Week 40?! How did that happen?!
The optional weekly theme for Week 40 was “October.” Do you have any October birthdays or anniversaries in your family?
Leave a comment with a link to your 52 Ancestors blog post (whether or not you used the optional theme). And go back to Week 39 for some great reading!
It seems appropriate that the optional theme for Week 39 was “unusual,” considering the unusual weather some parts of the country have had.
Did you write about something “unusual” in your family tree this past week? Leave a comment with a link to your post. We’d love to read it!
Also, the optional weekly themes for October are here. I think you could have some real fun with the themes.
By the way, I recently started a new program “31 Days to Better Genealogy,” a free email series filled with practical tips, tricks, and resources to improve your research. I hope you’ll check it out!
Here are the optional weekly themes for October’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks:
Week 40 (October 1-7) – October: What ancestor has a birthday or anniversary in October?
Week 41 (October 8-14) – Colorful. Everyone has at least one “colorful” ancestor. Share the story of one of yours 
Week 42 (October 15-21) – Proud: Which ancestor did something that made you proud? Which ancestor are you proud of finding?
Week 43 (October 22-28) – Oops. An ancestor who made an “oops,” or one that you made while researching one of them. (We’ve all done it, believe me!)
Week 44 (October 29 – November 4) – Frightening: Do you have an ancestor who did something frightening or lived through a scary event? Do you have your own ghost story in the family? Now is the perfect time to share!
The weekly recaps will be posted each Thursday. Looking forward to seeing your posts!
It’s officially Fall! Believe me, I was more than ready for Summer to be over.
The optional theme for Week 38 was “Favorite Place.” Did you talk about a favorite family place or a favorite place you like to research? (Or maybe a favorite place to actually go research in!)
I didn’t write a 52 Ancestors post this past week, but I did write “6 Ways to Have a Better Library Visit” and “Exploring the Hidden Features of Ancestry’s New Image Viewer.”
Who did you write about this week? Leave a link to your post in the comments below. Also, enjoy the beautiful fall weather by curling up with your laptop and reading the posts from Week 37.
October themes are coming – I promise!
Those of us here in the Midwest are currently enjoying some absolutely gorgeous fall weather. Cloudless, deep blue skies. Warm sun in the day and crisp air at night. Leaves that are just beginning to reveal their true colors.
It feels like a good time for genealogy.
The optional theme for Week 37 was “Large Family.” Who did you write about this past week (whether or not you used the theme)? Leave a comment below with a link to your post. Also, check out the posts from Weeks 35 and 36. You’ll definitely enjoy them (and you might even discover a cousin!)
On my other blog, I recently wrote about what to do when the name of the record is wrong. (Incorrect dates are usually easy to explain way, but the name? You’d think they’d get that part right!)
Watch for the October themes early next week!
Oops. Last week I had scheduled the recap post.. or, rather, I thought I had scheduled the recap post. I saved it, set the day and time, but apparently didn’t click the “schedule” button. Sorry about that 
The optional theme for Week 35 was “School Days.” Week 36 brought us “Working for a Living.” Who did you write about (whether or not you used the themes)? Please leave a comment with a link to your post. Also take a look at the posts from Week 34 (“Non-Population”) — there were some really cool finds in there!
Is anyone else really confused about when we are? Between school starting (which seems especially early this year), much cooler temperatures here in the Midwest (also early), and a “late” Labor Day, I am utterly confused as to when I am.
It didn’t help that my mom reminded me that Christmas is 4 months from this past Tuesday. Sigh.
The optional theme for Week 34 was “Non-population.” If you followed the theme, I hope you had as much fun digging into the non-population schedules as I always do!
Leave a comment with a link to your Week 34 post and a little bit about your ancestor. As always, take a look at Week 33’s posts. Be warned — there are some sad stories in the “Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent” theme.
(My writing this week was on my other blog: “How Quilting Is Like Genealogy” and “National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers: A Surprisingly Rich Resource.” In that one, I went into more detail with the record shown on the Bryan Cranston episode of Who Do You Think You Are?“)
If you need some ideas on how to approach September’s theme, I have some on the September themes announcement. (As always, the themes are optional. Write about whomever you want!)
It’s time for the September 2015 optional themes for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Here they are:
Week 36 (September 3-9) – Working for a Living: September 7 is Labor Day in the United States. Write about an ancestor and his or her occupation.
Week 37 (September 10-16) – Large Family. Did you know that all 10 of the most common birthdays are in September? (If you’re a chart geek like me, check out this heat map of birth date frequencies.) So let’s feature an ancestor who had a large family or who was a member of a large family.
Week 38 (September 17-23) – Favorite Place: What has been your favorite place to research? Which ancestor came from there?
Week 39 (September 24-30) – Unusual: What is the most unusual record you’ve ever found? Or, who is the most unusual of your ancestors? (You can take that any way you want to!)
Remember, these themes are optional. They’re meant to spark ideas about who to write about; they aren’t rules you must follow.
The only rule is to enjoy the process
The optional theme this week was “defective,” and the posts that I read were anything but defective!
Lori Ann Wegner of The Buttermaker and the Midwife posted “Herman Loock Was Too Deaf for the Draft.” Cheri Hudson Passey of Carolina Girl Genealogy wrote “Defective Ancestors — the Dorritys.” She also found some interesting discrepancies among the records. Cheryl Biermann Hartley of My Search for the Past wrote about her ancestor “Nettie Walton – a Documented Idiot.”
On a personal note, as the mother of a Deaf son, I’d like to thank everyone, first, for tackling this subject and, second, for doing so with such compassion.
Who did you write about for Week 33 (whether or not you used the optional theme)? Leave a comment with a link below. Take a few moments to look at the posts from Week 32. I continue to be amazed at the writing we see every week.
A bit of a delay with the September themes. Moving my daughter back to college too more time than I planned. (You’d think after doing this 3 times before that I’d know it always takes longer than planned!)
The days are getting noticeably shorter. Some schools in my area are already back in session. Sweaters are filling department store shelves. And I continue to be amazed — both good and bad — at the speed that it all happens.
Several of you had fun with the “32” theme for this week. Cathy Meder-Dempsey at Opening Doors in Brick Walls has probably the most colorful post (literally!) that I’ve seen in awhile. Check out “Johann Gorges and Anna Maria Botz – 2 of 32.” Cheryl Biermann Hartley did a fun twist on the theme with “Anna Odilia Greiner – Thirty-two Things I Know About Her” on her blog My Search for the Past.
My week has been spent packing up things for my daughter’s return to college, reviewing presentations, research, and writing. (My latest post is “Library Websites for Genealogy: More Than Just the Catalog.”)
Who did you write about this week? Was it one of your “32”? Whether you wrote about a 3rd-great-grandparent or someone else, leave a comment with a link to your post and a little bit about them. We’d love to read it! Also be sure to check out the Weeks 30 and 31 recap — it’s double the reading goodness!
Look for the September themes early next week!
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