It is truly 2009!

On many message boards, websites, and other places I keep hearing Happy New Year and best hopes for a better 2009. I second those comments. 2008 has been a tough year around the world. In genealogy we have had some good things happen. More and more people are tracing their family tree. Now we need to draw them to our genealogical society meetings, seminars, and publications. I love the online free and fee-based databases, indexes, and digitized images. Savvy genealogists know there are still millions of documents in courthouses, archives, libraries, and manuscript collections to be discovered. If you hear from a friend or relative that is interested in tracing their family tree, encourage them to attend meetings, seminars, and conferences on a local, state, and/or national level. Let them know about the fantastic reference books written and published by our fellow family historians. Let them know how important the education is for doing better work on their family history.

Be sure they understand the importance of writing where a document or image came from -- and write that directly on the piece of paper or add it to their genealogy software database. More positive things will be on our genealogy "to do" lists and calendars in 2009. I wish you all the best in your individual, family, business, and family history life in 2009.