A Look Back at GenTales in 2024
Each year that passes, we add more writers and more stories. 2024 was no exception. This year we added:
- Rachel Ess, who wrote about her grandfather’s place in history;
- Mike Howard, who wrote about heritage and connecting to bloodlines online;
- Mike Player, who wrote about his grandfather and a famous family connection; and
- Paul van Gool, who told us how he caught the genealogy bug and extended the conversation on research to the Netherlands.
This wouldn’t be a year-end round-up without a recap of the most popular stories. By far, the most read stories were those that were Boosted (by someone who isn’t me — I’m not part of the Boost recommendation program and I have not yet “Featured” any article in the publication as I just got access to that feature).
The most read story this year was a tale of discovery based on a surprise DNA match from Jacqueline Jannotta:
The second-most read story was on the skeletons in the family closet:
Among the GenTales stories that were not Boosted, the top 5 most read included two family histories from Janelle Molony, M.S.L., as well as stories on research and finding truths in the paper trail:
This year also saw the start of the GenTales monthly newsletter. At the start of each month, I introduce new writers, recap what you may have missed from the previous month, and highlight calls for submission.
You can read the newsletter archive and/or signup to receive it by clicking here!
Happy New Year! Here’s looking forward to interesting finds, solved mysteries, and new lineages in 2025.