Genealogy Plans for 2022
I’ve had a short break from the blog over the Christmas/New Year which was lovely. However, I missed posting, and my mind has been busy mulling over my Genealogy plans for 2022. Last year was fairly busy genealogically, and I can see the coming year being very similar. I am feeling the urge to get my family stories up to date, with research gaps filled, and published here, so they exist in the universe, after I’m no longer around. I have nobody to pass my work on to, so I’m making this a priority. This blog is archived at the National Library of Australia, so I know that the stories will continue to exist into the future.
I can’t see myself attending in person conferences again, in 2022, due to the pandemic. However, as with 2021, I’m looking forward to attending virtual conferences on Zoom and webinars. Those I’m most looking forward to at the moment (and I know there will be many more) are:
Rootstech: Held on the 3-5 March 2022, this conference is a must attend, especially now that it is held virtually. I attended Rootstech in Salt Lake City in 2016, and unfortunately haven’t been able to get there since. Last year was the first year that this conference was held virtually and it was a massive success. I put everything aside for three days and watched as many sessions as I could fit in. I’m planning to do the same this year. An added bonus is that once again, Rootstech is a free event.
Scottish Indexes: To be honest, I don’t think I had heard of Scottish Indexes before the pandemic struck. Scottish Indexes is a family run business run by Graham and Emma Maxwell, situated in central Scotland. Their website provides Scottish history information for researchers, which has been indexed. They came to my attention when I saw they were having a free virtual conference in early 2020. At the time, we were in the early days of the pandemic and events were being cancelled. Little did we know that it would go on for years and free virtual conferences would become popular. I’ve since attended each of the Scottish Indexes conferences, which tells you how highly I regard them. They have been a huge help with researching my Scottish ancestors. Before these conferences, I had done little more than basic research on my Scottish ancestors, as I was slightly scared of Scottish research. I’m now a confident researcher of Scottish records, but still have much to learn, so am looking forward to more Scottish Indexes conferences, with their excellent presenters, during this year. The 15th conference is coming up very soon.
Indexing Records: In 2020 I started indexing the Crown Counsel Proceedure Books for Scottish Indexes. At the time, I felt indebted to them for the work they had done to bring 15 free conferences to us during the pandemic. Each conference has about 8 presentations so if you work it out, they have provided approximately 120 presentations, entirely free of charge. I felt the need to give back just a little and as they were calling for volunteers to assist with their joint indexing project, I put my hand up. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, as I had never done record indexing before. I started off very slowly and am now into a bit of a routine, but with still much to learn I really enjoy it, and love that I can make a small difference.
#AtoZ Challenge: April is Blogging April A to Z Challenge month. I’v participated each year for many years now, and intend to join in the fun again in 2022. This challenge is to blog every day in April, except Sunday. Bloggers can choose a theme or blog randomly. Every year I struggle to come up with a theme, but something always comes to me in the end. For 2022, I decided on my theme in about September last year and started writing my posts. I began working on them early as each post required research. By Christmas I had completed A-S and was feeling very proud of myself. Being someone who always manages to make things more difficult for herself than they need to be, I’ve decided just this week, not to go with my chosen theme, as I had thought of another that I preferred. This leaves me back at square one, where I haven’t yet started to write my posts, so I’m now feeling the pressure to get busy. The posts that I had written won’t be scrapped. I will publish them during the year which means I have 19 posts ready to go for 2022.
Legacy Webinars: I use Legacy Family software and because of that use, came across their Legacy webinars. There is a subscription needed to get them, and I don’t often take out subscriptions, but after I tried a few free sessions, I knew they would be valuable making it inexpensive over a year. According to the website, there are 1650 webinars with 350 speakers available. I can’t remember the cost exactly but you can check them out here.
Research: I made the effort to do much more research last year, than I had done previous years. I’ve been caught up in writing and publishing family stories and didn’t seem to get time for research other than what needed to be done to complete a story. This year I plan to continue the research, with a focus on my Scottish ancestors and on the WATERS family from Bedfordshire England. There is also the Jamaican line of my family history that needs more work.
Societies: In 2022 I plan to join the Bedfordshire Family History Society, as Bedfordshire will be a large focus of my research. I also intend to join the Highland Family History Society in Inverness, Scotland. Last year, I was prepared to go along to a meeting of the Bendigo Family History Society and to take out a membership. Unfortunately the meeting was cancelled on the day, due to covid, so I’m hoping to be able to get there in 2022. I joined the Society of Australian Genealogists mainly to join their Caribbean Research Group. I attended two sessions only due to time constraints, so I intend to continue with this in 2022.
#ANZAncestryTime: Towards the end of 2021, I was invited to be a moderator for this Twitter discussion, and I have thoroughly enjoyed our chats each Tuesday night at 7pm AEST. Each week we have a new genealogy/family history topic for discussion and along the way we have fun. Join us with the above hashtag. I’m looking forward to our sessions in 2022.
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My One Place Study – Axedale – Then and Now
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Tracking Down The Family 
Ooh Jennifer you’ve reminded me that I meant to join the SAG Caribbean group too. My husband’s family are from Barbados ….waaaay back. All the best with your research and writing and publishing this year. You are so organised. I am super impressed. Can’t wait to see what your meme/theme is for A-Z
Maybe I’ll see you n the Caribbean group Alex. My ancestor is from Jamaica. I’m not that organised Alex. Sort of have to be a bit or I’d never have time to get anything done
You are so focused and organised Jennifer. Best wishes for a successful year. Perhaps I might see you on the SAG Friday afternoon hang out. Would be grat to hear from you when I host a books one.
Sag Friday arvo is on my list.
Sorry Jill I didn’t meant to press reply. It’s on my list but I forgot to put it in the post. I try to be organised but that can all go out the window very quickly. But that’s half the fun!
You are sure going to be busy with all those activities! I’m amazed by your A2Z turn around so looking forward to the new topic as well as the 19 posts. It’s been great having you along with ANZ Ancestry Time..it’s a fun, learning session each week.
Thanks Pauleen. Fingers crossed A-Z doesn’t fall apart 😀
I’m impressed by how much you have lined up for this year, Jennifer! I look forward to April and reading your blogging challenge posts too – I remember posting daily for a month one year (luckily picked a February!) and it nearly killed me, so I am seriously in awe of you doing it every year.
Thanks Maggie. April is always a bit of a killer but well that’s the fun of the challenge. Just need to get a bit more organised now that I’ve had a change of mind on the theme. That has set me back a bit.
I hope you’ve been having a great time researching your ancestors! I’m originally from Buckinghamshire and have many ancestors who were from over the border in Bedfordshire. Good luck with your research!
Thanks for popping in. I’m very interested to check out your blog.
Thank you, it’s still in it’s infancy! So much to do and so little time!