Time to Check Progress — Once Again

 

New projects can reinvigorate the quest to find ancestors. Thanks to a recent message from a collaborator on my mother-in-law's side of the family, efforts have been supercharged for that branch of the family tree—not to mention this month's search for collateral lines for her Jackson roots. Since it's time to check the numbers once again, it's easy to see how those projects can impact progress.

Since this month is the first time this year in which I've moved my focus to my mother-in-law's line, the baseline count—which held steady for most of the past year, give or take a few birth announcements or funeral announcements—had remained at 41,793. Now, after just shy of two weeks' work, that same tree has now rocketed past that number by 413 new entries. That tree now has 42,206 thoroughly documented individuals.

Of course, there are many more additions to come, judging by the Jackson readout on the ThruLines results at Ancestry.com.  As I continue to work on this month's planned Jackson project—and add in those efforts prompted by contacts from collaborators—I expect the numbers will continue to climb in the next two weeks, as well.

Meanwhile, on my own side of the family tree, progress will lie dormant by plan. I'll return to researching that family later this fall, after two more months of work on my mother-in-law's line, followed by three months seeking news of the Irish side, courtesy of my father-in-law. Right now, my own tree remains at 41,908 documented individuals.

One aspect of working through this Twelve Most Wanted plan is revisiting the DNA results in each of the five companies where my husband and I have tested, to check new matches which have appeared since last year. In the case of the Jackson line, my focus for April, there are several new additions. My hope is that, adding more information to the lines of descent from Lyman Jackson will help point out the connections to those many currently-undiscovered matches. There are thousands of connections yet to be reconnected to family lines, including that Jackson line, I'm sure.