Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Quick Tip #28: Think of your future self

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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. I’m hoping this one will prompt you to go the extra mile, even when it feels tedious.

Think of your future self

I think we’ve all experienced fatigue when we’re analyzing a document and we decide not to record tiny details because it just feels like too much. Or we’re processing a census return and the ancestor had 14 kids and adding all of them to the tree is too tedious to bear. If you’re tempted to stop short of completely processing a document or perhaps wanting to take short cuts in a transcribing project, I encourage to think about how you will benefit from today’s effort tomorrow. When I first started researching, I took all sorts of short cuts that I regretted later on when I turned my attention a particular ancestor or collateral relative.

Next time you’re tempted to stop and move on, I encourage you to think of your future self and press Pause instead. Write down your next steps in your research log or elsewhere so you don’t forget. Come back to the task with a fresh brain. Remember, genealogy is a marathon not a sprint!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

Quick Tip #27: Read the instructions to enumerators

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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 can be very helpful for census research.

Read the instructions to enumerators

When you’re processing a U.S. census record, it’s tempting to record the big information, like birth year and place and occupation, and leave it at that. But there are lots of other pieces of information that you can capture, which can vary by census year. Sometimes it’s not easy to understand exactly what the word or code written in a column refers to, and that’s where the instructions to enumerators come in.

Whenever I take the time to read the instructions, I benefit. They’re easy to find on the historical instructions page on  U.S. Census website or a simple google search like “instructions to enumerators 1910 census” will take you right there. In my experience, the quality of the work of enumerators is variable, so we don’t know for a fact that the enumerator followed the instructions precisely. But at least we can find out what the answer is supposed to mean!

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

The keyboard shortcuts I use most in my genealogy research

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There are certain keyboard shortcuts I use all the time when I’m doing genealogy research. They save time and effort. I bet you’re using some, if not all, of them too. The list below is Mac-specific, but the ⌘ key (the Command key on a Mac) is the same as the Control key in Windows in most of the browser and text functions described below. I thought I’d share them here in case they’re helpful. I figure everyone can use some time-saving tips!

In Finder:

⌘-D: Duplicates the selected file

⌘-delete: Deletes the selected file without having to confirm

⌘-I: Opens the Get Info window, giving me a backend look at the selected file. (This is where I paste the source citation I’ve created for this document, in the Comments section. See step 5 of this post for more information on that.)

Spacebar: Uses Quick Look to preview the selected file

⌘-N: Opens a new finder window (very handy when you want to drag a file into another folder)

In a browser:

⌘-T: Opens a new browser tab

⌘-N: Opens a new browser window

⌘-F: Find text

When dealing with text (in Pages or Reunion or elsewhere):

⌘-C: Copies the selected text

⌘-X: Cuts the selected text

⌘-V: Pastes the selected text

⌘-B: Bolds the selected text

⌘-I: Italicizes the selected text

⌘-Z: Undoes the last command (on a Windows computer, it’s Ctrl-Y)

Shift-⌘-Z: Redo the last undone command

⌘-K: Opens a pop-up window to add a link to the selected text

fn-delete: Deletes one character to the right

I think I used half of these while writing this post! If I’ve missed any favorites, please share in the comments.

 

Creating a poster of your family tree

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A tree from MyCanvas

I had an inquiry recently from someone who wanted to get her Ancestry tree printed so that she could see the whole tree. This isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this question and I did a little research. I haven’t had the desire to see a printed version of my tree, but I do get the attraction.

I found three companies that create large-scale printed versions of a tree (sometimes very large, suitable for family reunions!). I like limiting my options, so I stopped at three. This obviously isn’t an exhaustive list, but I hope you find it helpful. Feel free to add resources in the comments!

  • To have a decorative tree created from your Ancestry tree (rather than from software or a GEDCOM), it looks like the easiest option might be MyCanvas, which offers a 24 x 18 poster in three different types of trees, Standard Combination or Descendant (coming soon). Just connect your Ancestry tree to get started. Prices vary from $25 to $55, depending on the tree type and the number of generations. (Maximum is nine generations.) They also offer oak hanging rails.
  • Ancestry Printing will create a large-scale chart directly from a variety of genealogy software packages (including the one I use, Reunion). It also looks like they print from Ancestry, Geni, My Heritage and Tribal Pages. AncestryPrinting says it offers personalized customer service and lots of flexibility. They will do the designing for you! Their pricing is based on the linear foot of the chart.
  • Family ChartMasters offers custom decorative charts, as well as working charts and charts with blanks to be filled in. You can design your own or work with a designer. They offer charts in a variety of formats and you can get the ball rolling with a free consultation. Their prices vary depending on the type of chart.

If you’re looking for a decorative gift, a giant tree for a family reunion or a large-scale chart to help you with your research, it looks like these companies can help! If you have experience with any of these companies or you know of others, please let me know in the comments.

 

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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.