That's it, I am DONE!

A long time ago, in a comfy chair far, far away, I began a project - I was going to sort through all the files I've collected since I started doing genealogy, and make sure everything I'd found so far was documented in my genealogy database. I knew I had a lot of files, I'd been doing genealogy for 11 years at that point, but I really had no idea how many of my files I'd actually documented. No idea.

That was on July 21, 2011. Since then I've gone through literally thousands of files - censuses, death records, church records, newspapers, court records, and lots more. I didn't keep track of what was and wasn't documented, because I was more interested in getting done. I still did a little of bit of research and searching here and there, when something I came across intrigued me, or confused me, or shocked me, or I just wanted to know more about that person or family. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment each time I'd get a family folder done. More often than not, it seemed there were many more files that were undocumented than documented, leading me to wonder just what kind of genealogist I've been all these years. But I was happy in that I didn't have to make any huge adjustments to my tree, changing someone's parents or adding a missing child I'd overlooked. I think I've done a pretty good job of pulling information out of the records I've found, even if I didn't document my sources as well in the beginning. Who does, right?

But today, February 18, 2013, I have finally finished The Project!! I have gone through every file, record, and email I've saved in my genealogy folder, and documented where it came from, and who it applies to. Now I can officially say, when I pull up someone in my database, this is everything I have on this person. And what a difference that feeling makes!

I've been doing this for so long, I'm kind of not sure what to do next. I have DNA tests to go back to and analyze further; I would really like to find more info on my Gibson line; and I have a stack of probate records on three of my Bergstad ancestors that need to be scanned and documented and analyzed. Or maybe I'll just bask in the "I'm done" feeling for a day before launching another major project.

Nah! Let's get to work!