Halfway Through 2024: Genealogy Progress and Plans

Six months ago, I made a list of genealogy priorities for 2024. Now, halfway through the year, how am I doing?

• Create a family history photo book about my husband's paternal grandparents. 💙 Done! Family really liked this final grandparent photo book, which included dramatic episodes from the lives of Wood and Slatter ancestors. Now I'm working on a booklet about the 50+ military ancestors in my husband's family tree, with the goal of finishing by end of 2024.
• Continue writing and posting bite-sized bios of ancestors. 👍 Never-ending, but making excellent progress, still posting brief ancestor bios on WikiTree, Find a Grave, and more. Remember, LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe)--including family history--so I'm spreading my ancestors around.
• Switch old photos from archival sleeves to safe, convenient photo albums, a project that fell to the back burner in 2023. 😟 Uh-oh, still on back burner. No progress at all, even though all materials are in the house. Maybe later this summer?! 
• Continue redoing research on focus ancestors, as new info becomes available and as I try different sites. 👍 Huge progress. This is partly why the photos are on the back burner: So many different sites to use for research and so much new info found! Plus I've gone down the in-law rabbit hole many times, especially for those who had no descendants so I want to be sure they're documented and remembered. More fun than a barrel of rabbits 🐰 LOL.
• Slim down and reorganize surname file folders. 👍 Real progress. Just last week as I was recycling redundant printed Census documents, I "rediscovered" photos of graves in the same file folder. Some I had never posted on Find a Grave and other sites, so I took care of that pronto. As I did, I became the "manager" of a few Find a Grave memorials that were up for grabs because original managers were no longer active. And of course I had to fill in with bite-sized bios so...🐰

One priority I hadn't listed was participating in multiple WikiTree Connect-a-Thons. The two so far have spurred me to add even more ancestors to WikiTree, as I was on Team L'Chaim, and got me deeper into categorization. The next Connect-a-Thon is in July, and I plan to participate once again. It's a fun way to focus my genealogy efforts on specific people for a specific time. 

In between, I'm adding to my WikiTree and adopting occasional ancestors' FindaGrave memorial pages that are "up for grabs." Finally, my plan for the second half of 2024 is to continue my genealogy education with webinars and genealogy meetings. 

How has your genealogy been going in 2024? 

What Did His Paternal Great-Greats Die Of?

My latest family history photo book, just completed, covers the lives and social/historical context of my hubby's paternal grandparents, great-grandparents, and their siblings, spouses, and ancestors. This is a full-color photo book with bite-sized bios of the men, women, and children in this part of the family tree, part of my plan to keep family history alive for future generations.

In the process, I'm documenting what folks died of, if cause of death is documented in the records. The very youngest in the Wood family tree tended to die from diseases that are treatable today, such as diphtheria and diarrhea. Ancestors who lived to adulthood usually died from a variety of other causes, including typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, stroke, and heart disease, only very occasionally dying of cancer on this branch of the family tree.

Mary: Age and cardiac asthma

My husband's paternal great-grandma, Mary Amanda Demarest Wood (1831-1897) died of "age, cardiac asthma," which ultimately is caused by congestive heart failure. At top, an excerpt from the death records in a ledger in Lucas County, Ohio, showing her cause of death. 

Now consider that Mary was only 65 when she died, not nearly as ancient as her husband. On the other hand, she had 17 children, the first born when Mary was 15 years old (you read that correctly) and the last born when she was 44. This must have taken a toll on her health. Also, she saw the death of 10 children during her life, a handful from childhood diseases like diphtheria but also one drowned, others had health problems as adults. RIP, great-grandma Mary. 

Thomas: General debility from age

My husband's paternal great-grandpa, Thomas Haskell Wood (1809-1890), died of "general debility from age," as described in the ledger in Lucas County, Ohio. He was 80, and would have been 81 if he had lived just a few more weeks. 

Thomas was born into a family where many of the men were whalers, either owning ships or captaining ships or working on ships out of New Bedford, Mass. He became a carpenter, supporting his family by working on the railroad most of his life. In later years, he built coaches for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway out of Toledo, Ohio. 

Lots of years of physical labor could have both strengthened Thomas's body and slowly worn it down over the decades. When Thomas died in early 1890, his oldest son went to work as a laborer at age 17 to help support the household. A few unmarried adult children remained at home with the widowed Mary, who sometimes worked part-time as a nurse when her health allowed. RIP, g-g Thomas.

"Health" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 23 of her genealogy challenge.