Tag: Top 10

2014 in Review

On this last day of 2014, it’s time to take a look back. I don’t have specific goals for this website—other than to provide access to my family research. So, how did I do?

In 2014, I wrote 63 new posts with most posts being written in January—April and July—September. May, June and December were my worst months. Here is how the year stacked up:

  • January — 10 posts
  • February — 7 posts
  • March — 4 posts
  • April — 4 posts
  • May — 1 post
  • June — 2 posts
  • July — 13 posts
  • August — 9 posts
  • September —6 posts
  • October — 2 posts
  • November — 3 posts
  • December — 2 posts (including this one)

My longest writing streak? 2 days in a row.

I started the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge at the beginning of last year. The goal was to write a post about an ancestor each week. Although I started off well, my participation was rather hit or miss. I posted my last contribution at the beginning of September.

All told, I only wrote 22 posts for the challenge, less than 50% of the goal. Because I preferred to write about something new that I’d learned about each ancestor, it wound up being too time consuming. If I had just written about what I already knew, maybe I would have been more consistent. Sigh. I much prefer the hunt for new information and the reward of finding it over documenting it.

Although I didn’t write very often. I did receive more than 19,000 page views. All things considered that’s not too shabby for this little blog. Here are the ten most viewed pages of 2014:

  1. Andreas Huber (1723—1784) (#8 in 2013)
  2. Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps (#9 in 2013)
  3. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? (#5 in 2013)
  4. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online (#4 in 2013)
  5. Huber Immigrants (#7 in 2013)
  6. Jacob Hoover (ca 1746—1800) (#6 in 2014)
  7. Lancaster County Deed Books Online
  8. How to Use Online Land Records at the PA State Archives (#3 in 2013)
  9. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map (#2 in 2013)
  10. Home Page/Archives (#1 in 2013)

Once again, most of these pages made the list in 2012 and 2013. It’s not surprising that the general information posts were popular. Nor is it a shock that the Huber family posts made this list—since the Hoover surname is one of my most researched!

I believe that more of those visitors who viewed the Andreas and Jacob Huber posts were more than likely looking for information on the ancestor of President Herbert Hoover. However, they do provide valuable information for the descendants of Andrew Hoover of Fayette County, Pennsylvania—who is frequently confused with the president’s immigrant ancestor. Although I’ve determined that I’m not a descendant, I’m glad I did the research and shared the results.

So, that’s a look at my blogging for 2014. What did your year look like?

Best of 2013

Now that 2013 is almost over, it’s time to look back and reflect on the year past. Here’s a list of the top 10 most viewed posts for this year.

  1. 5,000 Acres—Where Did It All Go? with 165 views (#7 in 2012)
  2. Pennsylvania Township Warrantee Maps with 177 views (#4 in 2012)
  3. Andreas Huber (1723—1784) with 180 views
  4. Huber Immigrants with 198 views (#5 in 2012)
  5. Jacob Hoover (ca 1746—1800) with 212 views
  6. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? with 241 views (#8 in 2012)
  7. Friday Finds: Trinity Lutheran Birth and Baptismal Records Online with 250 views
  8. How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives with 396 views (#3 in 2012)
  9. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map with 1,919 views (#1 in 2012)
  10. Home page / Archives with 3,964 views (#2 in 2012)

Apparently, I was not particularly helpful or interesting this year as all of these pages were written in prior years—except perhaps whatever people were looking at on the home page! Most of theses posts—with the exception of the pages on Andreas and Jacob Huber—were fairly general, either providing information on how to use an online resource, directing readers to a resource, or providing information on multiple surnames. That two pages on specific people made the list was somewhat surprising—until I realized that although neither was related to President Hoover, both names were used in his family.

So, did you have a favorite post in 2013? What was it about and where was it posted? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Top 10 Posts of 2012

I like to take a look at my website stats to see what posts & pages get viewed. Partly due to curiosity, but it’s also useful when I need inspiration. I’m sharing with you as a kind of year in review.

Here’s a list of the top ten most viewed posts on my site for 2012.

  1. Lancaster County Deed Books Online with 216 page views and 144 unique Views
  2. George Hoover (ca 1735/40-1813) with 235 page views & 203 unique views (#5 in 2011)
  3. Andreas Huber Origins: Trippstadt, Ellerstadt, or Ittlingen? with 239 page views and 210 unique views (#7 in 2011)
  4. 5,000 Acres—Where Did It All Go? with 240 page views and 122 unique views
  5. Pennsylvania Marriages, 1885-1950 with 249 page views and 161 unique views
  6. Huber Immigrants with 271 page views and 230 unique views (#6 in 2011)
  7. Pennsylvania Warrant Township Maps with 351 page views and 253 unique views (#3 in 2011)
  8. How to Use the Online Land Records at the PA State Archives with 443 page views and 284 unique views
  9. Home page with 1,086 page views and 691 unique views (#1 in 2011)
  10. Pennsylvania Genealogical County Map with 1,665 page views and 741 unique views (#2 in 2011)

It’s an interesting mix of my research, how-tos and Pennsylvania genealogy resources, and older and newer posts. Do you have a favorite  or most useful post? If you have a blog, what were your top 10 most viewed posts in 2012?