Genealogy To-Dos – October Wrap-Up

October was another productive genealogy month.  I accomplished most of what I wanted to, although I am feeling a little burnt-out again.

Writing

Write 8 blog posts (not including “On this date” posts) – my priority is to write up more notes from FGS. – I actually wrote 21 posts.  It’s funny, I started out the monthly really slowly and didn’t think that I would even get 8 written, but the last two weeks, I have been a post-writing machine.  A lot of these posts are scheduled for November and December, but several go out into 2011.

Research

Process 5 headstone photos from my visit to Chatsworth Heights Cemetery (this includes entering data into RootsMagic, (possibly) writing “Tombstone Tuesday” posts, and adding the photos to TNG). – 6 done

Check 1860 census for Dave Butler – I’ve checked numerous times, but hope springs eternal. Supposedly, he lived with his father, James, and stepmother, Nancy. – I checked but found nothing.

Order FHL film that has Ben Hemphill-Martha Lytle marriage record. This will be my first time to order film from the Family History Library. This roll of film should have numerous other records that I need, so before it arrives, I will also review my database for McDowell County, NC marriages and also review the “NC Marriage Collection” index on Ancestry.com. – I ordered the film last week, so it should come in the first part of November.  I have a list of other McDowell County marriages from my database printed out and will review the Ancestry database today.  I’m excited about this film, because when I visited the McDowell County Register of Deeds office last year, they only had an index of marriages.

Order Mary Elizabeth (Patterson) Whitener’s death certificate from Oklahoma Vital Records. – Ordered and received.

My piles of paper “to-be-entered” are getting out of control and have actually taken over the top of my printer. Deal with at least 5 pages from the printer-top: entering data, doing due-diligence, scanning, etc. – 6 pages done.

Visit the Alaculsa Valley cemeteries – Baxter Family, Chable Family, and Hopewell Baptist Church. – I visited Hopewell, but I couldn’t find the Baxter or Chable cemeteries.  However, I visted three other cemeteries last weekend (Ballground, McEntire-Montgomery, and Mt. Zion), so I’m calling it even.

Other

Database work: delete duplicate notes from records with surnames starting with M & N. – M, N, and O done.

Notebook Project: I’m starting with Howell and I want to complete 215 names. – I did about 71 names.  I’m going to put this project aside for a little while.

Continuing Education: read chapters 2 & 3 in North Carolina Research (the Helen Leary book).  I started reading chapter 2, which was just excellent.  Then my first NGS HSC CD arrived, so I did the first lesson, instead of reading more of the Leary book.

Database Statistics

• Individuals: 2805 (this is fewer than last month; I did a little pruning)
• Families: 952
• Unique Surnames: 594
• Places: 939
• Sources: 417
• Citations: 9,189

Overall, I give myself an A+ for October.  Check back tomorrow to see my November goals.

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