Because I have so many big genealogy projects going on at the same time, I can't seem to follow my own advice. Sometimes I re-read my old blog posts and think, "I need to do this project." But I never find the time.
My massive source citation project could take another two years to finish! Meanwhile, I've been ignoring all these smaller genealogy projects. But here's an idea. What if I commit to one of these 12 projects a month in 2026? I can complete some of these projects in a couple of days. Then I can get back to my source citations.
That's what I'll do. Early each month in 2026, I'm going to devote time to one overlooked project. Projects that I've recommended to you! Which genealogy projects should you add to your calendar?
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| Want to get those genealogy projects done? Commit to one project a month and stick to the schedule. |
January 2026: Crop document images
I wrote about this project in "How to Improve Your Digital Genealogy Documents". I had tons of document images that I downloaded from Ancestry. Almost all had a big black border around them, and a large file size. For a while I pushed myself hard on this project, and I almost finished it.
All that's left to crop are city directory images. There are less than 100 of them, so I know I can complete this project in 2 or 3 sittings.
February 2026: Look for father's death date
In "5 Details to Review for a Richer Family Tree" I told you how some Italian birth records say the baby's father is dead. In most cases, the death record is not available online. Then I realized that sometimes the father's date of death is there at the bottom of the baby's birth record.
When I enter a birth date in my tree for a child born to a dead father, I make a note of it in the birth date's description field. I always use the same wording, which means I can search my GEDCOM file for every instance of those words. Then I can double-check the birth record to see if it includes the missing date of death.
March 2026: Add to your life story
I wrote about an easy way to start writing your autobiography in "4 Steps to Writing Your Own Life Story". I haven't added to my life story Word document in a while. Now that I have a new daughter-in-law and grandson, it's overdue. I'm not sure I added my first daughter-in-law to the story yet!
April 2026: Add more war casualties
I have access to lots of military records for Italians who died in World War I. Italy lost major battles in that war that cost thousands of lives. I've downloaded many records, which I talk about in "Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII". But I have many more to download and add.
Can't access military records for your people? Find the draft registrations cards for men of the right age.
May 2026: Find ship images
In "Your Immigrant Ancestor's Ship Has a Story to Tell", I showed how to dig into your ancestor's immigration. That reminded me of something. I've always wanted to find more photographs of the ships that brought my people to America.
Years ago on Ancestry, when you searched for an immigration record, they had a column with a link to the ship's image. I don't see that anymore, and I'd only saved a few. I'll spend a few days in May searching for images of the ships that carried my closer relatives to America.
June 2026: Digitize more pages
I told you about HandwritingOCR in "Finally! A Great Tool to Transcribe Handwritten Documents". I used it to digitize a few books and handwritten pages. I digitized Italian books, dropped the text into Google Translate, and saved it in English.
HandwritingOCR performed very well on my handwritten notebook of ship manifest entries. This notebook dates back to my earliest days of family tree-building. Now that it's digitized, I can make sure I've followed up on every lead.
My task for June is to find other texts to digitize and put them to good use.
July 2026: Find new details in family photos
Last July in "How to Use AI to Analyze Family Photos", I used AI to analyze and date old family photos for:
- clothing styles
- military uniforms
- locations
- automobiles
There's so much more I can explore! This July I'm going to dig through my photos and see how much more I can learn.
August 2026: Look into local social conditions
The immigrants in your family tree always left home for a reason. In "Why Did Your Ancestor Leave Home?" I wrote about the reasons so many people left their countries.
When I visited Italy, I wondered why my ancestors left such a beautiful place. What we need to do is research the history of their location at the time they left. We're bound to find stories of oppression, poverty, unemployment, and disasters.
Pick a few ancestors and look into the social conditions at home when they emigrated. These historic facts will be a great addition to your family tree.
September 2026: Solve more DNA matches
In general, I've gotten all I can out of my DNA matches. But you never know when a new one will break open another branch of the family tree. In "5 Steps to Making a Cousin Connection" I explained my process for solving DNA matches.
This month, I'll spend a few days solving new DNA matches.
October 2026: Find more immigrants
All my roots are in Italy, so I spend most of my time looking at Italian vital records. Often the only way I find out which Italians came to America is by spotting them in a DNA match's family tree.
I'll spend time this month following my own advice in "Use a Wide Search to Find New Connections". I'll dig into the records and find more cousins who came here. That'll tie up a lot of loose ends.
November 2026: Find out-of-town marriages
In "How I Found My 8th Great Grandparents" I described how I found my ancestors' names in another town. They were born too early to be in their hometown's vital records. But their grandson married for the 3rd time in another town at age 83—which was a huge break for me!
I'm going to look for missing marriage dates in my family tree. I'll research the marriages that could have taken place in another town and see what new facts I can learn.
December 2026: Research the boarders
In "That's No Stranger in Your Relative's House" I wrote about researching a man living in my uncle's home. His true identity was a wonderful surprise!
On many census forms in my family tree, I made note of the fact that a boarder, roomer, or lodger was also in the home. I also noted when my relative was a boarder in someone else's home. I'll search for those notations in my GEDCOM file and research the unknown people. They could very well be cousins who belong in my family tree.
I've created a calendar reminder for each of these monthly tasks to make sure they get done. Many won't take much time, and January's project starts today. It's going to be a very productive year!
P.S. I wrote this article on Sunday—finished my January project on Monday!