Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

RootsTech 2022 will be virtual (and free!)

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RootsTech announced on Wednesday that they have decided to make their 2022 conference virtual once again. As in 2021, it will be free of charge. It will be held March 3 to 5, 2022.

Here’s the video announcement.

Also mentioned in the video is the fact that they have chosen not to do an in-person RootsTech London this fall.

I loved hearing in the video that they will be highlighting a RootsTech 2021 session each week in their newsletter (which I believe I receive simply because I have a Family Search account). I think that’s terrific, because it will prompt me to watch RootsTech sessions. I’ve had a really hard time remembering to watch the sessions (and making the time to do it). If I can watch just one a week I know it will enhance my genealogy education.

I’ll be thinking about topics I might propose to present at the virtual conference. If you have any ideas for me, don’t hesitate to tell me in the comments!

Should you color code your files?

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Let me preface my answer to this question with one statement: You do you.

If color coding is satisfying and sustainable for you, go for it. Color coding (either of paper files or digital ones) can help you quickly identify what you’re looking for. But it comes with a drawback, in my estimation: extra work.

When I first started with genealogy back in 2001 or so, I created a color-coded paper file system. I bought colored folders and color-coded folder labels. I used one color per line (so four colors, one for each grandparent’s surname) and I created folders for each couple, with the folders for each surname and each line filed together.

I wasn’t a professional organizer yet, but I found the color coding satisfying.

That worked nicely before I ended up abandoning my research because I hadn’t sourced things properly. One of the reasons it worked out well is that I hadn’t yet done a lot of research so I didn’t have a lot of files. (That’s a picture of my file cart from back in the day above.)

When I came back to genealogy a decade later, I slowly transitioned from paper to digital files. And I didn’t bother using colored dots or any other type of electronic color-coding because I didn’t need to. Instead, I created a digital folder structure and a file-naming protocol that meant that I don’t have any trouble finding any of my digital files. I had to train myself to rename my files immediately after downloading them and to file them properly as soon as I processed them. That’s a solid habit now and easy as pie. Color coding would have been an additional, unnecessary step.

Once I started working as a professional organizer, I discouraged most clients from using color-coded files for fear that they wouldn’t have the right color handy when they needed to file. When that happened, they couldn’t file and piles would form.

In my view, if color coding impedes your ability to actually file, it’s not worth it. But if you love color coding and it works well for you, go for it.

If you’re interested in learning more about my folder structure and file system, check out my Orderly Roots Guide, How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow.

Quick Tip #22: Don’t rely on online trees

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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 is one that I think trips up new genealogists quite often!

Don’t rely on online trees

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with online genealogy research, in my view. It’s how I do most of my research, in fact. Websites like Family Search and Ancestry provide amazing, reliable information and the hunt for images of original documents is thrilling.

The problem comes when people take information found on public trees on those sites and assume the information is accurate. A tree is only as good as the genealogist who put it together. And unfortunately if someone has posted wrong information it’s often copied and may appear in many other trees. That can give it a patina of reliability. But unless it’s backed up by a solid source, I suggest using it only as a clue.

You’ll avoid heartache and headache down the road if you rely on solid source documents, not family trees, for your research.

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

Local library, here I come!

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The St. Louis County Library headquarters

I was so pleased to see when I checked yesterday that the history and genealogy room of the St. Louis County Library is now open to the public without an appointment. The library had been closed during the pandemic and then open by appointment only, but somehow committing to a time slot was too big a hurdle for me.

Now I can walk in as usual and use the library. I am so excited. I have been keeping a list in Evernote of documents that I found on Family Search that can only be found at the Family History Library or one of its affiliates. And I have a couple of other Missouri-related facts I’m hoping to uncover that the library might be able to help me with.

Online research is wonderful and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to do so much from home during and since the pandemic. But I’m itching to get out from behind my desk to do some research. Two years ago at this time, I was about to leave for my Kentucky research trip and I remember well the planning and anticipation as well as the great time I had on the trip.

Going to the library isn’t as exciting as a research trip to my ancestors’ towns, but I am eager to go to the St. Louis County library this afternoon. If you live elsewhere, you might check to see if your local library is now open for you to come and research!

If you’re curious about how I’ll process the documents I find at the library today, check out  How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow, a 37-page downloadable pdf published last month and available for $19.99.