We all know it’s been quite and I mean QUITE a year. Not only the raging pandemic here in the United States but also issues on race, police brutality, and issues of politics have been flashing across our TV screens and phones for what feels like forever. Yet, somehow most of it has mainly been in 2020. This year will certainly be one for the books!
However, for many – our lives have gone on almost “naturally”… so it seems. I have been fortunate to continue working despite some of life’s throes. Genealogy being an important part of life still continues to be.
As we wrap up 2020 and hope for a bright and better 2021, like how I have done in the past few years – will create a list of genealogical resolutions I’d like to reach this coming year. Here are a list of previous goals/resolutions and my reflections for each year.
Previous goals & Reflections
Genealogical resolutions for 2021!
1. Continue my genealogical education (webinars, classes, etc.).
After just completing my Boston University Genealogical Certificate program, my brain screams “NO MORE, PLEASE!!”, since the class was quite intense. However, I do want to continue taking online webinars and maybe shorter classes available online that will be helpful to me and to continuing my genealogical education. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) ask that their members complete 12 hours of “continued education” prior to the member’s renewal date. And so I think aiming for these set hours or close to goal is a great way to start gearing myself for hopefully/eventually joining this group.
2. Post more on my blog – ideally twice a month.
Given the pandemic, my genealogy class, and personal things – the blog really took the back burner this year. Looking over my website, I can see I posted six times this year:
– Twice in January
– Once in February
– Once in July
– Twice in December
Which truth be told isn’t a lot at all! Granted we are living in a pandemic and so I can’t complain too much, other things were more important at the time and so at least I did post a few times – but I definitely want to try and make this occur more often! My goal is to post twice a month (bimonthly), I have a few posts lined up in my mind that I want to write about but I have to make sure I continue adding to that list so that the well doesn’t run dry come May or June. This would mean that I would publish a minimum of 24 times this year… let’s hope that’s possible! Hopefully, I can publish more! I will try and calendar-out these publication dates so that I have them already pre-planned and what posts I want to write when. That way I’m not scrambling last minute to get them done.
3. Aim to get 25 subscribers to my new blog (.com).
In my last blog, I had gotten to about 77 subscribers! Not sure how many of them read it often, but it was nice having a number I could see. My goal is to slowly build up a following again on this blog – starting with 25 subscribers. Subscription is free and you only need to follow my blog to get an email alert as to when a new post is added… which ahem, I need to work on integrating that button to my website if I want people actually following it! Hoping to get that done soon!
4. Try to publish an article via one of my genealogical societies.
After finishing my course, one of the things that stuck out was building a name for yourself and getting yourself published and out there. My goal is to start with what I know best and feel most comfortable with. Publishing an article about my Puerto Rican ancestors, ideally with the Puerto Rican genealogical society I am a part of. The group’s language is mainly Spanish and so I would aim to publish with them an article in Spanish and then publish a variation of it hopefully later on in English in an American genealogical journal. That way it can reach both audiences – both on the island and those outside of the Puerto Rican genealogical bubble as well.
5. Cast a wider net of DNA profiles
This is a goal from last year that I did not get to achieve, but one that I would like to continue and try to achieve this year. For example, getting more autosomal exams done for cousins in areas of my DNA that I lack information per my DNA Painter comparisons. I would also like to add male Y-DNA profiles to my current ones where I know that two other branches descend from half-relationships but share the same father with my cousins of two different lines. This will hopefully strengthen my hypothesis for both lines once other paternal Y-DNA cousins start to trickle in (hopefully sooner rather than later!).
6. Reach out to French genealogists about research in the Notarial Archives
Back when I researched my ancestors in Martinique, I had noticed that there seemed to be a transfer of slave ownership from one generation to the next, from the father/mother to the daughter given who declared the births of my enslaved ancestor and her sibling. Therefore, my goal is to try and narrow down and eventually research if a will was left when the parents passed away. I talk about this in my post “Exploring my Slave Roots in Martinique, Part II” where I discuss the death of Jean Jacques Catherine Lapierre in 1845 which likely triggered the transferring of Eglantine, Marie Pauline, and Julienne Malvina who later (acquired the surname “Lautin” after receiving freedom) down to their daughter. Given COVID-19 restrictions, I am not sure how feasible this may be yet, but I am hoping that by at least the summer time the archives will begin to open up again and a notary record might be discovered that mentions Jean Jacque Catherine Lapierre’s death and his daughter Rose Hélène Lapierre who seems to have inherited the Lautin slaves around 1845.
7. Continue modifying/fixing/adding to my blog.
Similarly, this one seems like an easy goal like the 25 subscribers goal, but as things pile on it is easy to forget. I want to make my website as seamless as possible, making everything easily accessible and clear to the readers. One thing I have been contemplating is the potential of having a Spanish version of my website. I know there are tools/plugins that automatically translate your site, but I wonder if it is worth investing my own time to translate the different sections or if that will be two much. I recently followed a French blog that publishes but in French and English, but I am not sure if the English is a product of a quick translation with fix-ups of the notable errors. I would have to dive deeper and see how they approach it. I like my website’s design currently, but if I notice something is not working then it is definitely worth reconsidering. First on the list is adding a subscriber button, like how I mentioned above!
8. Give a lecture, be a volunteer, etc. as a genealogist.
Again, this one might not be too easy given COVID-19, however with the power of Zoom I hope this can made be possible. I know that my local library had workshops in person pre-pandemic so I wonder if they have continued offering them online. If so, I want to see if they have anything genealogy related and maybe give a few “lectures” or ultimately start an online series of talks with them as a volunteer (not too often but a few maybe every other month). This would allow me to get my name out there a bit while also building skills such as presenting. My go-to would be offering a session on Puerto Rican genealogy, but I’m not sure of the population of Puerto Ricans in my town. I could ask the librarians/resource person and see if they get questions or requests, especially from a certain group of people/ethnicity wanting to research their past. I think this could be an awesome and exciting opportunity for me!
9. Read more genealogical books
I noticed that I did a fairly good amount of reading this year (proud to say I hit 35 books!), I realized that not many had to do with genealogy. I did get to read The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Uncovering Secrets, Reuniting Relatives, and Upending Who We Are by Libby Copeland (definitely worth a read!) and I also read The Baby Scoop Era: Unwed Mothers, Infant Adoptions and Forced Surrender by Karen Wilson Buterbaugh – though not directly related to genealogy for me it helped contextualize what my grandmother would have gone through in the 1960s. Finally, I read The Cross and the Pear Tree: A Sephardic Journey by Victor Perera, this book journeys through the Perera, Pereira, etc. families in France, Spain, Portugal and ultimately Guatemala where his family ends up but “genealogically” for me the book didn’t do much. So my goal is to add more books into my list of readings that have to do with genealogy. Out of the 35 books, only three this year had to do with genealogy, which isn’t a ton! I didn’t count two books: Genealogy Standards by the Board of Certified Genealogists and The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger since they were course materials for my class and not independent books I chose to read on my own.
10. Investigate a few of my maternal haplogroups and their paper trails.
Over the past years, with DNA testing for myself and my family members, I have been able to learn about various of the maternal haplogroups that my family carries. For example, I carry C1b4 an indigenous group while my father carries L2a1, an African haplogroup. My maternal grandfather was A2, another indigenous haplogroup while my maternal great-grandfather was U5b1b1b, likely an Iberian ancestress. How far can I trace these different lines via a paper trail and what can I learn about them? Some might be easier to trace than others due to historical contexts, while others might be “blocked” given a lack of access to certain church records for those towns. This seems like a quick post but nonetheless I’d like to explore and learn more about these different lines that contribute to who I am and apply what I have learned through my genealogy course and properly cite the records that support what I have found.