Accentuate the Positive - Celebrating 2015!

Jill Ball who writes the blog, GeniAus, has issued her annual reminder to genealogy researchers to focus on all you have accomplished in the past year. I did this last year and really enjoyed it!  Those who participate in this challenge delete or modify the prompts depending on their personal circumstances so check out all her original ideas of things to celebrate! 

Here's a toast to 2015! It was a great year of genealogy!
On to 2016 and all the new things it will bring! 

A precious family photo I found was this picture of my grandmother, Fern Lyndell (Cotton) Carter (1922-2002), holding my father, Thomas Robert Carter (1939-__).

An ancestor's grave I found: I actually did more cemetery visits this year than previously. However, locating the Capen Cemetery was a highlight of my year. I knew my grandfather used to visit this small cemetery on private land. My dad lives nearby and talked to the landowners to find the cemetery and get permission to visit. 

An important record I found was the obituary for a student's father. This student had no connections to his family and knew very little about his family's story. He thought he would never be able to find anything because his father was dead and he was estranged from his mother and he had no extended family connections. Starting with his father's obituary, we were able to find 183 records and document 70 relatives. 

A geneasurprise I received was my Christmas present again! My family is sending me to NEHGS at the end of February for the Winter Research Workshop. 

My 2015 blog post that I was particularly proud of was One Maine Farm in 1860. The reason is that the prompt from Amy Crow inspired me to dig deeper into the agricultural schedule of the census and gain a greater understanding of what life was actually like for my ancestors. 

My 2015 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was Five Daughters Suddenly Gone. I think many people related to it because of similar family stories of hardship and loss in their own trees. 

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Facebook. Genealogists and bloggers especially are a great group. I enjoy all that is shared - personal stories of everyday life and the challenges of fitting our passion for research around the other demands of life, struggles and successes of research, tips and hints, and many great ancestor stories. 

A genealogy conference I attended and gained much from was NERGC 2015 in April. I saw great speakers, got to meet D. Joshua Taylor, Carol McCoy, and Judy Russell, and connected with many of those I "see" online. 

I am proud of the presentation email interviews I did for NERGC 2015. I was fortunate to get responses from two excellent presenters, D. Joshua Taylor and Casey Zahn.

I taught a friend a group of my students how to research their ancestors. You can read about their findings on my blog here.

A great repository/archive/library I visited was The New England Historical and Genealogical Society. It was an unexpected visit that came about when a school group needed another chaperone for the train trip to Boston. Just ride the train and the day in Boston was mine to do with what I pleased. I chose to spend it at NEHGS. 

A new genealogy/history book I am enjoying is The Great Migration Directory by Robert Charles Anderson. 

It was exciting to finally meet the New England Geneabloggers who attended the bash in September. It was a renewing of acquaintances with most. However, I had not met Pam Seavey Schaffner or Barbara Mathews in person until the bash. It was the first time I was able to attend and I look forward to more meetings in the future. 

Photographer: Vincent Rojo

A geneadventure I enjoyed was a road trip to Massachusetts in June. In one day, my husband and I visited The Balch House, the Saugus Iron Works, the Golgotha Memorial in Amesbury, and the Old Newbury Burying Ground and Founders Memorial. 

Another positive I would like to share is I am looking forward to making more connections with other genealogists and bloggers in 2016. I am going to work on Dear Myrtle's Finally Get Organized Challenge and Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over.  

A big thank you to Jill Ball for this annual tradition! 
Jill Ball's blog, GeniAus Accentuate the Positive Challenge

2014 Accentuate the Positive

Jill Ball who writes the blog, GeniAus, has issued her annual reminder to genealogy researchers to focus on all you have accomplished in the past year. I didn't write a post for last year but I decided I should do one for this year. Those who participate in this challenge delete or modify the prompts depending on their personal circumstances so check out all her original ideas of things to celebrate! 

An elusive ancestor I found was Ellen Pell who turned out to be connected to my tree in three different ways. 

A precious family photo I found was a picture of my grandparents that my cousin, Justine, sent to me. Later my mother went through her pictures and gave me a bunch to scan during the coming year. 

Clayton & Linona "Peggy" Blake

An ancestor's grave I found was that of Harriet May Blake, my grandfather's mother. 

An important record I found was my 5th great-grandfather's name on a list of Revolutionary War participants. He was a Revolutionary War surgeon and trained his son-in-law, my 4th great-grandfather. 

A newly found family member shared some DNA. Okay, maybe that is stretching the meaning of this one abit but I am thrilled to actually be getting some genuine matches on my Ancestry DNA. I also uploaded my results to Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch but I'm still trying to figure it all out. 

A geneasurprise I received was my Christmas present from my sons, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law-to-be, and grandson. They paid for 2 nights in the Providence Biltmore with parking and my registration to the New England Regional Genealogical Conference! I am so excited because I didn't think I would be able to go but they thought of and arranged everything. 

My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was The Importance of Family because it was so difficult to write about losing my uncle and little did I know that I would lose his younger brother, my favorite uncle, just a few weeks later. I still haven't been able to write about him but maybe this year. 

My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was Humphrey Atherton's Quaker Curse?

A new piece of software I mastered was RootsMagic. I'm not sure I've mastered it but I was looking for a program that was similar to Legacy but would run on a Mac. RootsMagic came out with a "bridge" version so I can run it on my computer. I still really love Legacy Family Tree but they need a Mac version. 

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Facebook because I get lots of comments there on the blog posts that I share, the groups for various genealogy topics, and it helps me find new connections to others researching the same areas or ancestors. 

 I am proud of the presentation  (direction) I gave to my students who chose to research their families for their end-of-the-year project in my U.S. History class. You can read some of their accomplishments in research in my post, Family History Project 2014. 

A genealogy book that taught me something new was A Storm of Witchcraft by Emerson W. Baker. I'm not finished reading it yet but many of my ancestors are part of the history of this time.  

A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was A Knock At The Door: A Mother's Survival of the Armenian Genocide by Margaret Anhert. It was painful to read at times but it was an important reminder of listening to the stories of our parents and grandparents and trying to understand them before it's too late. 

It was exciting (for my grandson) to finally meet my grandmother and to get a five- generation picture taken. 

Five Generations

Linona "Peggy" Blake, seated
Cameron Stephen Taylor, Pamela Carter, holding Samuel Owen Taylor, and Myrna White

A geneadventure I enjoyed was revisiting the Pemaquid Museum. I know now that John Cogswell, whose trunk survived the wreck of the Angel Gabriel at Pemaquid in 1635, is my 11th great-grandfather. 

2014 Visit

2012 Post

Another positive I would like to share is that I love the interactions with other geneabloggers! They are such a friendly bunch and so helpful. I really enjoy the inspiration they give me to continue to tell my ancestors' stories. 

Jill Ball's blog, GeniAus Accentuate the Positive Challenge

A Sense of Community

This morning, as I was checking Facebook, I noticed a post by one of my favorite bloggers and promptly clicked on it to read. It was a follow-up story about an award she had received and I was surprised to see my name listed as one of the blogs she was recognizing. My first award! 

YAY! 

I am coming up on my one year anniversary of blogging and it has been the best thing I've ever done in the realm of genealogy.  I love genealogy and like most I am self-taught. I'd been plugging away on gathering names and dates without focus or clear purpose for almost 10 years. Blogging has given me a community of like-minded people who are interesting, fun, and most of all helpful! I learn research techniques which greatly enhance my skill level. I'm inspired and get ideas that take the names and dates to the next level. I now study my ancestors in the context of history and find out the stories of their lives. Most of all, I've made new friends who are as passionate about genealogy and history as I am. They are supportive and incredibly helpful. If you love working on genealogy, I cannot encourage you strongly enough to start blogging. I was so worried that I couldn't do it...I'd run out of ideas....I didn't have the time...No one would want to read what I wrote...

But once you start, it will just blossom. Come join the community! 

Apparently, there is a bit of controversy right now regarding the chain letter aspect of a blog award and the new Google algorithms, including the possibility of negative consequences when linking blogs together. All of this is covered in the links on Heather's post. However, everyone acknowledges the excitement and sincere appreciation felt when your blog is promoted. It is in this spirit that I nominate the following blogs - with the hope they appreciate the recognition and feel no obligation to participate. 


1. Bill West's - West in New England - Bill is my inspiration. He is a cousin I met through the Ellingwood Reunion Facebook group and the Maine Genealogy Network. We were fortunate to meet in person at the reunion in 2011. His support and encouragement got me started and he continues to lead in sharing my posts on social networks. 

2. Heather Wilkinson Rojo's - Nutfield Genalogy - Heather is another cousin and we keep finding more connections as we write about our ancestors. Her blog is a favorite because her posts are so varied - from Weathervane Wednesdays and upcoming genealogy events to the connections of her New England ancestors to Hawaii. She frequently comments on my posts and has been very generous and helpful - most recently sharing a letter, written to Queen Liliuokalani, that I can use in my classroom when teaching about Hawaiian annexation. 

3. Pam Seavey Schaffner's - Digging Down East - Pam is a new friend who has similar research interests in Maine. She makes great use of pictures on her posts and I like the way her posts describe her research so I can learn how she found out about the topic. I am especially grateful for her 'Where I Dig' page that lists wonderful resources. 

4. Chris Dunham's - The Genealogue and Maine Genealogy Network - Chris has been a great help to me on several occasions this year. He doesn't blog often but I really enjoy his wit. His 2012 posts on using DNA were great reads. He invests a lot of time and energy on the Maine Genealogy Network. It is an important site for those with Maine ancestry. 

5. Cindy Freed's - Genealogy Circle - Cindy is another one who makes great use of visuals with descriptions of her research. Her site has fresh, clean look and her posts are interesting and easy to read. She is a contributing author to the In-Depth Genealogist, a twice-monthly publication that is invaluable to genealogists of all skill levels. 

6. Jill Ball's - Geniaus - I haven't discovered any common relatives with Jill but that doesn't make her Australian genealogy blog any less interesting. She writes about doing genealogy and much of it applies to everyone. I am most grateful for stumbling across her New Year's post about accentuating the positive. I took her challenge and sent her a link to my post. She sent a very nice reply that exemplifies the sense of community and the warm welcome to the world of blogging that I spoke of at the start of this post. 


If my beneficiaries choose to participate, here are the rules and a link to the original post.
The originator of the award and the rules
1. Select the blogs you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award
2. Write a blog post and tell us about the blogs you have chosen - no minimum or maximum number
3. Please include a link back to this page at http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include the rules in your post (please don't alter the rules or the badges!)
4. Let the blogs you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the rules with them.
5. You can now join the Facebook group - click 'like' on this page 'Blog of the Year 2012' Award Facebook group and you can share your blog with an even wider audience.
6. As a winner of the award - please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award - and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar - and start collecting stars.