I know that many of you are in the same position I am right now – sitting somewhere, probably indoors. It’s a crazy and, for most of us, an unexpected and sudden halt to most of what we do – go to work, school, exercise; do social things like restaurants, bars, movies; travel for business or pleasure, locally or at a distance. There’s plenty to do. I found some very interesting virtual museums and a lot of other helpful information about activities and staying connected at https://gerocentral.org/clinical-toolbox/covid-19-resources/ .

During this very surreal time, I made a decision about doing something I’ve been putting off for ages. I started my research, well a better word would be foray, into my family’s past decades ago. I have used every version of Family Tree Maker since it came out, and have online private trees which I syncronize with FTM every once in a while. What I didn’t pay too much attention to until a couple of years ago, was the duplication of data I had on my tree. I couldn’t see that on FTM but when I was on my Ancestry® tree, and could see all my information for each person on one screen, it became obvious. I began to clean things up, not in a methodical manner although I definitely know that it would be best that way. There are about 17,000 people on my tree, and I know there are no duplicates. What I needed to clean up, for example, were the times when the 1930 census was attached to the same person 3 (or more) times. Of course, doing that isn’t as simple as it seems – I can’t just delete the duplicate records. I need to look at each one and make sure that the person wasn’t enumerated in multiple places. Yes, that definitely happened. Take  Anna who was enumerated with her parents, that was clear. However, a few days later she married and she is enumerated with her new husband. Then, just to make things complicated, they went on a honeymoon to a distant state and were enumerated there, a week after their marriage.

What does all this have to do with the current challenges? Well, although I’m sure I won’t get through all the people on my tree, but since all my travel plans are cancelled for the foreseeable future, I can spend that extra time cleaning things up. Of course 8 hours a day won’t be spent doing that (I am grateful for my Roku box and various subscriptions), but I will make a dent.

By the way, if you haven’t checked out the many opportunities for virtual conferences to keep you up to speed with whatever your hobby or profession is, you might check out what your favorite organizations are doing to keep everyone engaged!

Stay safe, stay healthy.