Looking back on 2016

Where has 2016 gone already?! My year was off to a great start in January, when I attended the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Board meeting of the Association of Professional Genealogists. I met many amazing friends, some of whom I already knew online. They made me feel so welcome.

“Shelfie” of me at the Family History Library

While in Salt Lake City, I did some research at the Family History Library for my Kinship Determination Project, the final part of my portfolio. I submitted the portfolio to the Board for Certification of Genealogists three weeks later.

Then began the hard part: waiting for the results. It was such an honor to receive the news in May that my application was successful, and that I was now the first Board-Certified Genealogist in the country!

I am using the feedback of the judges to improve the portfolio items and am now working on getting them published. My case study was selected as the lead article of the December 2016 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.

In September, I received the news that my article about Content Marketing, published in the September 2015 issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, received the APGQ Excellence award. 

2016 was also the second of my two-year-term as member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists. I have been involved in creating a new website for the organization, which I will continue to work on next year, and helping to make the organization more international. My new column in the APGQ will discuss what it means to be a genealogist in Europe and work with international clients. 

Fireworks. Credits: Rob Bogaerts, collection Nationaal Archief

Throughout the year, I met several other genealogists in person; people like John Boeren from Tilburg, Ursula Krause from Germany, An Stofferis from France, and Jennifer Holick from the United States. It was such a pleasure to exchange ideas with them and work on projects together when an opportunity presented itself. I also met several clients when I joined them in the places of origin of their ancestors or helped them do research at the archives. 

Of course, I also worked on client projects. I tore down brick walls in New Netherland, the West Indies, and the Netherlands, and helped clients prepare for trips to the Netherlands. Some health issues prevented me from doing as much as I would like, but I am now recovered and happy to be working full-time again. I feel so privileged that people from all over the world trusted me to help them learn about their family history.  

I would like to thank everyone I worked with in 2016. You’ve made it a year to remember!