Genealogy Day: Not as Easy at it Sounded!

My first planned Genealogy Day was October 1st and I thought I'd let readers know how it went. Genealogy Day is the day I'm setting aside once a month to work on my own genealogy for a change!

My plan was a stay-at-home day with hubby, when we would both organize files and documents on one ancestor. I thought we would also work up a Research plan for each of our ancestors. HA! How naive was I?

The day didn't start well. I'm an early riser and figured that by the time hubby woke up 2 hours later, I'd have a good start on Cornelius Vollick's land records. That was all I wanted to do - organize what land records and petitions I have, figure out what I need next, and write out a simple research plan.

I spread my Cornelius Vollick file on our dining room table. I sorted and read and organized, all the while realizing I had quite a shambles on my hands. Hubby got up and somehow we both got sidetracked into household chores! It seemed that having set aside a free day we were both obsessed with getting caught up on cleaning and handyman jobs that had been neglected.

Note to self: Do the dishes and kitchen cleanup the night before Genealogy Day! No cleaning the fridge or scrubbing toilets either. Housework can wait!

By 1 pm I decided that was it, I was sitting down and working on my genealogy without interruption. I was able to do that and worked fairly steadily until 5 pm. I managed to organize all the Upper Canada Land Petitions and township papers I have for Cornelius, his siblings and his father. I checked the online index to see if I'd missed any and was surprised to find I had.

I printed off the "hits" from the online index, circled the ones I need, and the ones I want to re-copy due to my poor copy on hand. That was a good feeling! Part 1 of my research plan done! Next month when we go to the Ontario Archives I will get those petitions.

Next I sorted township papers. Then I wrote out all the land locations for Cornelius and his family members over the years. That was a huge job! It meant I had no time to figure out the rest of my research plan but it had a positive benefit in that I then took some time to analyse the land locations.

I felt that I achieved part of my goal for Genealogy Day 1, but I need to be more focused for the next in-home one. And I will definitely need another in-home Genealogy Day before we venture out on our field trip to the Archives.

I'm sorry to say that hubby did not fare quite as well. He didn't settle in to his genealogy until mid-afternoon, and then he quickly became side-tracked by his notes on the Massey branch he wanted to research. I think he ended up mostly reading his previous research notes and running to the computer to look things up on Ancestry.com! He agrees he needs to hone in a specific goal and not allow himself to be distracted.

All in all I'm pleased that we started our monthly Genealogy Day and even though I'm disappointed in how little I achieved, I am reminding myself that I got some organization and planning done - and that next time I'll be better at it!

Genealogy Day: My Plan for Cornelius Vollick

Well, I've decided when my first Genealogy Day is going to be, and what ancestor I'm going to work on. Genealogy Day is the day I'm setting aside once a month to work on my own genealogy for a change!

This Friday, October 1st is the big day! Hubs and I have each decided to take our first day as an organizational day. Each of us is going to choose an individual in our ancestry, and organize our notes, documents etc for that person. Then we are each going to come up with a plan for doing more research on that person. That will be our second Genealogy Day - an excursion to do the actual research.

I've chosen my 4th great-grandfather Cornelius Vollick. Cornelius was the son of a Loyalist in Butler's Rangers, and may have been a Loyalist himself. I've got conflicting information on whether or not he too was in Butler's Rangers that needs studying.

Years ago I acquired many petitions, land records and other documents regarding Cornelius but I need to go through them and study them for clues I might have missed first time around. I also plan to make a list of all petitions for Cornelius in the online Upper Canada Land Petitions Index. Part of my plan is to visit the new Ontario Archives building and get all of them again. I have them all but many are bad copies so I want new. Perhaps I missed one or two and if I did, this is my chance to get them.

My land documents and notations for Cornelius desperately need organization. A quick glance last night showed me that I have a lot of land documents, but there is no order to them and I haven't studied them in depth to think about clues found in them.

Cornelius is an important ancestor for me for two reasons. Without absolute proof that he is the father of my Richard Vollick, I can't get my Metis status back. I had Metis status but my tribe (Woodland branch of Ontario Metis Aboriginal Assocation) was disbanded (it's a long story!) and so I need to reapply through the Metis Nation of Ontario. They've already but accepted an application from a "cousin" so I know there is hope. However I descend from a different brother than my "cousin" does, so I have my work cut out for me.

Cornelius is also important because I can't obtain my UEL (Loyalist) status without that same absolute proof that he is the father of my Richard Vollick.

Hubs is going to talk about his plan for Genealogy Day on his blog AncestorsAtRest but without spoiling his blog post, I think he plans on organizing his records on his black ancestor Jonathan Butler, who settled circa 1840 in the Queen's Bush area of Upper Canada - a settlement area set aside for fugitive slaves.

We are excited about this Friday and the first of our monthly Genealogy Days! Do you have your day planned?

A Month Without a Genealogy Day is Like a Day Without Sunshine

Do you take time to work on your own personal genealogy? If you're like me, you're involved in so many projects and daily family life that you don't seem to get around to it.

It's been months since I did any research on my ancestors. I miss it! But like many other genealogists, I have my blogs, my websites, my mailing lists, my Olive Tree Genealogy newsletter, the family history books I write, articles I'm working on... and a whole slew of other genealogy projects - none of which are specifically about *my* ancestors!

And that doesn't include family life - cooking (which is my second favorite activity after genealogy!), antiquing (next favorite after genealogy), spending time with kids, grandkids, hubby and friends. Wow I'm exhausted just writing this all out!

Oh yeah and I'm not retired so I have to engage in that dreadful 4-letter activity - (W O R K).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. As I always say to hubs, it's not a complaint, it's a statement of fact. I love what I do. But it fills my days.

So today I decided I need to take time for my own ancestor research. With that in mind I've set aside one day a month - marked on my calendar so I can't pass it by in favor of "more important" or "more urgent" things.... That one day is designated GENEALOGY DAY. Now, every day is Genealogy Day for me, but this one is to be spent only on my ancestors.

On Genealogy Day hubs and I will make field trips to various archives, libraries, museums - the places we keep meaning to get to (but never do) to look up our ancestors. Some are near, most are a fair distance.

For example I have been needing to get to Erie Pennsylvania for years now! I need to have a look in the Archives there for my PEER family who lived in Northeast Pennsylvania and just across the border in Ripley New York from about 1817-1835.

I am convinced that in 1830-1831 my Levi Peer filed a will. I won't rest easy until I go there and have a hunt for any information on Levi, his brother Edward or their wives or children. (or hire someone on my behalf - anyone want the job?)

We might forgo a field trip in favor of staying home and organizing a family line, sorting documents for one individual or family group. Then we can construct a plan of attack - what do we have and what do we need? Taking the time to decide on what is needed and finding out if it has survived and is available, then doing some checking to find out where it is held will be invaluable as we plan our field trips.

I'm looking forward to our first Genealogy Day at the end of this month! We haven't decided where we'll go but I suspect to the new Ontario Archives. For that we'll need a really good plan of what we each want to find, as both of us are at the challenging part of our Ontario ancestors research.

I'm finding that it's too easy to let my own genealogy research slip in favor of other projects. And while I love working on all these other things (they're mostly genealogy, just not my own!), I miss the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of the find. Time to recapture that moment of absolute delight when you finally find that little tidbit of information that gives you the maiden name of your great-great-great grandmother... or the will of your 3rd great grandfather.

So watch out Levi Peer, I'm coming to find you!