Jill Ball (aka GeniAus) has thrown out the challenge to take a good hard but positive look at what we, as genealogists, have achieved over the past year.
Not one to shy away from a challenge and not having undertaken a major do-over this summer holiday, I thought this might just do the trick instead.
1. An elusive ancestor I found was…..a family line I was unaware of in USA – the result of having undertaken my first foray into the wilds of DNA testing. Hello, McNew.
2. A great newspaper article I found was…..a simple death notice that opened up all the information I needed to pin down an elusive ‘Smith’.
3. A geneajourney I took was….. to Queensland to attend “Waves in Time” – family history conference
4. I locate an important record…. or set of records…. Didn’t think I would actually need to be researching in South Africa but you never know where those elusive ancestors will take you. The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg has a fantastic digitised archive of church and parish records….
5. A geneasurprise I received was….. to uncover the location of some missing WW1 medals. It answered questions as to what had happened to them after the death of their last custodian in 2008.
6. My 2019 social media post that I was particularly proud of was….. My blog post about Lumpers
7. I made a new genimate who…..makes me laugh!
8. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was…. Can’t say that I totally mastered it but I really rather enjoyed a new platform for recording my coursework at UTAS as part of the Diploma of Sustainable Living.
9. I joined…. a couple of new Facebook groups
10. A genealogy education session or event from which I learnt something new was…. DNA DownUnder – 🤯 – still trying to work through all that information!
11. A blog post that taught me something new was… any of the blog posts from Heathcote Pursuit’s wonderful blog “Forgotten Australian Actors”
– I look forward to reading about all these people and to explore just how their stories are researched and compiled. Every post is a ‘lesson’ in research and writing.
12. A DNA discovery I made was…. how much less ‘European’ I am than I expected.
13. I taught a genimate how to….. blog.
14. A brick wall I demolished was …. not even thought of as being a brick wall – it was just a line of inquiry I was yet to focus on when serendipitously some information just opened it all up and laid it out to be explored.
15. A great site I visited was…. TROVE! What can I say? I’ve been an enthusiastic user (and corrector) for years and it is still THE BEST site for Australian research.
16. A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was…. Peter Ewer’s Forgotten ANZACs
My grandfather served in the campaign in Greece and Crete in WW2 and was captured on Crete. This book allowed me some insight into his wartime experience before capture and Ian Ramsay’s book P.O.W. filled in some of the gaps after capture.
17. It was exciting to finally meet….. Michelle Patient
18. I am excited for 2020 because…. I have plans to attend a couple of conferences in OZ, I have a geneatrip planned for New Zealand and I have more study to undertake.
19. Another positive I would like to share is … How some of us can’t help helping others and where would we be without them? What a mammoth task Jill undertook to collate all the searchable databases of Australian cemeteries. I enjoyed being able to pull together the lists and sources I had to aid in bringing together this information in one location. Thanks, Jill.
Other responses to Jill’s challenge can be found here…..Accentuate the Positive
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Test Patterns 
Wow, Robbie you have achieved! Congratulations! Thank you for being patient in teaching me how to blog. Of course I have so much more to learn which can only come from practice . Cheers Pat
Doing an exercise like this one can reveal that you have actually done quite a bit more than you realise….give it a try, Pat. You might be surprised at what you have achieved too! And its been my pleasure to share the joys of blogging with you!
Thanks so much for your contribution Robbie. I learn something from every post I read. Checking out that South African database momentarily, thanks.
I’ve found stuff of interest in the contributions of others too – isn’t that what these things are all about? 🙂