Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

September 30 x 30 mid-month check in

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It’s already September 18, so we’re more than half-way through the September 30 x 30 challenge, in which folks committed to their version of doing 30 minutes of genealogy research every day for 30 days. How’s it going? Please let us know in the comments.

As I said in the post establishing this month’s challenge, I’m not focusing on genealogy research as much right now. So my goal for this challenge was simply to do something (anything) around genealogy research every day this month. I haven’t fully succeeded–some days went by where I did not touch my genealogy. But I can tell you this: So far this month I’ve done more genealogy work than I would have if this challenge weren’t going on. So I’m really grateful for that.

How about you? If you’re participating in the challenge, how’s it going?

If you’re not participating but you’re intrigued, feel free to jump in right now and have a 13 x 30 challenge. I’ll post again on the last day of the month so everyone can report on how they did.

Time for a September 30 x 30 challenge (finally!)

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As I’ve mentioned here, I’ve been easing up on my genealogy research, mostly to make time in my schedule for YNAB budget coaching practice. But reader Jerry Hereford asked this week if I was going to do another 30 x 30 challenge and I remembered that I hadn’t done one! Usually I do one when I personally need it. But this time, I’m doing it for you.

Please comment below if you’d like to commit to 30 minutes of genealogy research every day for 30 days. You can change that goal if you’d like. Since I’m doing less research in general, I’m going to change my goal to doing something (anything) in service to my genealogy research each day, now matter how much (or little) it takes. We’ll do mid-month and end-of-month check-ins. Daily research can be so beneficial and the accountability of a 30 x 30 challenge can keep it top of mind.

So please let everyone know in the comments if you’re in!

P.S. If you missed Wednesday’s post, I’m doing a giveaway of Drew Smith’s new book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy. It’s not too late to enter by commenting on that post!

Got a brick wall?

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If you’re like every genealogist I know, you have at least one brick wall, a pesky ancestor for whom you haven’t been able to find more information. Actually, you probably have more than one. I know I do!

I’ve got good news for you! Genealogist extraordinaire Amy Johnson Crow is debuting a new eight-week individualized program called Beyond the Brick Wall. According to Amy’s website, “The Beyond the Brick Wall program is a combination of individualized coaching and genealogy education, based on Amy Johnson Crow’s proven WANDER research method. You will be putting into practice what you are learning, while having access to a professional genealogist to guide you through your research.” I think it sounds amazing. It’s limited to 20 participants, so you can get individual attention from Amy, who is so knowledgeable (and so nice)!

Registration opens today for the program, which starts September 20 and runs weekly through November 14. The program consists of a combination of pre-recorded presentations and interactive live sessions. The live sessions will begin at 7:00pm Eastern and last 60-90 minutes. The various components of the program are valued together at over $1500 and Amy is offering it all for $349.

Just go to her website to find loads of information and register for the program. If you sign up, please tell Amy I sent you!

Using Ancestry clues to find images at Family Search (screencast)

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Five years ago, I created a screencast of how I found my great aunt’s death certificate on family search after finding an FHL film number on Ancestry. While the user interfaces at Ancestry and Family Search may have changed a little in the last five years, I do think it’s useful information, so I decided to run that 2019 post again today.

Today I was doing some research on Ancestry. (I’ve finished my backlog project and have lifted my ban on searching–more on that in a future post.) I was looking for a death certificate for my grandmother’s sister whom I had just learned through Find A Grave had died at the age of six, in 1922.

A simple Birth/Marriage/Death records search produced a collection called Washington, Select Death Certificates, 1907-1960, but when I clicked on it, it said “No Image Text-only collection.” (A picture of that screen is at the top of this post.) I saw that there was a FHL film number, so I went to Family Search to try to track down the document.

I was successful in finding an image of the death certificate, though I had to jump through a few hoops. After I successfully downloaded and processed it, I decided to do a screencast of the process, in case it helps someone here.

Here’s the screencast:

A quick summary is that I searched on the film number in the catalog at Family Search, then when I got another No Image Available message there, I drilled down further to the actual microfilm number mentioned on Ancestry and did another search. That brought up the image. If it hadn’t, I would have gone to the image number (listed in the initial search result at Family Search) in that digitized microfilm. Bottom line: don’t give up if you’re told an image isn’t available!

You can find more information on using Family Search’s card catalog in this post from a year ago: Using the card catalog to find elusive documents on Family Search. And if you’re interested in how I processed that death certificate after I downloaded it, check out the blog post How I process a downloaded document. (For a deeper dive, check out my Orderly Roots guide, How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow.)

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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.