My Top 10 New Year Genealogy Resolutions

Yes, I know this is about a week too late, but I thought it was "better late than never" so here we go, with my Top 10 Genealogy Resolutions for 2011:

1. First of all, I really need to properly archive my own family BMD certificates, original newspaper cuttings, letters etc., using archive material recently purchased from Family Tree Folk.
2. Secondly, I want to make sure I update my blog at least fortnightly, and preferably weekly. Otherwise I fear that my followers may lose interest in my blog and stop following.
3. I also need to keep up-to-date with my assignments on my PG Diploma in Genealogy at the University of Strathclyde.  It would be a shame to have invested all this time and money and then fail to deliver.  (Don't worry folks I very rarely fail to deliver, just panic sometimes that I might).
4. I really must keep in touch with all my own family "cousins".  These include my Clifford cousins who helped me find out about my great grandfather, Edward Clifford, who died in a fatal accident in London on Christmas Eve 1848.  I found these cousins through Lost Cousins, a wonderful genealogy matching service.
5. I would really like to make the most of my genealogy website subscriptions while I can still afford them.  I have undoubtedly received huge value out of my Ancestry subscription over the years.  Most of my family tree has been built with Ancestry's help.  I have also used Findmypast to search for many of my ancestors in the 1911 census and have also found their passenger records useful.  But unless they come up with some new datasets, I may have to let this one go, come renewal in the spring.  My most recent subscription is with Family Relatives and I hope to be able to gain some value from this site in the coming year.
6. I think I really need to try and understand the new Family Search website.  It is all too tempting to just fall back into the old way of doing searches using the old Familysearch website to search for the familiar IGI records.  One day this facility will be gone and I will be lost.
7.  OK so this one is a "biggy" - develop my own genealogy website, together with offers of genealogy research packages etc.  This is important if I want to develop a serious genealogy business.  I have several ideas, I just need to make the time to do it!!  (Well just DO it, Rosemary).
8. Explore some of the lesser known London archives. This is really important for me, as I aim to continue to specialise in London genealogy.  As the better known sources, such as the London Metropolitan Archives and also the Society of Genealogists, put more of their records online, I'd like to search out some of the more specialist archives, such as the Palace of Westminster Archives.
9. Continue to find new ways of researching my maternal great grandmother's Mullins family, who reportedly came from Ireland during the Irish famine of the 1840's.  This is the only line in my own family tree where I haven't yet managed to get back to c. 1800 at least.
10. Finally, I would really like to end the year having written some genealogy-related articles for family history magazines or family history society newsletters.  I know the Clifford Society are waiting for an article from me, and again, I just need to get on with it!  Hopefully I will have an opportunity to write for some others too.

OK so that's it folks.  I've gone public with my Genealogy Resolutions for 2011. It will be interesting (for me at least) to see how I manage in the coming 12 months to keep them up!

Rosemary Morgan
London Roots Research