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52 Ancestors Challenge: Week 1 Recap

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52 Ancestors in 52 WeeksWow, this challenge took on a life of its own! Exciting to see so many people who have taken the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge!

This is strong showing to start off our 52 weeks. We have stories of heat waves, mean ancestors, and one ancestor who makes you want to repeat a tongue twister. One story (or at least its title) is likely to put songs from “The Sound of Music” in your head.

At least two participants just set up their very first blogs! Congratulations to Shannon of Our Family Tree Tales and Judi Carroll-Thompson of Journey of a Family Historian. May your blogs bring you happiness and new-found cousins!

One of the most common comments I saw about the challenge was “I’m having a hard time choosing which ancestor to start with.” It’s understandable — so many ancestors, so many things to share. But I knew exactly who I wanted to start with: my paternal grandmother Adah Young Johnson. (Read the entry and you’ll know why I wanted to start with her.)

Being a librarian, I had to organize the links :) So I’ve listed them by the surname of the ancestor being highlighted. Females are listed under their maiden name when I could tell what it was.

Didn’t blog this week? No problem — start next week! Leave a link to your blog in the comments below and be sure to include “52 Ancestors” in the title of the posts for the challenge. (And if you’re on Twitter, use the #52ancestors hashtag.)

Here are the entries for Week 1:

Did I miss your 52 Ancestors in  52 Weeks post from Week 1? If so, add a link in the comments. I’ll try to do better next week :)

Challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

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I’m not that big on New Year’s resolutions. As one of my friends recently posted on Facebook, a New Year’s resolution is the to-do list for the first week of January. Instead, I like “challenges.” (Ok, maybe it’s a thin distinction, but it works for me.) Since I want to blog more (and blog more regularly) in 2014, I’m setting up a challenge: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

52 Ancestors in 52 WeeksThe challenge: have one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor. It could be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on one ancestor. Not only should this get me blogging more, but also to take a deeper look at some of the people in my family tree.

Challenges often go better when people do them together, so I encourage you to try 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on your blog. Don’t have a blog? Post something each week on Facebook, send an email to your family members, write something in a journal…  write it anywhere!

Who’s with me for this? If you’re in, leave a comment with a link to your blog so we can all follow along!

UPDATE (8 January): If you’d like to participate, please check out the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” page.