Genealogical Labors of Love

 Over the past few years I have become increasingly involved with a genealogy site called WikiTree.  It uses the same principles as Wikipedia and shares backbones with it as it is a Wiki.  And, like Wikipedia, it's FREE to the world!   I've spent a lot of money over the years supporting Ancestry.com with my subscriptions since 2012.  It really irked me that all my hours of labor developing my family history tree are then used to entice others to to their website which requires increasingly high fees to give others access to data I spent time linking.  It's very frustrating to me.  Genealogists are "sharers".  We research, document, unearth facts, and want to cry from the rooftops all the data we collect.  Ancestry wants that free effort to make money.  Bleh.

Over the course of the past decade I began using FamilySearch.org more and more as it was free to everyone.  But, I've come to find that inaccurate information (also prevalent on Ancestry.com) pervades the platform.  Where could I put my lifetime's work on my family history for future and/or distant relatives to find one day in their own search for their roots?

I found WikiTree during the COVID-19 Panademic in late 2020 and finally joined in 2021.  The rest is history.

WikiTree is full of ardent seekers of truth and documented proof.  The collaboration is amazing.  And it's free for everyone, forever.  After working in my spare time for a few years off and on, I decided this is where I should put my treasure trove of knowledge of my ancestors and extended family.  This past year I have been very focused on my work on WikiTree.  My goal was to ensure all of my direct ancestors going back four generations was uploaded with the very best personal biographies I could write.  On April 14, 2024 I uploaded the last of those four generations.  I have some tweaks that I need to make to some of the most recently completed uploads, but they are all there.

My final push of the last 6 ancestors was spurred by a competition that WikiTree was holding: the April 2024 Connect-a-thon.  I'd had tried to some Saturday Sourcing Sprints, some Bio-Builder work on US Governors, and thought I'd finally give "thon" a try.   What a thrill it was.  The goal is to add new person profiles that are connected to an existing person profile on the site.  That was my goal after all, right?  To add my missing 6 ancestors and connect them to me?  In the interest of making the Thons more exciting and fun there are scores kept for number of profiles created.  I came in 336th out of 663 participants.  I ended up adding 56 new ancestors to WikiTree in 3 days time.  Not bad for a novice competitor.  

The end result:

I learned a lot of tricks and tips on how to be an efficient and effective WikiTree'er.  I have learned about some new tools available and started using some Personal Category tags on the profiles I created to remind me to go back and add additional family members (spouses, children, parents).  This week I've begun using my tags to create additional ancestors, so my branch of the great world tree at WikiTree is growing.  At WikiTree we measure the number of "Connections" within 7 degrees that we each have.  This is called our CC-7 number.  It's really just an arbitrary number to help us gauge our progress and our connection to humankind throughout time.  When I started diving deep into my involvement on WikiTree in early 2024,  I was at a CC-7 of 425.  Today I am at 629!!  My goal is 1000 for the near-term.

Meanwhile, I have joined a new WikiTree Project Team:  The Cemeterist project.  In this project we photograph gravestones, transcribe the data, and create new WikiTree person profiles while trying to research as much as possible to create as "complete" a Bio as we can for that person.  Spring is here and I thought it would be a great way to get some exercise and combine it with my hobby.

Reboot!

 As I have progressed in my skills as an amateur genealogist, I have increasingly wanted to "publish" my findings to share with family members in an easy way.  Should I write a book?  A family genealogical history?  I kept coming back to creating a blog that I could provide updates and information about our common family history.  Today I decided to explore the idea further and in doing so was reminded that. . . . I HAVE A BLOG!  

I had nearly forgotten my days of luxury as a housewife in my 40's and the ramblings I posted infrequently about whatever thing I was doing at the time.  I've decided to leave this blog with all it's prior posts and simply start anew - with current musings, thoughts, and interests.  That, of course, is GENEALOGY!  

So welcome to my re-boot blog.  Although I no longer live on my 2 Acres on Planet Earth, my heart and mind still like to think I do.  Stay tuned as I dust off this few bytes of cyberspace.

The Rush of Spring and the Year of Travel

Spring has peeked its friendly face here by way of a few days in the mid-60's last week.  But she quickly retreated when Old Man Winter blew back in to town.  The age old war of seasonal change goes on.  Daylight Savings Time is this weekend and the kids start Spring Break on Monday.  Signs of Spring are in abundance outdoors too as green shoots are appearing throughout the garden and I could swear the grass appears to have taken on a greenish hue.  Spring-like rain showers and a good old-fashioned Midwestern thunderstorm have also occurred in the last ten days.  It won't be long now.

As is customary for me, Spring brings a huge shift in gears.  Gone over the next month will be the leisurely after dinner nights of Winter spent watching television, reading or surfing the web.  Nope, I've already started to shift into a higher gear as our vacation to Mexico draws close.  Lots of preparations and last minute planning have been the work of the past week.

                                                 

We decided to try having our groceries ordered in advance and delivered to our villa before our arrival in Akumal.  We debated on it last year, but being newbie tourists to the Riviera Maya we elected to not trust the sources we read online and arranged with our villa manager to get groceries once we were there.  The booking agency I used this year recommended the grocery service so I thought that was a plus and they really do have a lot of good press in the tourist forums.  I hope it works out as grocery shopping is not how I want to spend my vacation.

I'm really looking forward to this Mexico vacation because it was just so truly relaxing last year.  A week-long holiday in the tropics does have a way of getting you to unwind and relax.  In less than two weeks I'll be sitting here and having margaritas all day long while I read or spend time with the family having a good time on the beach and in the pool.


This year we are planning to voyage into the interior of Mexico to visit Chichen Itza, the ancient Mayan ruins.  The trip, one-way, is three hours so it will be a long day.  But being one of the New Seven Wonders of the World we just feel it would be a travesty to not go visit it when we are so close. 

We'll also do an afternoon sailing on the large 45-foot catamaran similar to last year.  Instead of a full day sail with lunch on the beach and jungle ride in the back of a pick-up truck (gosh that was a tense moment or two), we all agreed to do a 4-hour sail with snorkeling and snacks provided by the sailing outfit.

                                

Patrick and I are planning a trip to Vegas sometime in April courtesy of a nice windfall we came in to this past week.  So I have lots of planning to do there as well.  The windfall also allowed me to pick out some new carpet for the formal living room and dining room at last.  They come to measure this week and hopefully it will arrive while we are on vacation so that we can schedule installation shortly after our return.

Back in January we made the decision (finally! after years of telling everyone in the family I wanted to do it) to visit Washington, DC over the 4th of July this year.  We booked our airfare and hotel back then but I need to start looking at what we'll have time to visit and see while we're there.  I'm really excited to share this truly American and most-patriotic event with my girls.  Being in DC on the 4th is something that has stood out in my mind for years as one of the greatest things I've participated in.  I'm glad they'll finally get to experience it.  Maybe they in turn will make it a tradition by taking their children some day.

Somewhere amidst all this travel I have to find time for the gardening I have been planning this winter.  Plants and bulbs are ordered, planting and sowing schedules are committed to paper, and seeds have arrived.  There's no turning back now.  Onward towards Spring I march.  Eager for the faster pace, warmer weather, and higher spirits that come with it all.