52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 42 Recap

Posted in 52 Ancestors Challenge on by .

52ancestors-2015-42The leaves in my area are reaching the peak of their fall color. There have even been reports of snow just north of here. I’m definitely not ready for snow…

Someone asked me the other day if I’ll be doing “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” in 2016. I haven’t decided yet. There have been so many changes in my work, plus the challenges with family health issues, that I need to decide what I can devote my time to — and what I can do well.

The optional weekly theme for Week 42 was “Proud.” Many of us have an ancestor that we are proud of — or that we’re proud of our efforts to find them!

Who did you write about this week? Leave a comment with a link to your post. Also take a look at the entries from Week 41. There were definitely some “colorful” tales!

Upcoming Optional Weekly Themes:

  • Week 43 (October 22-28) – Oops
  • Week 44 (October 29 – November 4) – Frightening

32 thoughts on “52 Ancestors Challenge 2015: Week 42 Recap”

  2. Cathy Meder-Dempsey

    I’m proud to say I was able to take the road into Ferschweiler (Germany) last week and walked where my ancestors walked.
    52 Ancestors: #42 The WILDINGER-SCHRAMEN Family of Ferschweiler
    By Cathy Meder-Dempsey at Opening Doors in Brick Walls

    P.S. Amy, please do not feel bad if you decide to not do the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” in 2016. Be proud! Remember the people you’ve inspired to write the stories of their ancestors. We’ve learned discipline, improved our writing, started blogs, learned to cite sources, found new sources for our research, met new ancestors – in short we have become better genealogists! Thank you.

    Reply ↓
  11. robertajestes

    MERCER, maybe CROATS
    Ann Mercer (c1699/1705-c1786/1790), Weaver and Quaker Mother

    ann-mercer-17991705-c17861790-weaver-and-quaker-mother-52-ancestors-95

    I’m cheating and posting this a week early.

    Amy, I know you have to decide how to best divide your time, but I do hope you’ll continue to do the series. I think a whole lot has been written, hundreds of articles that would never have been written otherwise – thanks to your encouragement and platform.

    Selfishly, I love to see what others have written and I’m much more likely to actually DO something if there is someone to be accountable to:) In either case, thank you.

    Reply ↓
  14. Pam Carter

    Amy, The amount of blogging that I’ve done has greatly increased because of your 52 Ancestors Challenge and for that, I am very grateful to you. I would love to see the series continue, but I understand that we all have many things going on in our lives. I wonder if there would be a way to transition the challenge to someone else or to share the management of the challenge. Thank you for inspiring me to write more.

    Reply ↓
    1. Vera Marie Badertscher

      Pajm, you said what I was thinking. If there is a creative way to share the management of the challenge, it would certainly continue to be beneficial. But goodness, I know that Amy has a lot on her plate. so we shouldn’t expect her to keep doing this alone.

      Reply ↓
  15. Joanne Barnard

    My great grandmother Karen Marie Nilsdatter and her husband were part of the wave of Norwegian immigrants to the United States in the 1800’s. Karen was an “ordinary” woman, not the recipient of any great honours or awards for heroism. She is someone of whom I’m proud for the strength and courage that she demonstrated in moving to a new land with new language and culture.
    http://victoriajosfamilystories.blogspot.ca/2015/10/karen-marie-nilsdatter-1842-1915-52.html

    Reply ↓
  19. Francesca Thomas

    I have a question. These 52 ancestors? Do they HAVE to be my direct ancestors or are siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles also allowed as well? Depending on the answer, I think I might do this for a challenge for 2016. Thank you.

    Reply ↓
  28. Maureen

    Amy, I know how busy life can get – seeing as I am about 3 weeks behind – so we’ll all understand if you don’t issue us a challenge list next year (though I would love another 52 weeks of themes).
    I didn’t take part in year 1, so I’m wondering if you had themes for 2014 or how it worked last year – perhaps I can do the 2014 challenge in 2016 for myself?

    Reply ↓
  29. Cheryl Biermann Hartley

    I am about three weeks behind, but I have skipped over some of the September and October themes until I can figure out a fit for them. In the meantime, I have written about over 90 ancestors (including my husband’s family) in the nearly two years that we have been doing this. My plan for 2016 is 52 Ancestors Redux. It is time to visit many of the individuals that I already wrote about and update their stories. I may not do an ancestor a week, but I think it will be productive. There is so much new information. Maybe others would like to join me.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply