The Importance of Setting yourself Genealogy Goals

[coombs]

Yes, one of my oldest brickwalls is my 20 year long search for the origins of Sarah Bradford (prev Coombs, nee Unknown). She died in Feb 1851 in London and said she was not born in county in 1841 census. What did please me is she witnessed an August 1835 wedding of Wm Smith to Anne Jenkins in Paddington. This was a month after her eldest son Matthew G Coombs married.

[brigidmac]

My current goal is to find a way to get paid for research for others but that wont cost them a fortune.

Hoping to get a grant to sho importance of family history to individuals

Truly believe knowing your family history can help well being .

Among my relatives are several adoptees &  few brought up by what i can only call dysfunctional parents .
Learning facts about grandparents can sometimes explain how trauma .hardships prejudice etc effected their own children.

For adoptees finding pictures of even distant relatives can give a sense of self .

Im going to go back to doing gransgran workshops in local library and maybe set up a group where people who have subs to different sites  can help each other.

Inspired by rootschat philosophy of helping

[Guy Etchells]

Hi Guy, we all work in different ways with regards to research and there is no problem at all with that. Around 4 or 5 years ago I completely lost focus on what I was researching, I ended up aimlessly searching with no structure and no goal and basically wasted 6 months of potential research time. I vowed never to do that again, hence why I set myself targets and goals, I work better that way, but of course, that's not for everyone.

This helps me to maintain focus on what I want to achieve. As an example, my oldest brick wall is to try and trace the birth location of my 4 x great grandfather Samuel Chiddicks born appx 1761, but I have no idea where. One of my targets is to strip all those records pertaining to him back to basics and go over them all completely again. By having that as a goal it helps to act as a constant reminder of what I need to do and why.

Like I say, goals, targets or whatever you want to call them will not work for everyone and I am a firm believer that if you have a system and it works for you then stick to it.

Paul an number of years ago I visited Kew with an experienced family history researcher who had been researching her family tree for many years as had her uncle. I explained my method was to not bother to read anything concerning the names I was interested in (the time to read was on the 200 mile train journey home) but to simply take photocopies of everything of relevance in the archive. She decided to give my method a try and surprise surprise that elusive ancestor turned up (on the train home) in the copies she had made at Kew even though she and her uncle had both searched there in previous years for him.
The results she achieved that day showed her the shotgun approach works better than focused research when researching in distant archives. Focused research comes into its own when using local archives but few of us have that luxury
The problem with focused searches comes with indexes and lack of indexes or poor indexing. The shotgun approach works out more effective and in many if not most cases cheaper when researching in distant archives where limited time costs more than photocopying.
Cheers
Guy

[brigidmac]

Love that story, Guy

I have a method for dna matches +that goes against conventional tree building but works

I create a floating branch with an ancestor of shared matches before i can see the link

Build downwards and join the trees when i have valid hypothesis with a person called' sailor from norwich '
or
'which child Smith' no gender alloicated
'Wife JONES'

Amazingly floating branches sometimes works without knowing dna matches

For example if a SMITH. Has witnessed a wedfing or is lodging with the JONES or lives next door to familyy its a way of saving them for later

Does that make sense ?

[chiddicks]

Yes, one of my oldest brickwalls is my 20 year long search for the origins of Sarah Bradford (prev Coombs, nee Unknown). She died in Feb 1851 in London and said she was not born in county in 1841 census. What did please me is she witnessed an August 1835 wedding of Wm Smith to Anne Jenkins in Paddington. This was a month after her eldest son Matthew G Coombs married.

Are the people she witnessed getting married family members???

[chiddicks]

My current goal is to find a way to get paid for research for others but that wont cost them a fortune.

Hoping to get a grant to sho importance of family history to individuals

Truly believe knowing your family history can help well being .

Among my relatives are several adoptees &  few brought up by what i can only call dysfunctional parents .
Learning facts about grandparents can sometimes explain how trauma .hardships prejudice etc effected their own children.

For adoptees finding pictures of even distant relatives can give a sense of self .

Im going to go back to doing gransgran workshops in local library and maybe set up a group where people who have subs to different sites  can help each other.

Inspired by rootschat philosophy of helping

It sounds like you are putting something back into this wonderful hobby of ours by giving up your time freely in the pursuit of helping others. That's one of the great things about researching your family tree, people are always willing to help or offer ideas to help people on their own genealogical journeys, not many hobbies are as selfless as genealogy.

[chiddicks]

Hi Guy, we all work in different ways with regards to research and there is no problem at all with that. Around 4 or 5 years ago I completely lost focus on what I was researching, I ended up aimlessly searching with no structure and no goal and basically wasted 6 months of potential research time. I vowed never to do that again, hence why I set myself targets and goals, I work better that way, but of course, that's not for everyone.

This helps me to maintain focus on what I want to achieve. As an example, my oldest brick wall is to try and trace the birth location of my 4 x great grandfather Samuel Chiddicks born appx 1761, but I have no idea where. One of my targets is to strip all those records pertaining to him back to basics and go over them all completely again. By having that as a goal it helps to act as a constant reminder of what I need to do and why.

Like I say, goals, targets or whatever you want to call them will not work for everyone and I am a firm believer that if you have a system and it works for you then stick to it.

Paul an number of years ago I visited Kew with an experienced family history researcher who had been researching her family tree for many years as had her uncle. I explained my method was to not bother to read anything concerning the names I was interested in (the time to read was on the 200 mile train journey home) but to simply take photocopies of everything of relevance in the archive. She decided to give my method a try and surprise surprise that elusive ancestor turned up (on the train home) in the copies she had made at Kew even though she and her uncle had both searched there in previous years for him.
The results she achieved that day showed her the shotgun approach works better than focused research when researching in distant archives. Focused research comes into its own when using local archives but few of us have that luxury
The problem with focused searches comes with indexes and lack of indexes or poor indexing. The shotgun approach works out more effective and in many if not most cases cheaper when researching in distant archives where limited time costs more than photocopying.
Cheers
Guy

I think there is definitely room for the scattergun approach, your story proves it works. Different strategies will work depending on where you are searching online, at a record office or searching somewhere completely different. I have used the hoover up everything approach myself. I don't get to the ERO very often these days due to moving 200 miles North, so each and every visit is very much a hoovering exercise and a digestion exercise when I'm back in Cheshire! My goals are primarily there as a prompt and reminder of my overall focus rather than a specific focus.

[brigidmac]

Guess what I've had an offer of some paid work
A matter of finding a fair price ...how do you charge for an unspecified amount of hours . Hugenit museum organisation charges £25 for first hour £20 after that for any subsequent hours

I wouldn't want my clients to find it exorbitant and would spend extra time because i enjoy it . What do genealogist s charge for tree building etc . DNA analysis & matching is a whole different field .

+ Id like to pay forward for all the help i had starting out from rootschat ancestry members and Genes Reunited
Thinking of charging a flat rate for month which will go towards my subs and include check in mails or calls  .
Apparently i have expertise and accreditation ! + Make a huge difference to peoples lives ..
Which is what i hope to convince a motivational company contracted to job centre that finding family .living or deceased effects well being .

Especially for adoptees or children of adoptees knowing if you came froma line of BIRKENHEAD butchers or Birmingham jewelers and obtainining photos of relatives is therapeutic .or finding a history of abuse or trauma may explain why a parent /grandparent didnt have parenting skills. I will start doing gransgran workshops at local library if thfey.ll have me ...will continue to do that for free as it encourages chldrenTo take an interest in their grandparents and social history.

[chiddicks]

Guess what I've had an offer of some paid work
A matter of finding a fair price ...how do you charge for an unspecified amount of hours . Hugenit museum organisation charges £25 for first hour £20 after that for any subsequent hours

I wouldn't want my clients to find it exorbitant and would spend extra time because i enjoy it . What do genealogist s charge for tree building etc . DNA analysis & matching is a whole different field .

+ Id like to pay forward for all the help i had starting out from rootschat ancestry members and Genes Reunited
Thinking of charging a flat rate for month which will go towards my subs and include check in mails or calls  .
Apparently i have expertise and accreditation ! + Make a huge difference to peoples lives ..
Which is what i hope to convince a motivational company contracted to job centre that finding family .living or deceased effects well being .

Especially for adoptees or children of adoptees knowing if you came froma line of BIRKENHEAD butchers or Birmingham jewelers and obtainining photos of relatives is therapeutic .or finding a history of abuse or trauma may explain why a parent /grandparent didnt have parenting skills. I will start doing gransgran workshops at local library if thfey.ll have me ...will continue to do that for free as it encourages chldrenTo take an interest in their grandparents and social history.

Brilliant news! Well done you!

I actually have no idea what a professional genealogist charges these days, I guess depends on their own expertise and experience? I don't know if there are some professionals on here who might be able to help/guide you in the right direction with regards what to charge??