Giving It Another Try

Astute readers of this blog (assuming I have any readers left at all) will have realized that I gave up on this year's 52 Ancestors challenge early on, after only eight posts in the series. I decided I was spending more time trying to come up with something to fit the prompts than actually writing about my ancesters – which is, after all, the whole point.

So, I took an extended hiatus devoted to sorting, digitizing, and purging the extensive paper genealogical files I inherited from my brother. The process isn't finished yet, but the boxes of files cluttering my garage are many pounds lighter and considerably more compact than they were a few months ago. (My hard drive, on the other hand, is virtually groaning under the digital weight of so many gigabytes of new files.) Too, in the course of the endeavor, I ran across quite a few documents and research notes that had hitherto escaped my notice, providing fresh grist for my research mill.

Thus refreshed, I'm preparing to dive back into 52 Ancestors, sans prompts, just writing about my forebears and collateral kin as I feel inclined. Can I possibly catch up, after these months of inaction, to produce another 44 posts by the end of the year? My calendar and calculator tell me that's about 2.6 posts per week. Ambitious, maybe, but I'm going to give it a shot.

Oscillating Between the Horns of That Dilemma

It seems that the "little break" from blogging I said I was taking almost a year ago has turned into an extended hiatus. Not that I haven't been doing anything genealogical. Back then I decided I needed to move from Reunion to software with better source-handling and other capabilities, and spent a good deal of time pondering whether to go with RootsMagic or Legacy Family Tree.

Trouble was, I couldn't make up my mind. Still haven't, in fact. Initially I decided on RM for its superior source templating and location details, imported my GEDCOM, and spent a considerable amount of time converting sources, defining custom events, cleaning up locations, and the like. Then I had some second thoughts – largely due to Legacy's ability to copy and paste entire events complete with source citations – transferred everything to Legacy, and spent more time converting sources, etc., etc. Now I'm having third thoughts: maybe RM is the way to go after all, so I'm back to experimenting with that. I'm even debating the feasibility of maintaining my tree in both programs for the best of both worlds.

One way or another, I need to bite the proverbial bullet and get back to adding dead relatives and their associated records to some database. And then blog about them.

One other thing I planned to do last year did come to pass: I attended my first genealogy conference, NERGC 2015 in Providence, Rhode Island. More on that next time.

What's Up in 2015

My failure to post anything for the past month and a half doesn't mean I have abandoned this blog, or worse, gone to join the ancestors I've been writing about! After completing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks in 2014, I was ready for a little break. While I enjoyed participating in the 52 Ancestors challenge, and it did prompt me to post (more or less) regularly, I've decided not to continue my participation in 2015. As yet, I haven't decided on what kind of format or theme will take its place, or if I'll just adopt a more diverse and eclectic approach to this blog.

Some genealogy bloggers are participating in Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over. While I know my genealogy research could use a good deal of scrutiny, reorganization, and re-evaluation – not to mention a citation overhaul! – a complete do-over such as he suggests feels a little too drastic to me. Setting everything I have aside would mean not only my own research, but that of my late brother as well, and I'm not prepared to do that. So I intend to focus my energies on organizing and re-evaluating the information I have; making sure I have reliable sources for the people and facts in my tree; and making a plan for tracking down any missing documentation.

Along the way, I hope to make at least one (hopefully two) genealogical excursion this year to some of my ancestors' old stomping grounds, to see what ancestors I might be able to dig up (figuratively speaking, of course) in cemeteries and town records. I have a lot of places to choose from: although I have visited most of the cemeteries that enshrine my Maine and New Hampshire forbears, I have yet to visit Newburyport and Bridgewater, Mass.; Bristol, Conn.; Smithfield, Rhode Island; Caledonia County, Vermont; or the many locations in southeastern Quebec associated with my Washburn and Rabideau ancestors. In truth, I have enough places I'd like to go that I'll probably never make it to all of them in my lifetime. I'd better get started!

I may even dip my toes in the waters of genealogical conferences. I've never attended one, and would like to see what it's like, learn a thing or two, and maybe even, if I'm lucky, get to meet a few of my fellow genea-bloggers.

With any luck, these activities should provide me with plenty of blogging fodder for the foreseeable future.

Welcome to Pine Trees and Pedigrees!

Pine Trees and Pedigrees is about my genealogical exploration of my family: primarily in Maine, but also in New Hampshire, Vermont, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.

My major family lines (the four grandparents) include:

• Kirk (originally Kirkpatrick), in what is now Knox County, Maine
• Hodsdon (or Hodgdon), in Oxford County, Maine
• Murphy, immigrants from Prince Edward Island, Canada, to Coos County, New Hampshire
• Rabideau (originally Robidas or Rabida), immigrants from Quebec, Canada, to Coos County, New Hampshire

Stepping back a generation to my great-grandparents, I also follow the additional lines:

• Sukeforth (originally Suchfort), in what are now Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo Counties, Maine
• Rand, in Oxford County, Maine
• McIntyre, on Prince Edward Island, Canada
• Woodward, in Vermont and in Coos County, New Hampshire

Come along as I search out my pedigrees among the pines!

Gravestone of my great-great-grandfather Jabez Bradbury Kirk, Newcomb Cemetery, Warren, Maine