With 2019 now behind us (and reflected on in last week’s blog), it’s time to look ahead. Each January, I set goals to frame my genealogy endeavors for the year ahead.
I subscribe to the philosophy that less is more. I don’t need goals for the sake of having goals. I don’t want the pressure and it’s important to me to be open to the research opportunities that present themselves.
But there is also value in saying out loud desired pursuits. Voicing goals makes them real and compels me to think about how to achieve them. Never underestimate good planning to get something done.
For 2020, I made the decision that I would allocate my resources – time and financial – to a few key items. That meant forgoing exciting opportunities like attending RootsTech, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
My goals for 2020
What’s on my docket this year?
First, I want to finish the book I’ve been writing about my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.
Born in 1778, his 68-year life spanned the inception and foundation of the United States. From the British Colony of Virginia to 13 colonies banding together in pursuit of the right to self-determination, Thomas lived during an unprecedented era of socioeconomic modernization.
In his lifetime, he saw eleven men serve as president (Washington to Polk) and modes of transport evolved from horses and wagons to canals and trains. Although an unknown American, his story offers compelling insight into what it was to be an unsung citizen shaping the western boundaries of the fledgling democratic nation.
I want that story to be told and published.
I also want to follow his footsteps. In 2020, I plan to take a road trip that will retrace the path of my Kirk ancestors from Berkeley County, (West) Virginia to Licking County, Ohio and into Crawford County, Illinois and Des Moines, Iowa. Instead of sitting in a conference room with genealogy buddies, I will be reliving my family’s history. That’s well worth my time and money!
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| Family Sleuther at the Berkeley County, West Virginia border |
Lastly, I’ve been toying with creating family history videos. I would like to make my road trip into a film that captures some of Thomas Kirk’s life story and shares it in a new way – a media that will connect with audiences differently than blogging.
There they are! I’ve put my goals out into the universe.
Now we’ll see how well I do over the next twelve months. Here’s to a year of extraordinary family history discoveries.
Good for you, Michael. Getting the book done, following your ancestor's trail, and filming the road trip sounds like a great plan to me.
ReplyDeleteIt ought to keep me plenty busy! Happy New Year, Cathy!
DeleteThis sounds wonderful---I look forward to your journey. But don't get too hung up on goals. I don't set any except to keep researching and writing. I just keep on going forward!
ReplyDeleteGood advice, Amy. Moving forward is the real goal. Happy New Year!
DeleteVery interested in your video of the upcoming road trip. I shared your video about your trip to your ancestors hometown in Italy in the TIARA (The Irish Ancestral Research Association) newsletter in my blog roundup. it was a great example of a different way to share our research
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, Kat. I really appreciate it. The videos are fun to make (even if they are amateurish), and sometimes do a better job at catching the attention of family who're otherwise not interested in family history.
DeleteThomas Kirk sounds like a perfect subject for a book. Your posts about him have been very interesting and the fact that he lived to see the first 11 presidents elected to office certainly covers the early history of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. It's funny how I really feel I've come to know him through this research and yet I've not read a single complete sentence he wrote (so really have no clue). :) I only know the world in which he lived - a very fascinating period - and am left to interpret the marks he left (census, tax, land, etc).
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