Happy New Year: Genealogy Plans for 2022

Here we are at the beginning of another year and again hoping and praying that the new year will see a return to some semblance of normal. This time last year we thought that would happen once COVID-19 vaccines became available. But it didn’t. Oh, the vaccines became available, but far too many people refuse to take them or even take the pandemic seriously. Over 50 million people in the United States and 275 million worldwide have had COVID-19. Over 5 million have died from it worldwide with over 800,000 of those deaths in the U.S.¹https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html Johns Hopkins University & Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center, 21 Dec 2021. We are a long way from having control of this virus and ending the pandemic.

Mom and I went 416 days without visitors inside the house. We were both fully vaccinated by the end of March and boosted as soon as that was approved in late October. As adult family members got vaccinated, they were allowed inside again, along with unvaccinated young children. That is the biggest change we’ve made, and the biggest risk we’ve taken.

I still use grocery pickup services but occasionally go inside a store. I no longer sit in the Post Office parking lot waiting for it to be empty or near empty before I go in. I’ve had a couple of in-person medical appointments and even had three professional haircuts. But I don’t go anywhere without a mask and wonder if I ever will.

It will soon be two years since I ate inside a restaurant. Phone calls, Hangouts, and Zooms continue to provide the only contact with friends scattered around the country. If I’m still sane, it’s because technology has kept us connected.

Enough about the pandemic. Here are my genealogy plans for 2022. The theme is writing, writing, and writing.

Family Stories

A year ago, I planned to add ancestor family story pages. So far, I’ve added stories for my paternal grandmother, her parents, siblings, grandparents, and aunts/uncles. I thought I’d be much farther along with this project by now. Stories for my maternal grandparents, their parents, and grandparents are up next, starting later this month.

Blogging

I want to get back to blogging. I managed a weekly photo post every week in 2021 and a “This Week in the Family History” post every week in 2020. But it is time to write some of those topics I copy over to a new website calendar year after year after year. The weekly photo posts will continue in 2022, because I love pictures. I also plan to publish two other posts a month. If you read my New Year’s Day posts from the last several years, you’ll find that I’m good at planning. It’s the execution of the plan where I have trouble. Here’s hoping I do better in 2022.

Books

In late November, I had the idea to put those stories for my paternal grandmother and her family into a self-published book for my family for Christmas. It was a last minute idea. I didn’t have time to have it edited or even proofed by anyone else and didn’t even have time to order a review copy. I’ve found a few format issues and typos, but overall, I’m pleased with it considering it was quick and dirty.

I already have some ideas for format changes and adding another generation or two before making a revised edition available to extended family members. And I plan to publish similar versions for each of my maternal grandparents as I finish a few generations of stories for their families.

“The book” about my paternal grandfather, that I’ve talked about for years and seriously started writing in 2019, is still a top priority. Maybe some time in 2022 I can get to the last bits of on-site research I need to move forward with that project.