Way back on January 8th I posted my 2024 genealogy game plan and I’m happy to say that I crossed most everything I wanted to do off my checklist, and then a little more besides! Such as…
Becoming a Professional Genealogist
But the most important thing I did was actually start taking clients as a full-time professional genealogist. My mom joked with me that I must be happy because I basically now write history papers for a living and she is NOT wrong!
Since July 2024 I’ve been able to help lucky 13 clients (including a well-known TV show!) with 17 projects and my research calendar is currently bursting with more family history mysteries to uncover. Honestly, I did not expect to be so busy so fast, so stay tuned for my “Goals for 2025” blog post for more rumination on how I’m going to handle that as well as a big, big project I have in store.
Giving Genealogy Presentations
As part of going “pro,” I’m also now doing talks and presentations to local libraries, historical and genealogical societies and even country clubs and retirement homes. Last year I did 11 presentations to various entities and I hope to do MANY more this year.
I find that getting out in the world and chatting with people is the best way to hear what is on folks’ minds and how I can help. Plus, it’s just really dang fun to geek out with fellow genealogists. I learn so much from everyone I speak to!
Find out more about my genealogy presentations (& how to book me)!
Writing Articles
I was also very pleased to have my first article–“5 Little Known Cherokee County Georgia Genealogy Resources”–published in a genealogical society journal. (Note that the title is 2022 but it came out in 2024 due to some pandemic era publication gaps. Yes, I was confused, too!)
I hope this is only the first of many publications, and that the next one is how I finally identified the father of my white whale, George W. West! (Step 1: Finally identify the father of George W. West.)
Becoming a Mentee
And last but not least the APG Forensic Genealogy group facilitated a mentorship with the wonderful forensic genealogist Leslie Lawson of Lawson Research. I wanted to learn more about heir searching (i.e. forensic genealogy) for estate cases, and she was kind enough to share her vast expertise and make me feel like this is a service I could add to my business in the future.
Getting an Education
I took some classes:
- SLIG – The Fundamentals of Southern U.S. Research and Resources ✅
- Certification Discussion Group with Jill Morelli
- IGHR – Military Records I: The Colonial Era to the Vietnam War ✅
- Research Like a Pro with DNA 6 ✅
- Research Like a Pro 10 ✅
- Applied Genealogy Institute (AppGen) Death Records ✅
Attended some conferences:
- RootsTech (Feb 2024, In-Person, Salt Lake City) ✅
- National Genealogical Society (May 2024, Virtual) ✅
Attended some other fun genealogy events in-person:
- Georgia Archives African-American Symposium (every Jan-Feb 2024) ✅
- The Georgia Genealogy Resource Fair (every March – you should go!) ✅
- Genealogy Day at the Georgia Archives (every July) ✅
- Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist) event in beautiful Thomasville, Georgia ✅
Participated in some private accountability groups with my genealogy friends:
- Mastering Genealogical Documentation (book) ✅
- Genealogy and the Law (book) ✅
- Forensic Genealogy accountability (wonderful professional women giving sage advice) ✅
…And attended 49 webinars! (Yes, I keep a very nerdy spreadsheet of every webinar or history session I attend. Partly just for me and my love of analytics, and partly because the Association for Professional Genealogists (APG) and genealogy certification through the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) require it!)
I also carried on volunteering as the Webinar Coordinator for the Georgia Genealogical Society (GGS) and plan to stick around as Webinar Moderator (i.e. the person who talks before the webinar and then asks the speaker all of your very good questions) in 2025.
I’m actually very tired reading all this. I do fill like my brain is fairly brimming with genealogy knowledge after the 2024 I’ve had. And how about YOU? How was your 2024?
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