New Year's Resolutions

I generally avoid New Year's Resolutions, but this year, with the announcement that Family Tree Maker is being retired, it prompted me to share my primary genealogy resolutions for 2016: By the end of 2016, I will have decided on a new genealogy software program and will have "cleaned up" my data, especially sources, in the process.

I have been reading about Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over and I think that if I am exploring new genealogy software in 2016 then it's a good year for a Do-Over (or at least a Go-Over: I have over 5,000 people in my primary tree and I don't want to enter everyone from scratch).

See Genealogy Do-Over: 2016 Topics for more information. You can subscribe to this blog by RSS feed or by email. There is also a Facebook Group for the Genealogy Do-Over where members are very helpful.

If I don't blog as often as I did last year (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks really spurred me on), it's because I'm working on cleaning up my Family Tree Maker database in order to transfer it to new software. I will blog about interesting stories that I find during this "Genealogy Go-Over" process.

My other resolution (which I may not have enough time for) is to explore my DNA matches at Family Tree DNA. If there are any cousins who are interested in testing, please let me know! I have written several posts about my (and my brother's) DNA test results. I am hoping more relatives test because it gives us (the relative and me) the opportunity to find out where on our chromosomes that we match, which in turn gives us the ability to determine how we match to more distant cousins and who our common ancestor is with those distant cousins.

Even if you don't have a specific New Year's Resolution, I hope 2016 is productive, happy and healthy!