also presented and co-presented some classes for the San Diego Genealogical Society via Zoom.

As I do every year, good or bad, I will share my Legacy family statistics with you.  I’m sure it won’t be pretty, but let’s see what changes occurred in my database in 2021.

Here are the stats from 2020

Here are the stats from 2021

Surprisingly, there have been increases in all the numbers I normally keep track of.  That’s a good thing, in spite of a very slow research year.

Here’s the comparison

Goals for 2022 – In general I just hope that this coming year is happy, healthy and safe for everyone. As to research and blogging, I am hoping for a more productive year and sharing more family stories and learning tips.

What are your genealogy goals for 2022?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ And WELCOME 2021–Here are my year end stats for 2020 and GOALS for the new year

Good riddance 2020 and hello 2021.  May this be a much kinder and gentler year for all of us. 

I always like to look back and see what’s changed in my Legacy tree. 

• How many new ancestors and/or collateral people have I added?
• Have I kept up with my sourcing? 
• What else has changed in my tree?

Let’s take a look.

Here is a side by side comparison created by Legacy

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

On the left are the stats from 2019 and on the right the stats from 2020

I appears that I’ve made steady progress consistent with previous years.  That certainly makes me happy.  My goal has never been to see how big I can make my tree, but rather, to add people that are well researched and confirmed.  Speaking of goals.  I shared my goals for 2020 in my first post last year.  Let’s see how well I did.

Speaking of goals.  I shared my goals for 2020 in my first post last year.  Let’s see how well I did.

HERE WERE MY GENEALOGY GOALS FOR 2020

• Continue to blog about our family and share their stories – DONE

• To break down my two biggest, long standing brick walls – SADLY NOT DONE

• To become better at reading DNA results and connecting the dots – SOME PROGRESS

• To have a great time at Rootstech 2020 in February – ABSOLUTELY DONE!

• To continue to occasionally teach classes and help others grow their family tree – DONE

• To finish the small box of scanning that’s been in my office for several years – NOT DONE

• To continue to enjoy what started as a hobby and has now become a passion for me – DONE

What were your goals for this past year?  How did you do?

Here is my list for this coming year – writing them down helps motivate me

• To break down my two biggest, long standing brick walls
• To finish the small box of scanning that’s been in my office for several years
• To do a better job of citing my sources.  I was a bit lazy this past year
• To connect with more cousins and exchange information
• To continue to teach and help others
• To get my blog post count back to where it was in previous years (before 2020)

That top goal is huge for me and my most urgent desire.  What are your goals for the coming year?  I’d love to hear about them in a comment or your own blog post.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2017 FAMILY TREE PROGRESS REPORT ~ By the numbers–How many new people? How many new events and sources?

This report will cover three years, as I just realized I haven’t run a year end progress report since 2014.  Where does the time go?
 
So, what has changed in the past three years 2015, 2016 and 2017?  Let’s find out.

This is a topic that was first shared on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings.   It’s all about the statistics or numbers in your database.

If you use Legacy you can read my post from January 2014 about how to find your statistics. The method has not changed. Click here http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2014/01/how-to-find-your-family-statistics-in.html

One of the things I am interested in is how am I doing on my source citations?  Am I still consistently citing sources?  Or have I slacked off?
 
To accomplish this I divide the number of Citations by the Number of Individuals and come up with a percentage.

I have the previous numbers from the 2014 report and they are here.



Dividing 9719 by 4363 I come up with 222.75% citations per person.  That’s a very good number and means that for many people in my database I have more than one citation.  I’m sure for some people I don’t have any, but that’s a subject for another time.

Now let’s compare that to the end of the year report for 2017.

Since I did not run this report for 2015 or 2016, it will be interesting to see how the numbers have changed over a three year period.

These numbers tell me that I’ve made good progress over the past three years.  First let’s look at the statistic for percentage of citations per individual.  Dividing 11960 by 5374 we get 222.55% citations per person.  That’s so very close to the number back at the end of 2014. Only a difference of  – .2%.
 
What that tells me is that I haven’t been slacking off when it comes to citing my sources.  I’ve continued at a steady pace.

Now let’s look at the rest of the numbers.  How have I progressed in three years?
 

Looks like I’ve made good progress in all areas.  Even if we divide the “difference” totals by 3 (for the number of years represented), I’m still happy with my progress.

How do you keep track of your progress?  For me, it’s not just about the number of new people I’ve added because that’s always going to go up.  But, those other statistics that tell me I’m continuing to build my tree – more unique surnames, more master locations, more master sources.

This just means I have more ancestors to write about and a whole lot more cousins to find.

Here’s to a productive 2018 for every one of us.  Whatever our goals are.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2017   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

IT'S TIME FOR THE YEARLY PROGRESS REPORT ~ FAMILY STATISTICS FOR 2015 - HOW DID I DO?

This is a topic first shared by Randy Seaver on his Genea-Musings blog.  I enjoy seeing my progress for the year, so I’ve taken a look at these numbers for the last 3 years.

These various reports that I generate in Legacy 8 will tell me how much progress has been made in my family tree.

HERE IS THE REPORT FROM 2014

 Have I made progress in my research?

• Have I added more people/individuals?
• Do I have more Master Sources?
• How about my source citations, more or not?
• How does my percentage of citations compare to last year?

 




HERE IS MY REPORT FROM 2015 – Let’s compare

I see an increase in almost every number, so that’s good news.

One of the statistics I’m always interested in is my Citations.  Have they increased from last year to this year?  What is my percentage?
 
To get that number I divide the Citations by the Number of Individuals – 10834 divided by 4796.
 
That gives me a percentage rate, per person of 225.9%.  That’s an increase of +3.2% from last year.  This means I continue to cite my sources and have improved over last year.
 
Let’s take a look at the other numbers compared to last year.

	2014	2015	CHANGE
Number of Individuals	4363	4796	+433
Number of Families	1543	1681	+138
Unique Surnames	1143	1223	+80
Master Locations	1561	1742	+181
Master Sources	712	703	-9
Citations	9719	10834	+1115
Master Events	4228	4861	+633

I’m happy with what I see.  I’ve added 1.5 individuals per day, 3 citations per day and 1.7 events per day. I suspect the small drop in Master Sources is probably just me cleaning up my list, which I do regularly.

My primary goal has never been to see how many people I can have in my tree.  I’ve been researching for 12 years.  Since I’ve been retired these past six years, I research almost daily.  My primary concern is to document what I find and do thorough work, while growing the tree.  These results prove to me that I am meeting my goals.

DO YOU HAVE GOALS FOR 2016? 
If so, what are they?

• Better sourcing
• More people added to your tree?
• Go back & review the family members you added long ago?

Whatever they are, I wish you a successful year.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

HOW MUCH PROGRESS HAVE I MADE IN ONE YEAR? FAMILY STATISTICS REPORT FOR 2014

      

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS.  

I APPRECIATE EVERY ONE OF YOU.  I WISH YOU ALL A SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH YEAR IN 2015!

This is a topic that was first shared last year on Randy Seaver’s blog Genea-Musings.   It’s all about the statistics or numbers in your database.

OK, numbers aren’t so much fun, right?  But, they can certainly tell us if we are making progress in our research.  And, that is a good thing.

If you use Legacy you can read my post from last January about how to find your statistics.  Click here http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2014/01/how-to-find-your-family-statistics-in.html

Here are my statistics from last year:

(CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

• Have I made progress in my research?
• Have I added more people/individuals?
• Do I have more Master Sources?
• How about my source citations, more or not?
• How does my percentage of citations compare to last year?

Here is my report from 2014.  (I am leaving town for a couple of days and know that I won’t be working on my database until after January 1st, so I can post these numbers for 2014).



I see some increases in the numbers, so apparently some progress was made this past year
. 
One statistic that I am particularly interested in, is my percentage of citing sources.  Last year I had a great result in that I was 222.3% sourced.  To get that number you divide your number of individuals into your citations.  So last year I divided 9060 by 4075.

This year I will divide 9719 by 4363.  That comes out to 222.7%.  So, I am still sourcing my entries and in fact my number has gone up a bit.  That’s good to know.

Here are the some of the above statistics compared between years.

	2013	2014	CHANGE
NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS	4075	4363	+288
NUMBER OF FAMILIES	1451	1543	+  92
UNIQUE SURNAMES	1062	1143	+  81
MASTER SOURCES	687	712	+  25
CITATIONS	9060	9719	+659

I have only listed some of the statistics, but you can see that there has been an increase in all of them.
 
My challenge to you is to run the same kind of report from your software.  Then, at the end of 2015, compare it and see how you are doing
. 
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR 2015?
* To increase the number of source citations you have?
* To increase the number of individuals?
* To be better at citing your sources?

Whatever they are, use your software to it’s full capacity and it will help you stay on track.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

ADDING A RECORD TO LEGACY FROM ANCESTRY - Step by step instructions

LEGACY 8 - The Search Function - What Can You Find?

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

HOW TO FIND YOUR FAMILY STATISTICS IN LEGACY

The idea of family statistics was presented by another blogger, Randy Seaver, on his http://www.geneamusings.com/

He kept a record of what his database statistics were at the end of 2012 and then ran them yesterday and compared the numbers.

What a GREAT idea!  I encourage all of you to do the same.  That is a wonderful bench mark to let us know how our research is progressing.

Not so much just to see how many more people are in our database, but more to let you know if you entered more citations or master sources during the year.  I just ran this report in Legacy with a couple of clicks of my mouse.

I am using Legacy 8 now so here is what I did.

I clicked on the “HELP” tab, then clicked on “About Legacy.”

This is what will pop up on your screen. 
Now click on the word “General.”

You will see this report come up and it will look like this.  Your report should have your customer number in the upper right, but I have redacted mine for privacy purposes.



That’s all there is to it.  Pretty easy huh?  I’m sure you can do the same thing with whatever database you are using, Family Tree Maker, The Master Genealogist, Roots Magic, Reunion or any of the others.

This report tells me that my citations per person are 222.3%.  
My thanks to Randy Seaver for his comment about my math (see comment section).  Now at least that figure is correct.   

• How does that compare to your percentage?  
• What can you do to improve your percentage? 
• My goal by the end of this year is to add more event addresses and make better use of the to-do list.

I have never been about collecting names, although it’s a natural course of events as you continue your research.  I remember my excitement when I hit 1,000 people a few years ago.

Now, go run that report and save a copy.  I’ll do the same and we’ll compare notes at the end of the year.  

What is the one thing that we might not want to take the time to do, but which is the most important thing we can do in our research.  

CITE THOSE SOURCES!!!

Happy Hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright © 2014   Diane Gould Hall