Yesterday was a bad day for genealogy, at least for me. I was logging into the TNG site to do some maintenance and updating, and ended up losing the whole site. I don’t think I did it, but something sure happened!

I tried to reload pages today, but now it says I don’t have login rights to the site. I’ll let it sit and stew a few days and, in the meantime, continue to work on this site. You will notice some new menu items on the red banner. I’ve added other clans to match the total number of clans I manage for Wikitree, along with several Scottish houses. I also expanded the list of Facebook pages I follow.

The biggest and best update, however, is the GEDCOM link making its return. In various updates of this page in the past, I used software to create a surname listing that could be searched directly from my database. The last time I used it, actually several months ago, I didn’t get a complete listing of the nearly 26,000 cousins I’ve found, and no matter how many times I tried to repair and expand the list, hundreds of names just wouldn’t appear. My only choice was to drop it until I could find better software. I think I have, so give it a try if you like. You get a number of demographic details on each person (if I have them), and you also get a four-generation family tree and a list of family members.

How old were you when you first got interested in genealogy? More to the point, how old were you when you began to research your own family? Like a lot of people, your first interest didn’t lead to research. Actually WORKING on your lineage came later, sometimes years later.

A recent survey on Facebook by the Early New England Family History Research site interviewed 4,534 members, arriving at these results:

Under 20 – 18%
20-29 – 16%
30-39 – 17%
40-49 – 19%
50-59 – 19%
60-69 – 9%
70-79 – 1%
80 + – <1%
Don’t Recall – 1%

Surprisingly, the split is pretty even across most age groups until you reach age 60 and above. I would guess the numbers would be different in the general population, with most falling between 40 and 60 years of age.

A writer for Ancestry.com (https://hidefgen.com/perceived-age-demographic-genealogy/) observed that conference attendees are mostly women (70%) and mostly above the age of 50. When topics of social media, like Facebook or other online sources, come up in genealogy, the user age falls quickly for those 55 and above, primarily due to privacy concerns. One interesting fact is that the first season of the US-version of  Who Do You Think You Are? aired on NBC did not have any celebrities under the age of 40.

The writer continues: Is the age demographic for genealogists perceived or actual? It often comes down to personal observations – one’s own demographic. Attendees at conferences tend to interact with others of similar age. When interactions do cross age groups, they tend to comment on either how young/old the other person is or how they do their genealogy – whether they use social media and online research, or if they are doing all their work at record repositories and without the use of a computer.

Both younger and older genealogists have much to offer each other – the younger set should not shut out older genealogists and write them off as “dinosaurs” who refuse to learn and use technology. Likewise, the older set should not dismiss younger genealogists as less than serious because they choose to use social media to expand their genealogy research and experience.

Now, for your purposes, two questions. First, how old were you when you began researching your family? Second, how computer-literate are you? You have to decide for yourself how this all affects your research. I have opinions, but I will share them at some point in the future.