Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

I need another 30 x 30 challenge. Join me?

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I know that the June 30 x 30 challenge ended just a month ago. It was so beneficial for my research that I’m challenging myself to an August 30 x 30 challenge.

As I wrote at the end of June, the commitment of researching daily–and the habit I was starting to get into–really helped move my research along. It kept me in touch with my ancestors and completely eliminated the “what should I work on?” overwhelm that used to plague me at the beginning of the session.

On July 1 I finished transcribing the massive Civil War pension file of my 2nd great grandfather, George Washington Adams (1845-1938). That was a great accomplishment, but it meant that my go-to project–the one I could just work on without a single thought of what I should on–is off my plate. But I have all the “next steps” I’d recorded in my research log to refer to when I’m trying to decide what to work on. So I’m feeling guided and focused.

After researching for 30 days in a row in June, I was able to continue my daily research through July 9. That’s when I headed to visit my father in Washington state and discovered on the way that he had fallen. I stayed there two weeks, and did get in some research, but my daily routine was so disrupted that researching every morning was out of the question.

So here it is August 1. I am challenging myself to completely 30 minutes of daily research for 30 days in a row. And I challenge you to join me. Let me know if you’re in!

I know that the commitment will motivate me to get out of bed earlier so I can complete my research before the rest of my day begins. And I know that my genealogy research will benefit. I’m excited to see where the month will take me!

Trying not to let a backlog build up

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One of the things I love about handling digital, rather than paper, documents is I never have to deal with a big pile of papers waiting to be filed. Over the long Independence Day weekend, I did a whole lot of genealogy research. I was researching the ten (!) children of my great great grandfather, George Washington Adams, and hitting lots of pay dirt. They were born in the late 19th century and died in the mid- to late 20th century so there were lots easily accessible documents available to me.

The problem with lots of easily accessible documents is that it can seem tedious to process them. Suddenly a census document with five kids feels like a drag rather than a treasure. That’s probably the time to take a break from the research session. Instead of taking a break and coming back fresh, what I did this weekend was save these documents to the top of my Surnames folder (as a parking lot) so I could process them later. Then I would move on to the next discovery.

On July 3 I realized my backlog was getting ridiculous and on July 4, when I found 25 documents about one particular family (who kept doing newsworthy things like filing and re-filing for divorces and marriages license), I actually processed each one before moving on to the next. (If you’re wondering what I mean by process, here’s where I describe my digital workflow.) That family lived in Indiana where death certificates are readily available and easily findable.

By weekend’s end, I had a backlog of 25 to 30 documents that I needed to deal with. I’m still researching 30 minutes a day, so I determined that those 30 minutes would be spend chipping away at the backlog, processing each document as I came to it (gleaning every bit of information and adding it to Reunion), until the backlog is gone. Today was my third day of working on the backlog and I made it through four documents before my timer went off.

I have only nine documents to go, thankfully. I want to try hard to avoid creating a backlog again. The problem, of course, is that if I’m keeping my focus on an individual and Ancestry puts one his relatives in front of me, it’s hard to ignore the relative. But that’s where my research log comes in. I can write down the new person I’ve come to, complete with a link to the document I found, and then include that person in the next steps I jot down at the end of each session. Or, if I have plenty of time, I can go ahead and process the document(s) for the new person, but make a note to come back to the original person when I’m finished. My goal is to not have unprocessed documents on my hard drive, if I can avoid it.

One of the challenges of genealogy research is balancing the thrill of discovery with the mundane tasks of processing the discoveries. As a professional organizer, I rather enjoy processing documents, but doing nothing but processing them gets tedious. By processing every document as I come to it rather than putting it off, I avoid whole sessions where all I do is process. For me, that’s a great way to have a balanced genealogy session.

Edited to add: I wrote this post on Friday morning, and on Friday afternoon I took a four-hour non-stop flight to Portland, Oregon. I spent the bulk of the time processing my backlog (which was a very enjoyable way to pass the time) and by the time we landed, it was gone, with the exception of two documents I needed to go online to suss out a little more. By Saturday morning, the backlog had vanished. Hooray!

How They Do It: Amy Johnson Crow

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Today’s entry in my How They Do It series is an interview with Amy Johnson Crow, professional genealogist and blogger at AmyJohnsonCrow.com. I really enjoy Amy’s blog, where she offers really great and practical advice, and I was privileged to do a video interview with her for her blog when we were both at RootsTech earlier this year. I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I did. I wholeheartedly agree with her assertion that Simple is good!

How They Do It: Amy Johnson CrowHow They Do It: Amy Johnson Crow

How long have you been doing genealogy?

I’ve been interested ever since I was little. My grandma was the unofficial family historian in the family and she told me a lot of stories. I did my first “real” research in 1990 and became certified in 1995.

What’s your favorite part of doing genealogy?

The hunt. I love taking a research problem, figuring out how to approach it, finding resources, and putting it all together.

Do you consider your genealogy research well organized?

Fairly. I try to always go into it with some sort of objective. “Who are Matilda’s parents?” “Where was John in 1850?” “Why is there a gap in the ages of these children?” It helps me not go down the research rabbit hole as often (but it still happens!)

What type of software do you use for organizing your genealogy research?

I’m kind of between genealogy software programs right now. For organizing my research and my notes, I use Excel for timelines (I would be lost without timelines) and Word for my notes.

Do you keep a research log? If so, what format?

My notes are all in Word. I don’t keep a separate log, but I integrate it into my notes. I’ll add the title, etc. of whatever I’m looking at, why I’m looking at it, and what I found (and what I didn’t find).

Do you have a tree on Ancestry? If so, is it public or private? Why?

I have several trees on Ancestry. One is public, the rest are private. The public tree is for cousin bait and DNA. The private trees are for my “works in progress” and trees where I’m helping someone.

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to organizing your genealogy?

Digital files, especially photos. I’ve been known to take dozens or even hundreds of photos when I’m researching or at a cemetery. I organize them by general category, but it’s the specific tagging that trips me up. There are times when I *know* I have a photo of a particular type of tombstone, but I can’t find it.

What’s your biggest piece of advice to beginning genealogists in terms of keeping track of their research?

Get in the habit of copying or scanning the title page of whatever book you’re using. Also note when you *don’t* find something.

What do you think is the most important thing for people to do to stay organized when it comes to family history research?

Find a method that works for them. Some people have to organize by family, while others go by location or record type. (I’m more of a location-based organizer myself, but I know that doesn’t work for everyone.)

If you were starting out new as a genealogist what would you do differently?

I would have started out with better citations. Back when I first started, my genealogy software allowed all of 8 characters to record a source. So many of my earliest citations were “stone” or some code that I later had no idea what it meant. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun trying to figure out where some of those facts came from!

Do you keep paper or electronic files (or both)?

Both. As techie as I am, I still love some paper.

Are you folder or binder person for your paper files?

Folders. I find them more flexible for how I organize.

Do you use Evernote, One Note or any other electronic organizing system for your genealogy? If so, how do you use it?

I’ve dabbled in Evernote, but I don’t use it regularly.

Do you have a dedicated space in your home for doing genealogy research? What’s it like?

I have my own home office. (I joke that the best piece of office equipment that I have is my door!) I’m actually scaling it back and getting rid of an entire bookcase of books (donating them to a couple of different libraries.) I love books — I am a librarian, after all — but I find that having a workspace that’s more “minimal” helps with my work.

Do you have anything to add?

There’s a lot to be said for organizing how it makes sense and is comfortable for you. However, I would encourage people not to make their systems too complicated. If another researcher or a family member ever has to go through your papers later and it isn’t clear how things are organized, that’s when research ends up getting tossed. Simple is good.

Amen, sister! A great example both of a simple organizing strategy and the kind of practical advice that Amy shares on her blog is one of her favorite posts (and mine), The Easy, Low-Tech Way to Label Scanned Photos. Organizing systems don’t have to be complicated–in fact we think it’s better if they aren’t!

 

The June 30 x 30 challenge ends today!

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Today’s the last day of my June 30 x 30 challenge, in which I challenged myself and my readers to do 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row. I am delighted to report that I researched every day in June! Some days the 30 minutes flew by. Other days, that half hour felt very long. It was definitely a valuable exercise.

I don’t think I’ve had a challenge where I didn’t miss a single day. I think there were a few reasons for my success this month:

  • I researched first thing in the morning. I found it to be a great way to start my day.
  • If necessary, I got up a half hour early in order to fit in my research. I think it helps that it gets light so early this time of year!
  • If I got up early, I went to bed early so I didn’t miss out on sleep.
  • I had my transcription project to work on (see below), so I was able to make measurable progress in only 30 minutes.
  • I logged each session, including “next steps” at the end of each entry so I was never at a loss for where to start.

I love keeping commitments. But successfully completing this 30 x 30 challenge made me especially happy because I found I really benefited from researching daily. This year I’m focusing on one family line (the Adams family, my paternal grandfather’s line). A couple of years ago, I sent for the huge Civil War pension file of my grandfather’s grandfather, George Washington Adams, 1845-1938. I didn’t start transcribing it until November of last year (during another 30 x 30 challenge). By the end of 2016, I had transcribed the first 55 of the 138 documents. I made some progress in the first months of this year. During this June challenge, I transcribed Documents 90 through 124. The light is shining bright at the end of the tunnel! I plan to finish transcribing before the end of July. A side note: G.W.’s death was reported in Document 110. There are 28 documents generated after his death. The Veterans Administration was all about paperwork!

Transcribing can be tedious work, but when you do it daily, you really can pick up on small details and catch inconsistencies. I had read these documents more than once. But in the process of transcribing, I picked up on things like changes of addresses, family members I’d never heard of before and discrepancies in a timeline. Because I was keeping a research log, I had a place to jot down my musings.

Another benefit to daily research is that it helped me create the habit of logging my research, something that’s been difficult for me to do in the past. I use Evernote and I keep it simple and remembered every day to do it. That kind of repetition really helps ingrain habits.

Not every session was spent transcribing. Some days I allowed myself to follow up on some of the discrepancies and research some of the new-to-me family members who popped up. Then I got to experience the joy of discovery. Thanks to this pension file, I learned about a second family that G.W. Adams had, a son and daughter born when G.W. was 62 and 68, respectively. Researching these new-to-me relatives has been fascinating.

I’m curious to see whether I’ll keep researching daily after the 30 x 30 challenge is over. Usually I revert to sporadic research at the end of the 30 days. But I’m really engaged with this family now, so I’m hopeful I’ll continue research frequently. I’m traveling to visit my father in an week. Travel often throws me way off my routine, but I think being around my father and his sister (Adamses!) will prompt me to research.

Those of you who participated in this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, please report in. Even you didn’t manage to research daily, did you find the challenge helpful?