Jill Ball has set a new Accentuate the Positive Geneameme for 2021. Here are my responses to some of her statements:

1. I got the most joy from working with family historians at the local library each week. So much so, that I will be giving a talk each month with a workshop on the topic afterwards in 2022 as well as doing the 1:1 sessions.

3. I managed to attend a couple of face to face events at our local family history DNA group meetings.

4. My main focus this year was on making sure mum had a good life even though her kidney disease was getting progressively worse and to make sure dad also had time off from caring for mum 24/7.

5. A new piece of technology or skill I mastered was starting to use WikiTrees. I have added myself, parents and grandparents but will be adding more. I am linking my biographies into the profiles – not sure if I should actually copy and paste them in or not.

6. A geneasurprise I received was a gift from the #ANZAncestryTime team for my work writing up the summaries of our weekly chats.

9.  A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was reading the Traces magazine each time they are published. Dad also enjoys reading the magazine. I have also been re reading all the Nathan Dylan Goodwin books.

11.  A great journal or newspaper article I found was that WDYTYA magazine can be downloaded as an eBook on my iPad. Now that most of my family research is in England, Scotland and Ireland, this magazine is extremely helpful with county records to use.

12. I got the most value from my Ancestry subscription but I also have Find My Past basics as well as Living DNA and My Heritage. Now that I have dad’s side of the tree back in England, Ireland and Scotland, I might need to upgrade the Find My Past to see the newspaper articles to expand the biographies I am writing on each direct ancestor.

13. I progressed my DNA research with dad’s line after matching with his half nephew on his father’s line. Surname should be Allen not Wyatt.

19. I splashed out and purchased some birth, death and marriage certificates from England relating to dad’s new found family.

20. Another positive I would like to share is the friendship I have found through the #ANZAncestryTime chats on Twitter. As an introverted person, I am finding it easy to share my family history through twitter and also my blog posts.

Readers: What have been your positives with family history this year in 2021?