2/1/2002
By David A. Fryxell
Vow to make 2002 your most productive genealogy year ever - here's help.
With its clean slate and fresh calendar, the new year naturally inspires resolutions to do things better. This is the year when you'll start exercising, quit smoking, eat more vegetables. Never mind you made the same resolutions last year — 2002 will be different!
This issue suggests some New Year's resolutions that may be easier to keep, not to mention more valuable to your family history. For example, this should be the year when you vow to find the ancestral line you're researching in each and every US census. No skipping a decennial list, no assuming they're probably there. It's good research practice, and can uncover surprises about your ancestors. Kathleen W. Hinckley, author of the new book Your Guide to the Federal Census (Betterway Books), shows you how to get started in an exclusive sneak peek at her book.
This will also be a noteworthy year for census research because the 1930 federal census will be unveiled, after the expirarion of a 72-year privacy period. So it's the perfect time to resolve to pinpoint your ancestors in this essential genealogical tool.