Genealogy Resolutions for the New Year

I know this is a couple of days late – but everyone needs a little bit of time to think about resolutions.  I generally never have mine ready for about a week or so, but my genealogy resolutions are ready to go!  It’s always good to plan out what needs to be done, it’s the way I roll with everything.  Yes, just a little OCD with some things!  I even have lists of what the menu will be for guests, how soon to start cooking each item, and generally what dishes to use!  My genealogy lists are just as thorough.

When it comes to genealogy I have SO many things to do – for my personal ancestors, but what I need to share with you.  So here is a list – some personal, some for Kentucky Kindred and some in between!

1. Research more on mitochondrial DNA testing.  This is a fascinating subject and I want to learn all I can!  Am anxious to receive my results!
2. Collect information from every county in Kentucky.  This may be marriage records, birth records, obituaries – whatever I can find that would be useful for you in your research!
3. Photograph gravestones in other counties in Kentucky.  Ritchey and I have been to 29 of the 120 counties in Kentucky, photographing various gravestones in cemeteries.  This will be on my list for more than a year – a continuing resolution!
4. Understand more about DNA testing.  I am just about finished reading a second book on this subject – have several more to go.  The strides in DNA research in the last 30 years have been phenomenal, and will only continue to give us more clues with each advancement.
5. Do individual chromosomes have DNA for specific characteristics?  This is a burning question for me – and I haven’t found a book with an answer at this time.  The North Sea area is highest in my DNA tests than any other.  But one of my chromosomes has 0%.  Why?  What makes that chromosome different?  Why didn’t it get a high dose of North Sea DNA?
6. Arena Kidd is my 3rd great-grandmother.  I know very little about her.  She is high on my priority list this year!  In one of the census she was listed as born in Virginia.  Where?  When did she come to Kentucky?
7. My Hancock family is another mystery to a great extent.  They are an old Virginia family, from Stafford County.  Captain John Linton’s mother was Susannah Hancock.  His wife, Ann Nancy Mason, had a grandmother, Elizabeth Hancock.  Were the two Hancock women related?  I just have to know!
8. My Coulter family is from North Carolina, and I have not had the chance to research them – this will be the year!

I could continue on and on, but these will do for a start – with many side-tracks along the way!  What have you resolved to accomplish this year?  How many great-great-grandmothers are you trying to find?