New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t really make them but have been thinking about some things that are genealogy related for 2026.
1. If you didn’t take advantage of membership/subscription or DNA sales at the end of 2025, don’t worry. Many of our favorite websites and companies are having New Year’s sales. Check the websites of Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, and RootsMagic, to name a few. I keep seeing ads on Facebook for some of these. Don’t delay as these may not last more than a few days.)
2. Think ahead and plan to personally visit a library, historical society, or archives for in-person research in the wonderful records they hold. Most are not online. This research always gives me a boost and is often just what one of my clients needed. We all can’t get to every place we wish to explore, but there are professional genealogists like me we can hire. My connections to directories of professionals are https://www.apgen.org/ and https://www.bcgcertification.org/
3. Choose one great grandparent and peruse the research you have already accomplished. What questions and blank details do you need to solve? Start a 2026 Research Plan for this one person. Then move on to one more great grandparent. Work on research based on these Research Plans for a couple of months and then tackle Research Plans for the others. Of course, there will be some overlaps as you do the research. Are you including the siblings of those great grandparents? Don’t neglect them. Those siblings have been the clues to some of my research breakthroughs.
4. “Borrow” a friend, in-law, or neighbor’s family and do some family history research. It’s interesting how working on this other family can offer some ideas for your own families. Let them know your plan and ask for some details. When we work without preconceived ideas, names, dates, and places, it can open up a new year’s world of research avenues.
5. Don’t forget that libraries, historical societies, and archives often have subscriptions to many genealogy, newspaper, and history websites. Public libraries, genealogy libraries, university libraries, and state archives realize the importance of access to these. You may need to visit the place to access the subscriptions, and some are accessible from home.
6. Education never stops. Consider attending a genealogy institute course such as GRIP Genealogy Institute, Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) , and Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). I have been involved in all three and highly recommend the in-depth studying. These involve days of presentations, not years or even many months. They are a great way to learn about more records, repositories, analysis, and how to do so much more.
Now stop reading my blog post. Think about my points here and make some notes as they relate to your family history. Next, work on discovering Great Grandma Annabelle’s first marriage.
Happy Productive New Year!
© 2026, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.
