2018 Year-End Review

At the dawn of 2018, my chief genealogy goal was to continue writing my book - a genealogical survey of my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.

I made great progress over the past 12 months, but there's still much to be done and the writing will continue into the new year. Who knew writing a book was such a time-intensive pain labor of love?

Blogging helped me make headway on the book. Writing your family history is one of the best ways to surface research gaps and inconsistencies. It's also a great way to pilot chapters with an audience.

Blogging Family History

This year-end recap is my 47th post in 2018. That's the exact same number of posts that I published in 2017 and 2016.

I was only missing in action a handful of times this year, and was able to include guest-authored posts from my aunt and mother during my three-week trip to Europe.

While I didn't publish 52 posts, I'm pleased with the publishing frequency and hope to maintain that in 2019.

Did You Read It? 

Collectively, this year's 47 posts were read over 17,000 times. Since its inception five years ago, my blog's all-time top 10 most-read posts now include three that were published in 2018. This year's top three most-read posts were:

• Deciphering an Irishman's Death: Was It Accidental?

• A Genealogist's Quick Guide to Finding County Histories

• A Little Desperation Goes A Long Way: Finding Susan's Parents

Those were the year's most-read posts, but there were others that told important stories and are worth another glance, including:

• Lucinda's Bout of Insanity Topples a Family Mystery

• Will the Real Kirk Daughter Please Stand Up?

• Virginia is For Lovers: Finding Thomas Kirk in His Father-in-Law's Hometown Tax Records

A Year of Accomplishment

There were many research finds and blog posts this year that I take great pride in and that advanced my genealogy.

One of this year's most exciting discoveries, was uncovering the identities of eight (yes, eight!) fourth great-grandparents. 

2018 was clearly a year of great accomplishment. I am thankful to have you along for the ride, and I look forward to our continued success.

Happy New Year and may all of our genealogy brick walls crumble in 2019!