Saturday the 9th of March 2019 is an important day for us genies. Why? Because it is GENEALOGY DAY.

No I did not make it up. There really, really is an official “Genealogy Day” and it’s held on the second Saturday of March each year!

Don’t believe me? Well, here you go …

Genealogy Day was created in 2013, by Christ Church, United Presbyterian and Methodist in Limerick, Ireland to help celebrate the church’s 200th anniversary. For this day, Christ Church brought together local family history records not only from its own combined churches, but also from the area’s Church of Ireland parishes, including the Religious Society if Friends in Ireland (Quaker) and the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon).

The people in attendance could then use the amassed marriage and baptism records dating back to the early 1800s, such as Limerick Methodist Registers and Limerick Presbyterian Registers, to find out about their great-great-grandparents. The idea proved so popular that the day was repeated for the next two consecutive years and has inspired many people to take a look into their family tree to find out a bit more about where they come from.

It is no secret that genealogy or family history, is one of the fastest growing hobbies around. Everyone knows someone who’s doing it, if they aren’t themselves. With the massof genealogy records going online, combined with DNA testing and genealogy on TV, doing your family history has finally become an accepted hobby. Dare I say, it’s even becoming cool!! So it is nice to see it recognised with it’s own actual “Day“.

But what are some suggestions for Genealogy Day? Well for me it’s not a case where do I start, but rather where do I stop. I’ve come up with (actually limited it to, is more correct) 25 suggestions, but seriously I could keep going  …

1. Enter more names into your family tree. Do you have lots that you’ve found, but just have got around to entering into your genealogy program? Ok, well maybe that’s just me then.
2. If searching is more your thing, why not instead of heading to the usual sites you visit try a different one. I have lots of “small sites” with fantastic records listed in my Discovering Links series – and they’re all free.
3. If it’s a nice day, take a trip to a cemetery (or two or three), and go gravewalking.
4. Visit a relative, and ask them a few questions about their past. But be sure to take notes, or record it  by audio or video.
5. Start (or continue) scanning your photos and documents. The pile will eventually go down, I promise.
6. Filing. I know it’s not a fun job, but it’s even less fun when you can’t find that record that you know you have … somewhere. So spend an hour and do a little filing. You’ll be thankful for it later.
7. Create a timeline of one of your ancestors, and see where you have gaps. It’s quite fascinating to see.
8. Find a comfy chair and read a genealogy magazine or two – or a genealogy book.
9. Watch a Google Hangout on Air, or listen to a Podcast.
10. Visit your local genealogy or historical society.
11. Explore the FamilySearch site beyond just the searching (check out the Wiki, the Photos, the Indexing, the Family Tree, the free tutorial videos and more).
12. Help someone with a query – RAOGK.
13. Do some transcribing. You might head to the Trove newspapers for that, or the NAA Soda site, FamilySearch Indexing or a number of others.
14. Start a genealogy blog.
15. If crafting is more your thing, create a heritage scrapbook page or two, showcasing your family history.
16. Create a catalogue of all books, CDs, programs, maps, microfiche etc. that you have that are genealogy-related.
17. Start (or continue) writing your own life history. Remember that is just as important as the long-ago past.
18. Sadly your photo collection hasn’t sorted itself, so why not get a start on it.
19. While we’re on the topic of photos, why not create show off your ancestors with a “photo wall”
20. If you are into social media, check out all the genealogy-related Facebook groups/pages there are now (13,200 at last count). And if you are a tweeter, type #genealogy in the search box, and see what you come up with. It’s a great way to find new people to follow.
21. Go ahead and order that DNA kit that you’ve been wondering about for a while.
22. Drag out the old photo albums and spend time reminiscing.
23. Get the kids (or grandkids) and create a paper tree with leaves, and write names on the leaves.
24. If you’re into crafting, create a scrapbook page or as a memorial to an ancestor
25. Listen to a genealogy podcast, or watch a genealogy video on YouTube. there are literally 1000s to choose from.

That’s just a few suggestions, and there’s literally hundred more that I could write, and I’m sure each of you will find your own way to celebrate. So Happy Genealogy Day for Saturday.

Did you know that there is a ‘Genealogy Day’?

Yes, there is. And no, I’m not making it up … you can check it out for yourself here. Genealogy Day is held on the second Saturday of March, which means that for 2018 it was last Saturday (10th March).

I knew about it. I knew it was coming up, but life over the past few weeks with Congress (both the lead up to it, and during) was just a tad crazy, so no blog post got written about it beforehand. So instead I’m belatedly remembering Genealogy Day.

I spent last Saturday at Congress (Australia’s big genealogy conference), so was surrounded by 600+ genealogy peeps, who were being enthused and inspired by the speakers. So that’s a pretty good way to spend Genealogy Day, so I’m not complaining.

But for those of you who missed Genealogy Day, why not just belatedly celebrate it anyway. And excuse to have a genealogy day sounds good to me, anyway here’s some suggestions of things you can do to help ‘celebrate’ Genealogy Day:

1. Enter more names into your family tree. Do you have lots that you’ve found, but just have got around to entering into your genealogy program? Ok, well maybe that’s just me then.

2. If searching is more your thing, why not instead of heading to the ‘usual’ sites you visit try a different one. MyHeritage and The Genealogist are two that have very different records to the others.

3. If it’s a nice day, take a trip to a cemetery (or two or three), and do the grave walk.

4. Visit a relative, and ask them a few questions about their past, and be sure to take notes, or record it  by audio or video.

5. Start (or continue) scanning your photos and documents. The pile will eventually go down, I promise.

6. Filing. I know it’s not a fun job, but it’s even less fun when you can’t find that record that you know you have … somewhere. So spend an hour or so and do a little filing. You’ll be thankful for it later.

7. Create a timeline of one of your ancestors, and see where you have gaps. It’s quite fascinating to see.

8. Find a comfy chair and read a genealogy magazine or two – or a genealogy book.

9. Watch a genealogy Webinar or listen to a Podcast. There’s plenty around.

10. Visit your local genealogy or historical society – or even your local library, and check out the genealogy section.

11. Explore the FamilySearch site beyond just the searching (check out the Wiki, the Photos, the Indexing, the Family Tree as so on).

12. Help someone with a query – RAOGK (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness).

13. Do some transcribing. You might head to the Trove newspapers for that, or the NAA Soda site, FamilySearch Indexing or a number of others.

14. Start a genealogy blog. You’ve been wanting to for a while haven’t you … so JUST DO IT!

15. If crafting is more your thing, create a heritage scrapbook page or two, showcasing your family history.

16. Create a catalogue of all books, CDs, programs, maps, microfiche etc. that you have that are genealogy-related. It helps to know what you have!

17. Start (or continue) writing your own life history. Remember that the recent-past is just as important as the long-ago past.

18. Sadly your photo collection hasn’t sorted itself, so why not get a start on it.

19. While we’re on the topic of photos, why not create show off your ancestors with a “photo wall”

20. If you are into social media, check out all the genealogy-related Facebook groups/pages there are now (11,700 at last count). And if you are a tweeter, type #genealogy in the search box, and see what you come up with. It’s a great way to find new people to follow.

21. Go ahead and order that DNA kit that you’ve been wondering about for a while.

So there’s just a few suggestions, but there’s literally a hundred more that I could write. But I’m sure each of you will find your own way to celebrate. So Happy Genealogy Day for whenever you choose to belatedly celebrate it. Or if not, just pop it on your calendar so you’ll remember it (and be ready to celebrate it) in 2019.