1) Find Long, Lost Uncle Fred.
Years ago, I came across my great grandfather Fred J. McRae's obituary. It was from that obituary that I found out that my grandfather had two other children prior to my father and the other five he had with my grandmother. Finding the first child was easy. I looked the name up on whitepages.com, found a guy with that name living in Plymouth, Mass, sent him a letter, and by chance, it turned out to be him. If only it was that easy with the second child. Although I have acquired much information regarding Fred over the years, I still have not yet tracked him down. Though if I had to give a status update regarding the search, I'd say I'm very close to finding him. I recently mailed a letter to a man whom I believe to be Fred's ex-stepson and am waiting to hear back from him. We'll see what happens from there.
2) Find the Birth Record, Death Record, & Burial Place of My Great Great Grandfather, Frederick Joseph Meagher.
I know genealogy can be frustrating. Honestly, it's implied before you even start doing it. And in all of the years I've been doing genealogy, one of the most frustrating things I've come across is trying both the birth and death records of my great great grandfather, Frederick Joseph Meagher. I have looked high and low for both but have come up with nothing. His marriage record listed him as being born in Boston and that his parents were Michael and Mary. I went searching and the only Fred Meagher that comes up as being born in Boston is the son of a Daniel and Julia. I tried to find out when he died. I called the cemetery where his wife is buried, figuring he's probably buried alongside her. Guess again. Turns out she's buried alone. I know he's buried out there somewhere. And I also know somewhere out there is a birth record and a death record with his name on it. And I am determined to find them.
3) Finding Out More About the Various Ancestors That Came From Canada.
Finding information on my ancestors who immigrated from Canada is hard because they didn't actually start keeping records of birth, marriage, and death until the 1860's. So prior to that time, all I have to go on are Census and church records, which, although they're helpful at times, don't quite provide the information I am looking for.
4) Finding Out More About My Great Great Grandmother, Bridget Theresa Kane.
Although I have a decent amount of information, there's still a lot more about her that I need to find out about - her date of birth, where exactly in Ireland she was born, her family, etc. Did she have any siblings? Did her parents come to America as well? These are some of the questions I always ask myself and hope to be able to find answers for.
5) Meeting More Long, Lost Cousins.
I'll be honest, one of my favorite parts about genealogy is meeting long, lost cousins. It's always a pleasure meeting new people.
6) Maintaining My Blog On A Regular Basis.
One of my regrets about 2012 is that I hardly did any blogging about genealogical finds and such. I hope to blog on a much more regular basis in 2013.
Copyright © 2012, David J. McRae
