Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

The bright side of the backlog

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I often post here about having a backlog of documents that I need to deal with. When I get on a roll, I tend to download documents willy nilly, rather than pausing to process each one before downloading another. I do always rename the file as soon as I download it and put it in my Surnames folder. That list of unprocessed documents used to stress me out or at the very least make me feel like a bad genealogist.

Before I focused on my backlog during the January 30 x 30 challenge, I had 88 documents to process! (By process, I mean extracting facts from the document, entering them into my database on Reunion and creating a source citation that is used for each fact.)

By the end of the January 30 x 30 challenge (well, actually by the first week in February), my backlog was gone. And since then I’ve been focusing on watching RootsTech classes and prepping for the 1950 census release, so I haven’t been adding to the backlog since then.

It felt great to clear out the backlog. But I realized something that surprised me: I kind of miss my backlog. What? Here’s the bright side to having a letting documents pile up. When I have a backlog, I always have a mini-genealogy project at the ready. I just pick a document and process it. (I actually enjoying processing documents, so it’s not a hardship.) I don’t have to figure out what/who I want to research in a given session.

Now that I have no backlog, I have to get focused on some research questions. Weirdly, I feel a little like I’m starting from scratch.

So here’s what I decided today: I’m going to allow myself to build a backlog of up to ten documents without feeling guilty about it. But when I hit ten, I will stop looking for more and start processing what I have. I’m calling it the Rule of Ten. I imagine there will be times when I have more than ten in a given session. But I will whittle it down to below ten in the next one.

This feels really good to me and I can’t wait to see if it works out well!

30 x 30 check-in time!

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It’s the middle of the month. How’s your 30 x 30 challenge going? Please let us know in the comments!

I have to admit, I’m not having a great month for genealogy research. It’s disappointing, because I really do want to take in a bunch of RootsTech classes and I also want to prep for the 1950 census release in just a couple of weeks. But sometimes life gets in the way of enjoyable activities.

My 92-year-old aunt is having some health difficulties and I’m her Power of Attorney so I’ve been kept very busy arranging for and monitoring her care from afar. I’m glad to do it but after taking care of my aunt and my business I don’t have a lot of extra time.

I’m so glad I didn’t procrastinate too much on my census prep. I’ve been able to identify some enumeration districts for some of my people, in case the name indexes don’t give me what I need. I’ve managed to research or watch RootsTech classes only 10 of the last 15 days. Disappointing, but unavoidable. I’m just going to do what I can and not beat myself up.

I hope some of you have had a better go of it and that if you haven’t your being kind to yourself about it! I hope to take in at least a few classes before the end of the month.

Preparing for the 1950 census release

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April 1, the day the 1950 U.S. Census will be released, is less than a month away. While I declared that my March 30 x 30 challenge would be around watching RootsTech classes, it hasn’t worked out that way. Instead, I’m focusing more on getting ready for the 1950 census release.

I managed to work on both those goals simultaneously by watching Steve Morse’s RootsTech session called Getting Ready for the 1950 Census: Searching With and Without a Name Index last week. This is 50-minute session with great instruction on how to use Morse’s Unified 1950 Census ED Finder to find the enumeration districts of your relatives whose 1950 addresses in case you can’t find by using the index. (By the way, there’s a transcript version of that session, including the slides, here.)

So I’m busy filling out my spreadsheet of ancestors to look for with enumeration districts to check out on the morning of April 1. (I probably won’t stay until midnight to do it in the wee hours of the day.)

I blogged about Marian Burke Wood’s terrific presentation to the Kentucky State Historical Society on preparing for the census release. Today I received an email with a link to a video short of tips extracted from that talk. (And there’s a transcript!)

Other great resources for the 1950 census include this page from the Genealogical Forum of Oregon with information on the 1950 census, including instructions to enumerators, blank forms and a sample filled-in questionnaire. The site also has links to instructions for creating a list of ancestors who were alive in 1950 in Family Tree Maker, Legacy Family Tree and RootsMagic.

The National Archives is holding a series of webinars this spring on the 1950 census. Check out this webpage for the schedule and for links to past webinars in the series.

According to the National Archives 1950 census page, there will be a name index for the 1950 census as soon as it’s released. But since it’s created by artificial intelligence, there are bound to be inaccuracies. That’s why I’m looking up enumeration districts so I don’t spend my April Fool’s Day being frustrated. The National Archives is asking for our help in correcting the AI-generated index. There will be a transcription tool we can use to help. Check out NARA’s 1950 webpage for more information.

Where will we go to look for the 1950 census on April 1? If I’m reading NARA’s 1950 census page right, it will be available right on their page.

March 30 x 30 challenge starts tomorrow!

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I wanted to give you a one day heads up that I’m starting another 30 x 30 challenge. For the month of March, I encourage you to join me in committing to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing or whatever you want to do) each day for 30 days.

I’ve decided that I’m going to spend my 30 x 30 challenge taking RootsTech classes. RootsTech 2022 starts on March 3 but until then I can watch RootsTech 2021 classes. As I wrote in last week’s post, I’m disappointed with myself that I didn’t watch more RootsTech 2021 classes in the year between the two virtual conferences.

My plan is to take at least one class per day, more if they’re short. I hope to spend at least 30 minutes a day watching RootsTech classes. I think this will be a great way for me to make sure I take advantage of at least some of the great education offered!

Please let me know in the comments if you’re interested in joining this month’s challenge. It doesn’t have to be about RootsTech–it can be about anything genealogy related that works for you!

Join the mailing list!

When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.