Nancy Hendrickson - 52 Weeks of Genealogy: Projects for Every Week of the Year

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Table of Illustrations

Figure 6 Abraham Lincoln Letter, Library of Congress

Figure 14 A Family Favorite - Hollyhocks

Figure 21 Wedding Day, Easter Sunday 1940

Figure 24 My Sister Carving the Pumpkin

Figure 28 Mom, the War Years

Figure 41 Texas Mission, Wikimedia

Figure 45 Faulkenberry Cemetery, Limestone County, TX

Figure 48 Google Earth Controls

Figure 53 Search is at the Bottom of the List

Introduction

I ts ironic. Ive written 30 books but when it comes right down to it, I get the most pleasure from writing or capturing on video or audio what I call little stories.

Stories can be as simple as:

• 10 minutes of quiet conversation with my mom
• my memories of sitting in an empty country church listening to my sister playing old hymns on a battered upright piano
• when I was a kid and my aunt made me crawl under the house to gather chicken eggs
• the memories of building a deck with my dad
• my grandmothers voice
• my great-aunts laugh
• the joy of seeing a photo of my great-great-grandfather

When my mom turned 90 I started doing audio interviews with her. Before that I also did a few videos. Heres a short one about her talking about going to the movie theater when she was a kid. (Click to download the video).

Beyond the little stories are the little projects; the ones you can do in five minutes or so a day. Theyre the ones that I gravitate towards because theyre the ones I know I can get done. And, for me, theyre the most memorable.

When faced with a big project like writing the entire family history, its overwhelming, even for someone like me whos written so many books. I think part of the overwhelm is because the family history is SO BIG! So many branches, so many people and places, so many stories.

I know Im not alone in feeling so overwhelmed. Thats why I created 52 Weeks of Genealogy . Its filled with little projects. Some of them can be done in 5 minutes, some take a day or two. But theres nothing that will take you more than a week. (and I dont mean a week fulltime just a week of spending a little time each day).

My Philosophy Behind The Projects

T heres absolutely nothing in this book not a single project thats complex. In fact, you may think to yourself gee, this stuff is so easy Im beyond it. The truth is every project is easy and I did that for a reason.

The goal wasnt for me to create hard-to-do genealogy; the goal was to create 52 small projects that, at the end of a year, would add up to a significant amount of genealogical research. I wanted you to avoid overwhelm and have some fun doing a weekly project.

With small steps, great progress is made.

How to Use This Book

M ost of us have done a significant amount of genealogy on one or two branches of the family. This time around using this book I encourage you to tackle a branch about which you know little; or one that youve been putting off. Use these little projects to begin amassing information about new family lines.

Although Ive numbered the projects from 1-52, there is no logical sequence that you have to follow. If you like going in order, then start at 1 and move forward. If you enjoy a more random stroll through the year, then pick whatever project sounds like fun.

At the end of the book Ive added a checklist to make it easy for you to track the projects youve completed.

At any time along the way, feel free to add to, subtract from, or edit the project goal with one that makes more sense for your genealogy.

~~~ At any time that the resource I suggest isnt relevant to your search, please replace it with a more appropriate resource.~~~

Heres how the book is structure: Each project has a single goal. Please tackle the goal in any way you like. With each, Ive included a sample of my own research that meets that goal. My resources are probably going to be different from yours how could they not be?

Dont feel like you have to use the same approach or the same websites I did; with your goal in mind, use the books or resources or websites that work for you. My samples are included to give you inspiration at least thats my intent!

Although my own samples are of U.S. research and the projects reference U.S. research, the goal is the project itself, not the place. In other words, if finding a land transfer is the goal, although my sample may be U.S., your goal is to find the land transfer in whatever country your family lived.

If youd like the print the entire book, thats great. If you only want to print the checklist, that works too. This project book is yours to use in whatever way works for you.