Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

February 30 x 30 mid-month check-in

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Sunday marks the half-way point in our February 30 x 30 challenge, but I though I’d start the check-in a little early. If you are participating in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, now’s your chance to give us an update in the comments.

I’ve had a good month so far. I’ve researched every day. (I started on January 30, actually, so I’d get 30 days in by the end of February.) Typically, my goal for a 30 x 30 challenge is to do 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row. But this time I decided to cut myself some slack. Instead of 30 minutes a day, my goal is to get through 30 source citations in my source documentation checklist. I’m going through my sources in numerical order and checking to make sure that all the information I now put into a source is there (spoiler alert: so far all the source records have lacked information). Also, I’m looking at each source record to see whether I gleaned all the possible information I could from it (not usually). When I set the goal of going through 30 source citations in 30 days I figured that would be very easy to achieve.

It’s not exactly going as planned. I started this 30 x 30 by checking Source 91. Now, 14 days later, I am on Source 98. For a number of the sources, I needed to do some further research in order to verify the information. And you know what? That’s just fine with me. In my research log each day, I’ve written down the next steps I need to do before I’m comfortable moving on to the next source. Since I’m looking at early sources (documents downloaded in 2012 when I was quite new to serious genealogical research), the going is slower. It should pick up when I get to later sources.

Will I manage to get 30 sources by the end of the month? Maybe. But as long as I’m putting in at least some effort each day, I will feel very satisfied. And I’m really enjoying the work. One of the things I love about this challenge is that we can each set our own rules and our own standards for satisfaction.

So please tell me: How’s your personal 30 x 30 challenge going so far?

Quick Tip #14: Back up your data!

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. This one is brief but very important.

Back up your data

If you’ve embraced digital file organization, as I have, it’s absolutely imperative to back up your data. And it’s a good idea to do it in multiple ways. I store my genealogy source documents on my hard drive and I back up my hard drive continuously through Backblaze, an automated cloud-based service. (That’s a referral link; I’ll be compensated if you use the link to sign up for BackBlaze.) I’ve been very happy with Backblaze but there are other cloud-based backup services, like Carbonite and CrashPlan, that you might consider.

I also automatically back up hourly to an external hard drive via the Time Machine program on my Mac. (I keep my external hard drive plugged in via a hub whenever my computer is at my desk, which is most of the time.) Finally, my Reunion database is stored on Dropbox, so that I can access it, via ReunionTouch, on my phone. So that’s another place the files exist. I have confidence back up system and, best of all, it’s all automatic–I never have to think about it!

Those are just the ways I back up. There are lots of other ways to do it. The important thing is to feel confident that if your hard drive failed or your computer were stolen or damaged you would not lose your precious genealogy data. If you’re not as confident, I urge you to take some steps to explore how you might improve your situation!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

Family History Library offering free virtual consultations, online learning center

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The mammoth Family History Library in Salt Lake City closed its doors in March 2020 because of COVID. According to this news release from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, they’ve been spending time while they’re closed improving online services, which is a real boon for genealogists.

They’ve launched a new website for the Family History Library (which is part of FamilySearch.org) that will provide “new online patron experiences and up-to-date information on the library’s services and activities,” according to the press release.

One thing that exited me was the availability of free 20-minute research consultations. According to the website, in those consultations “We can help with evidence analysis or translation of key words, or we can help identify a good next step. The goal is to empower you in your research journey.” The sessions are offered in English, Spanish, Chinese and American Sign Language. Detailed information is available here.

It’s important to note that the researchers are not physically at the library (due to COVID) so may not have access to resources that you don’t have already have access to. But their expertise and knowledge of the collection is bound to be helpful. Doesn’t being empowered by professional researchers sound great?

Another exciting development is the new Online Learning Center, which is making hundreds of previously recorded how-to webinars available on demand, all free of charge. When I clicked on the Learning Center link at the new website, just a few popular lessons were listed on the resulting page. As a test, I searched for Civil War and got a listing of 120 available lessons. I haven’t taken any of these lessons, but I look forward to exploring what’s available and taking some to expand my knowledge this way.

The news release says that while the library is closed during the pandemic, improvements are being made to improve visitor access to materials and services. That’s fantastic. I’ve had the opportunity to research there several times and I look forward to visiting the new, improved Family History Library. In the meantime, I’m delighted about the enhanced online access to learning.

 

 

 

Who’s up for a 30 x 30 challenge?

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February 1 is on Monday and I am itching for a 30 x 30 challenge. Would you like to join me? For the uninitiated, the 30 x 30 challenge is where I challenge myself (and you) to do 30 minutes of genealogy research a day for 30 days in a row. February has only 28 days, so I plan to start tomorrow (January 30). But I think anyone who does daily research (or organizing or whatever other genealogy-related thing you want to do) every day in February can call it a success.

My focus this month will be going through my source documents, which is my goal for 2021. I have an especially long (non-genealogy) task list right now, so I’m giving myself a little grace this month. Instead of asking myself to do 30 minutes of research a day, I’m asking myself to go through one source each day, making sure all the information in it was recorded and that it has a good citation. I’m confident I’ll get more than one source record done a day, so I certainly hope to have more than 30 checked off by the end of this challenge. But it’s daily work that I’m after and I want it to feel easy to accomplish.

How about you? Would you like to join the challenge? Just comment below that you’re in and what you hope to work on (if you’d like to share). I’ll post a mid-month check in and an end-of-the-month wrap up post. I hope the challenge gives that you little push you need to have a wonderfully productive month!