Category: Commentary

2016: A Blog’s Year in Review

Kris Hocker on 31 Dec 2016

2016 A Blog's Year in Review

Once again it’s the last day of the year. Time to look back and reflect on the past year before looking ahead the the next.

Disappointed in my 2015 writing performance here on this blog, I made a goal to increase the number of posts I’d write for 2016. I did not set a specific goal, other than to write more than in 2015.

Looking Back

So, how did I do?

In 2015, I wrote a total of 17 posts. This year I wrote 50 posts, broken down by calendar month, as follows:

  • January: 7 posts (2015: 2)
  • February: 3 posts (2015: 0)
  • March: 4 posts (2015: 0)
  • April: 1 post (2015: 0)
  • May:  0 posts (2015: 3)
  • June: 4 posts (2015: 0)
  • July: 3 posts (2015: 0)
  • August: 5 posts (2015: 3)
  • September: 5 posts (2015: 2)
  • October: 5 posts (2015: 3)
  • November: 4 posts (2015: 2)
  • December: 9 posts (2015: 2)

That’s significant improvement—although there were a couple of months with little to no posts.  So, there’s room for improvement.

Did any of that content make the top ten favorite posts list for 2016? 1

  1. Making a Deed Map from Old Metes and Bounds (2015: #9)
  2. How to Use Pennsylvania Probate Records at FamilySearch (2015: n/a)
  3. Lancaster County Deed Books Online (2015: #5)
  4. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt or Ittlingen? (2015: #6)
  5. Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps (2015: #8)
  6. 5,000 Acres—Where Did It All Go? (2015: #7)
  7. Huber Immigrants (2015: #4)
  8. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online (2015: #3)
  9. How to Use Online Records at the Pennsylvania State Archives (2015:#2)
  10. Pennsylvania Genealogical Map (2015: #1)

Nope. It’s almost the same list as in 2014 and 2015.

What if I only include those posts written in 2016? Here are the top ten from this year only:

  1. Easy Footnotes (April)
  2. Does the Spelling of a Name Really Matter? (August)
  3. Pirated?! (August)
  4. A Beautiful Circle (August)
  5. Shaking Those Little Leaves (July)
  6. Lifestyles of Early Pennsylvania German Immigrants (August)
  7. It’s a Really Small World (July)
  8. Ancestral Birthplace Chart (March)
  9. Was Johann Adam Hacker a Redemptioner? (January)
  10. Ruth Olive Hocker (February)

Three posts about using Ancestry/AncestryDNA, a couple of quick posts, a post about a WordPress plugin, and an obituary for my grandmother. Only two of those posts were planned writing exercises, rather than spur of the moment—”this is what’s happening” type of posts.

Were there any signs that the content I wrote in 2016 related to topics of interest to other genealogists?

I got comments on ten posts out of 50—twenty percent. Not bad for post engagement. Eight posts were shared on social media by readers. Surprisingly, not the posts I would have expected.

Meeting Goals

I had four goals that I believed I needed to work on in order to improve my writing. They were: focus, plan, write, and share.

I wanted to focus on a subject or family line to write about. I picked two topics. My Huber research and using deed records in genealogy research.

I wrote two series about Hubers, granted not my ancestors, but part of my research nonetheless. I wrote only one article that meets my criteria for deed research—“Does the Spelling of a Name Really Matter?”. It was the 9th most viewed of my 2016 posts. And it did not focus only on using deed records.

I started out the year planning my editorial calendar in a Google spreadsheet from a list of topics I’d been keeping in Evernote. However, a number of those articles were crossed out when I didn’t write them. Only one was later incorporated in my post “Lifestyles of Early Pennsylvania German Immigrants” (#5 on the list of top 2016 posts).

I did, however, include more research articles, including three written as a series, made up of eight posts. 2 I wrote about Abraham Huber in a three-part series, John Weidman’s pedigree in a two-post series, and Georg and Anna Maria (Hooß) Huber in three posts. None of these were among the most viewed posts in 2016.

I also covered surprise finds from my Hacker-Hocker research and I wrote an obituary for my grandmother who passed away in February. None of which I’d planned.

So, I increased the number of posts I wrote and—with those series—included documentation of some of my research findings.

Just recently I started sharing more. I added a Facebook page for the site and I’ve been sharing posts there and to my Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts regularly. Some of my posts have even been shared by others on social networking.

I also wanted to release another book—maybe two—in 2016. I got An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Books I-M written, formatted, edited and uploaded for production on Lulu and Amazon, but decided not to go forward when the Lancaster County Register of Deeds released their new online viewer for both deed books and deed book indices. No need for a book when there’s online access 24/7—especially when my earlier ebooks were pirated and distributed online for free—a real motivation killer, for sure.

I’ve been working on several other book projects, but since they’re more involved genealogical works, they’re taking longer. The research is slow going.

All in all, I have to say that although I slacked off here and there, I did fairly well in 2016. There’s room for improvement, of course, but measured against my goals—a good job. Go, me! 😉

How was your 2016?

Looking Forward

My goals for 2017 are not so different than my goals for this year. I’d like to increase the number of posts I write and to share more.

But I’m going to be realistic. There’s no way I’m going to pump out fully fleshed out research reports weekly—or even monthly. It’s just not going to happen. Hello, life!

So, I think I’ve finally convinced myself that there’s nothing wrong with posting an individual record—how I found it, what it includes, how it fits into a person’s life story—rather than waiting until I can write the full story. I’m going to share more bits and pieces. Incomplete research. Ideas I’m working on. I was thinking social media would be the venue for that, but I think it’s better to use my website as the hub and share it from there.

So, a long post to show you where I’m at. Maybe—if I’m feeling really ambitious—I might tackle the idea of regular emails to site subscribers to keep them up-to-date. I guess we’ll just have to see what 2017 brings.

Fifteen Years Later, A Remembrance

Kris Hocker on 11 Sep 2016

I’ve never actually put my memories of September 9, 2001 down in words. While it’s not a day that I actively try to forget, it’s not one I like to remember either. But…

I’ll never forget.

I was sitting at my desk trying to get ready for the day ahead when a co-worker leaned back from his desk, peering around a wall and announced that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

At first there was a moment of disbelief. And then the dawning belief that it must have been one of those single engine planes or helicopters that flew up and down the Hudson River all day long. Hadn’t I sat at a desk in another office in Jersey City, directly across from the Twin Towers, and watched those planes zip by all day long? It must have been some kind of crazy accident.

“No,” he said. “They’re saying it was deliberate.”

Beginning in the fall of 2000, I started commuting from my home office in Boston to New York every week to work on a project in the Jersey City office. Along with a couple of my fellow creatives from Boston, I’d fly down on Monday, cab it to the World Trade Center, then take the PATH over to Jersey city. On Friday, we’d take the trip in reverse. Every week for about six months.

So, the events of 9/11 played out, not only on any media I watched, but also on the big screen in my head. Those memories of the World Trade Center—the twice weekly trips through it’s belly, the daily view of the Twin Towers from across the river—they were the stage for my imagination to play upon.

I wasn’t there, but I could, oh, so easily envision what my New York co-workers were seeing, what they were experiencing. And what if any of them were late to work that morning and taking the PATH train across the river? Bad enough to be a witness. The idea of any of them as victim was one I couldn’t face.

That day in Boston was unreal. We all tried to find out what was happening. No one knew if there was more to come. How widespread the attack would be. When reports of the attack on the Pentagon came in, the horror, fear and disbelief grew.

And it wasn’t done, yet.

I was on the phone with my sister when the first tower—the South Tower—came down. She’s the one who told me; her voice shook. It hardly seemed possible that a building of that size and stature could collapse. I was stunned.

And then came the realization that there were still people in the building. People trying to get out. People trapped above the fire caused by the plane crash. People trying to rescue those inside. So many people. The horror show in my head grew.

Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

The second tower came down.

I went home. And it only got worse. Because now I didn’t have to imagine anything. The news media broadcasted everything. With a continual voice-over of new information, old information, and ongoing speculation. Newscasters and experts talked and talked and the videos played over and over, hour by hour.

I don’t know that words can fully express the magnitude of what that day meant to those of us who lived through it. Most Americans experienced it like I did. Secondhand. We weren’t there. We didn’t see the planes hit the towers or the Pentagon in person. We didn’t rush to the scene to try to save people. We didn’t run for our lives as the second tower came down. Most important, we didn’t suffer the loss of loved ones.

So, today, I’ll remember that terrible day fifteen years ago. Even if I’d rather not. For those who died. For those who still grieve. And for those who don’t have even a remote possibility of ever forgetting.

But I’ll also remember how immediately afterwards, we remembered that we are the United States, and seemed to feel the meaning of Patrick Henry’s words, “United we stand, divided we fall.”

We could use more—a lot more—of that attitude today. I’m hoping we find it. This time without a tragedy first.

 

2015: The Year In Review

Kris Hocker on 31 Dec 2015

Happy New Year's

At this time of year, it’s become a tradition to look back at the highlights from the previous year. You see this a lot with television news programs… and online with blogs. So, here goes.

Looking Back

This year has not been a terribly prolific year for blog posts. I’ve done a fair amount of writing. It just hasn’t been for the blog. I wrote a total of 17 posts, as follows:

  • January: 2 posts
  • May: 3 posts
  • August: 3 posts
  • September: 2 posts
  • October: 3 posts
  • November: 2 posts
  • December: 2 posts (including this one)

Rather pathetic actually.

Perhaps that’s why the top ten viewed pages were all written in prior years and most have appeared on previous years’ top ten lists.1

  1. Jacob Hoover (ca 1746-1800) (#5 in 2014)
  2. Making a Deed Map from Old Metes and Bounds
  3. Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps (#9 in 2014)
  4. 5,000 Acres—Where Did It All Go?
  5. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? (#8 in 2014)
  6. Lancaster County Deed Books Online (#4 in 2014)
  7. Huber Immigrants (#6 in 2014)
  8. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online (#7 in 2014)
  9. How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives (#3 in 2014)
  10. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map (#2 in 2014)

Although I didn’t write much this year, I did improve over last year on the number of views and unique visitors—24,000+ and 11,000+, respectively. I hope that’s because more people are finding the information I’ve posted useful and relevant.

Looking Forward

However, I would like my total number of posts to go up in 2016!

Since I tend to write when I’ve research to report—or to organize said research into coherent conclusions—I’ve either not been terribly successful, or perhaps not so active with my family research.

I know I’ve been actively researching. But I’m the first to admit it’s been all over the place—work on my family lines, work for several writing projects, and just data collection for specific surnames. None of it significant enough to compile into a compelling article.

So, to accomplish my first goal of writing more, I’ve got to set another goal. To be more organized and targeted in my research.

This one I find difficult to do. Online access to records has spoiled me. I love that feeling of success when you find what you’re looking for. And the online data is so easily accessible it’s easy to get distracted as new questions come up—whether they pertain to the original research question or not.

But once you’ve tapped all the available online sources, it’s all too easy to get distracted or simply turn to another research question and start the process all over—never fully finishing the research on the first topic because you haven’t completed a “reasonably exhaustive” search by including offline records. Oy!

So, my goals for 2016—in order for everything else to fall in line—must be as follows:

  1. Focus – Pick a project, topic, or family line and focus on it.
  2. Plan – Decide on a research plan and stick to it. Plan out posts on the calendar; don’t wait for inspiration to strike.
  3. Write – Compile and organize the research results, then write them up. Write up what I already know for the people/topics in the calendar; feed this into the research plan to fill in the gaps.
  4. Share – And lastly, share what I’ve written. Maybe a reader will have more information or suggestions on where to look next.

Now to sit down and decide where I’m going to focus for 2016 and start planning.

How was your 2015?

2014 in Review

Kris Hocker on 31 Dec 2014

Top 10

On this last day of 2014, it’s time to take a look back. I don’t have specific goals for this website—other than to provide access to my family research. So, how did I do?

In 2014, I wrote 63 new posts with most posts being written in January—April and July—September. May, June and December were my worst months. Here is how the year stacked up:

  • January — 10 posts
  • February — 7 posts
  • March — 4 posts
  • April — 4 posts
  • May — 1 post
  • June — 2 posts
  • July — 13 posts
  • August — 9 posts
  • September —6 posts
  • October — 2 posts
  • November — 3 posts
  • December — 2 posts (including this one)

My longest writing streak? 2 days in a row.

I started the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge at the beginning of last year. The goal was to write a post about an ancestor each week. Although I started off well, my participation was rather hit or miss. I posted my last contribution at the beginning of September.

All told, I only wrote 22 posts for the challenge, less than 50% of the goal. Because I preferred to write about something new that I’d learned about each ancestor, it wound up being too time consuming. If I had just written about what I already knew, maybe I would have been more consistent. Sigh. I much prefer the hunt for new information and the reward of finding it over documenting it.

Although I didn’t write very often. I did receive more than 19,000 page views. All things considered that’s not too shabby for this little blog. Here are the ten most viewed pages of 2014:

  1. Andreas Huber (1723—1784) (#8 in 2013)
  2. Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps (#9 in 2013)
  3. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? (#5 in 2013)
  4. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online (#4 in 2013)
  5. Huber Immigrants (#7 in 2013)
  6. Jacob Hoover (ca 1746—1800) (#6 in 2014)
  7. Lancaster County Deed Books Online
  8. How to Use Online Land Records at the PA State Archives (#3 in 2013)
  9. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map (#2 in 2013)
  10. Home Page/Archives (#1 in 2013)

Once again, most of these pages made the list in 2012 and 2013. It’s not surprising that the general information posts were popular. Nor is it a shock that the Huber family posts made this list—since the Hoover surname is one of my most researched!

I believe that more of those visitors who viewed the Andreas and Jacob Huber posts were more than likely looking for information on the ancestor of President Herbert Hoover. However, they do provide valuable information for the descendants of Andrew Hoover of Fayette County, Pennsylvania—who is frequently confused with the president’s immigrant ancestor. Although I’ve determined that I’m not a descendant, I’m glad I did the research and shared the results.

So, that’s a look at my blogging for 2014. What did your year look like?

Musings on The Importance of a Name

Kris Hocker on 6 Jul 2014

I’m considering a name change—for my blog, that is. When I started this blog in February 2009 from a previous website, I wanted it to be a repository for my family research. That’s primarily what it’s been and the name reflects that. “/genealogy” is a reference to the way directories are referenced on computers and online. Yeah, I’m a bit of a geek.

But since then, the research I’ve posted has been about more than just my family. These days you’re as likely to find research on early settlers in Lancaster County—to whom I’m not related (as far as I know)—as you are to find information on my ancestors. I think more about connections between people and communities and how to document them, rather than just the who, what, where, and when of those to whom I’m related.

And I’m starting to think that the name of this site should reflect that.

Far more than anything else, my posts are about German-Americans. That’s my ancestry. And it’s also my primary interest. Occasionally, I manage to write about family members who left Pennsylvania, but my focus is on those who stayed.

So, I’m thinking a better name for this blog would be A Pennsylvanian German-American.

While I wasn’t born in, nor have I ever lived in Pennsylvania and I don’t speak German, when I think about how to define my heritage, it hits the nail square on the head. Defines me, defines those I write about. I like it.

What do you think?

Genealogy Software: Why Can’t I…

Kris Hocker on 19 Apr 2014

Lately, I’ve been feeling constricted by the limitations of my genealogy software. 1 There has been a lot of criticism of genealogy software and some great ideas (here and here) for improvement.2 I won’t get into all that. Instead, I want to touch on my greatest pain point.

For me, the biggest drawback is the inability to create relationships or ties between people who are unrelated or who may be related, but I don’t yet know how. Family members often stood up for each other—serving as witnesses on documents, sponsors at baptisms, executors or administrators of estates, and guardians for minors. Being able to make those connections—and easily refer to them—during the research process can help to break through brick walls.

I want those links encapsulated in my genealogy program. I want to be able to see those connections and what they were (i.e., witness, administrator, sponsor, bondsman, guardian, etc.) in each individual’s record. I want to be able to follow them from person to person—and back—without having to know (or remember) who they connect through (i.e., spouses, siblings, or parents).

I’d like to view a list of these links between individuals for each personal in the database. Who was an individual connected to? What was the relationship? Were they linked through multiple events, implying a closer relationship, or was it a one-time thing? What was the timeline for these relationships?

I also want to be able to see their spatial relationship. Were they neighbors on adjoining properties or living on opposite ends of the county? What about over time? Did they stay in the same location or did one—or both—of them move to a new locale? That could be key in locating a “missing” individual.

What do you wish you could do with your genealogy software?

Best of 2013

Kris Hocker on 31 Dec 2013

Top 10

Now that 2013 is almost over, it’s time to look back and reflect on the year past. Here’s a list of the top 10 most viewed posts for this year.

  1. 5,000 Acres—Where Did It All Go? with 165 views (#7 in 2012)
  2. Pennsylvania Township Warrantee Maps with 177 views (#4 in 2012)
  3. Andreas Huber (1723—1784) with 180 views
  4. Huber Immigrants with 198 views (#5 in 2012)
  5. Jacob Hoover (ca 1746—1800) with 212 views
  6. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? with 241 views (#8 in 2012)
  7. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online with 250 views
  8. How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives with 396 views (#3 in 2012)
  9. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map with 1,919 views (#1 in 2012)
  10. Home page / Archives with 3,964 views (#2 in 2012)

Apparently, I was not particularly helpful or interesting this year as all of these pages were written in prior years—except perhaps whatever people were looking at on the home page! Most of theses posts—with the exception of the pages on Andreas and Jacob Huber—were fairly general, either providing information on how to use an online resource, directing readers to a resource, or providing information on multiple surnames. That two pages on specific people made the list was somewhat surprising—until I realized that although neither was related to President Hoover, both names were used in his family.

So, did you have a favorite post in 2013? What was it about and where was it posted? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Irony in Genealogy

Kris Hocker on 13 May 2013

I suppose I shouldn’t by surprised by it. And yet…

When I started researching Mennonite families in Lancaster County, it wasn’t because I thought I was related to them. I started researching the Hoovers of Lancaster, hoping that I’d find some clue, some information, some connection that would lead me to more information on my ancestor George Hoover and his father Michael. I wound up researching the Hoovers’ neighbors, associates and friends to try to learn more about the Hoovers.

Along the way, I discovered that the people I was researching were Mennonites. Kind of a stretch to tie them to my Lutheran Hoover ancestors—at least in the immigrant generation. But by then, I’d invested so much time in the research, had started to build a sense of the community and connections between people, and… well, I was hooked. My ancestors may not have been members of this community, but, nonetheless, I was starting to feel connected to it.

Then I started to find some familiar surnames. However, I recognized these names from my Hacker/Hocker family research. Not too surprising, I guess. After all my Hockers did initially settle in Lancaster County. What was surprising was finding that these were Mennonite names. Landis. Hershey. Frantz.

So, this community that my ancestors didn’t belong to? These families that I wasn’t related to? They did belong and I am related. Just not in the manner I initially hoped.

Small world, huh?

Building Bridges Between Genealogy and History (An NGS Video)

Kris Hocker on 27 Nov 2012

I love history. A great deal of my enjoyment of genealogy is my fascination with history, imagining people’s lives in other times. So, I enjoyed watching this video from the National Genealogical Society, featuring Robert Charles Anderson, FASG, director of the Great Migration Project, talking about his experience bringing the two disciplines together. I really like the idea of genealogy as history on the individual level.

Take a look at the video and see if you agree.

WDYTYA: The Benefit of Digging Deeper

Kris Hocker on 26 Feb 2012

I just got a chance to watch the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are, featuring Blair Underwood. I learned quite a bit about research areas I’ve had no need to investigate. I also saw a great example of why in researching your family scratching the surface is not nearly enough.

What struck me the most was the story of his ancestor Sauney Early, a former slave. The research found that by 1900 Sauney had been institutionalized in a mental hospital. Subsequent research found newspaper articles from the 1870s and 1880s which seemed to show an angry, super-religious nut who kept getting into serious trouble with his neighbors that lead to him being shot several times—once in the face by his own weapon.

If they’d stopped researching there, Mr. Underwood would have been left with a negative impression of his ancestor. While mental illness isn’t anything to be ashamed about—and I’m sure we’ve all got relatives who’ve suffered from it somewhere in our family trees—the newspaper accounts are only one side of the story.

And the story looks very different from another vantage point.

In one newspaper account Sauney reportedly stole a cow from a neighbor and killed it, then argued with the neighbor and tried to shoot him when he came to inquire about the cow. Sauney was shot instead. Paints Sauney in a bad light, hmm?

However, the researchers found a deposition from Sauney’s landlord that stated the neighbor’s cow had trespassed onto Sauney’s land and into his corn. The impression I had was that this wasn’t the first time his neighbor’s cows had done so and the neighbor wasn’t too concerned about the damage his cows were doing. However, to Sauney it was huge. The corn was the means that enabled him to feed and care for his family and the cows were destroying it. His actions seem quite justified now, don’t they?

Another article described another argument—this time with another neighbor—about cutting down timber. This time the neighbor shot Sauney three times. The shooting was deemed self-defense and the neighbor was released from custody. According to a subsequent article, the black community was outraged.

If Sauney was truly an angry, violent, crazy man would his community have supported him and been outraged on his behalf, would his landlord have defended him? Probably not. The story of Sauney Early now looks like that of a man who was trying to take care of his family, raising crops and cutting down firewood, who got into disputes with his neighbors and was vilified in the press—most likely because they were white and he was black.

But Mr. Underwood would never have known this side of the story if the research had stopped with the newspaper articles.

The Sauney Early story showed me very clearly the need to do more than just scratch the surface when researching the story of our family. When we grab the low hanging fruit and move on, we may be revealing only part of the story and distorting our view of that ancestor.

If our goal is to know who we are and where we came from only the full story will do. The genealogical proof standard calls for a “reasonably exhaustive search for records that contain pertinent information.” While you may not require your research to meet professional standards, I’m sure you care about knowing the truth about your ancestors. Digging as deep as you can into the records is the only way to make sure that the full story is revealed.