Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Creating bio sketches of your ancestors

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Reader (and professional genealogist) Maria Tello commented in my recent post on shifting my focus that she is in the process of creating biographical sketches for each of her ancestors, so that she can pass information on to her children and grandchildren, who are not genealogists.

I was intrigued by the idea and asked her to give me a little more information, along with an example.

Maria wanted to make her research more easily understood by her children and grandchildren, she is writing these short sketches of each ancestor. Her research on some of her lines goes back to the 15th century, so it’s a big task!

I’m thoroughly impressed that Maria’s goal is to write one of these each day. I think that’s a wonderful way to make an overwhelming project seem much more attainable.

Maria said that she used the Register Style Template from the New England Historic Genealogical Society as the basis for her sketches. I love that sources and footnotes are a prominent part of the template.

Here’s a sample sketch, of one of Maria’s ancestors on her father’s side. She explains, “My accreditation is in Mexico and the bulk of my research is done in Spanish language areas. I used tools that were developed for New England colonial area research, however, and that works splendidly.”

Click on this link to read Maria’s sketch of José Anastasio Tello.

Maria reports that her children not only have found the sketches easy to understand but they’re actually grateful for them!

In addition to the obvious benefit of having an easily understood way to present genealogical information to those who follow you, I can see how useful this exercise is to find holes in your research. I can also see its benefits for reacquainting yourself with your ancestors.

Reunion, the genealogy software I use, will create these reports automatically, I discovered. But Maria and I discussed the benefits to doing them by hand. There’s a big difference between creating something and reading something. (This is part of a larger post I’m contemplating on manual versus automatic in genealogy–keep an eye out.)

As I look toward shifting to a different family line in my own research, I think I’m going to take the time to write a bio sketch for the main ancestor I’ve been researching, George Washington Adams (1845-1938) before I say goodby to him for a little while. I think it should be a fun exercise.

Maria, thank you so much for sharing what you’re doing! And best of luck completing all the profiles!

 

My first article in Family Tree Magazine!

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I’m excited to report that an article I wrote is published in the current (July/August 2018) edition of Family Tree Magazine! It’s called Genealogy Organization Secrets the Pros Know and it’s based on the interviews I did for the What the Pros Know: Genealogy Organizing Tips workshop I hosted for Family Tree University earlier this year.

The expert sources for the article are Thomas MacEntee, Joshua Taylor, Drew Smith, and Denise Levenick. I’m so grateful to them for talking with me.

For ten years before I started my organizing business in 2005, I was a freelance pet writer. I wrote primarily for newspapers and magazines, though in the latter years I wrote books. (You can check out my titles at Amazon.)

So magazine writing is not new for me, but I have to admit it was a thrill to have a genealogy article appear under my byline in a major national magazine. And note the optimism in this post’s title…I’m hoping there will be more!

I was able to read the article through this link, though it may be for premium members only. You can purchase and download the whole digital edition of the magazine here.

While it’s nice to see digital version on the website, I’m looking forward to holding the physical magazine in my hands. (Never mind that usually prefer digital documents to paper. This is different!)

Identifying your military ancestors

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Before Memorial Day in 2016, I wrote this post on figuring out which ancestors might have fought in which war. I ran it again on Memorial Day weekend last year and I’ve decided to make it an annual post. Incidentally, Fold3.com is offering free access to their military records through tomorrow night (Saturday, May 26, 2018).

Whenever I read about a records collection for a certain conflict (which seems to happen around military-related holidays, like Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day or anniversaries of conflicts) I get excited about researching my ancestors in those collections, which can be such a treasure trove of information. But in the past sometimes I would have difficulty remembering which ancestor might have fought in which war and I’d become overwhelmed and abandon the effort.

So I created a document that shows me the prospective ancestors for each conflict, based on the dates they were born. At the time, I used a table from Family Tree Magazine but when I went looking for it to share in this post, I couldn’t find it. However, I did find an even-better table called Ages of Servicemen in Wars that lists 20 military conflicts, the years they were fought, the typical birth dates for soldiers and the  typical ages of soldiers. Thank you, FamilySearch!

Armed with that information, I created a simple spreadsheet (pictured, in part, above) with the following column headers:

  • Conflict
  • Likely Birth Year of Soldiers
  • Prospective Ancestor
  • Confirmed Ancestor

For each conflict, I entered the names of the ancestors who were born during the birth-year window listed in column 2. After I ascertained that one had indeed fought in that war, I entered an X in the Confirmed Ancestor column. What I should have done and will from here forward, is place a dash or an N in the Confirmed Ancestor column to indicate that I’d ruled that ancestor out.

This is a simple way to see at a glance who I might research when I’m looking at military collections at the National Archives, Fold3 or elsewhere. It’s easy to create and I think it’s well worth the time spent.

How They Do It: Paula Stuart-Warren

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This month’s How They Do It entry is from Paula Stuart-Warren, certified genealogist and well-known genealogy lecturer, instructor and blogger. She is a long-time course coordinator and instructor for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. She has presented courses for Ancestry Academy, Family Tree University, and continues to present seminars all across the U.S. and in Canada.

I had a lovely time interviewing Paula for the What the Pros Know workshop I’m hosting for Family Tree University. I was delighted when she agreed to answer my How They Do It questions!

How They Do It: Paula Stuart-Warren

How They Do It: Paula Stuart-Warren

How long have you been doing genealogy?

I began working on family history a bit in 1977 when my oldest son had one of those magic school assignments that you are supposed to complete in a weekend. I was intrigued when my late father-in-law insisted his mother’s maiden name was Warren and I said that was her married name. Guess what! He was correct. His parents were first cousins, once removed. The biggest impetus was taking community college courses on Minnesota and local history. The professor provided much help for tracing a business owned by my maternal great grandaunts. A few years later I took a beginning genealogy course for adults at a nearby university. It gave me a great foundation. I was hooked.

What’s your favorite thing about being a genealogist?

The investigation and the answers. I can’t stop. I need the answers. Then there
are the people I have met in the state genealogical society and at seminars, institutes, and conferences across the country when I do presentations.

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

Making myself do it continually. I have small families so that part is not difficult. My best decision was to label one box “Dad’s Family” and another “Mom’s Family.” Then I can add new finds to that box and file properly later when I have time. I have less trouble downloading items directly into the appropriate file on my computer! For my research clients, I really do a better job. Why??

What is your favorite technology tool for genealogy?

It’s actually my laptop computer because I can take it everywhere and work from anywhere. It’s truly an extension of my brain.

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

I would do a better job of citing where I found information. I didn’t do a horrible job because I learned well at the beginning, but I am far from perfect.

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

I did that at one time and made my own with more space for citations and remarks. Today I do personal reports, the same way I do for clients.

How do you keep track of clues or ideas for further research?

I have lists in “to do” folders in my computer that are labeled by research repository and then divided by family or type of record. The repository or website set up determines how I structure my lists. I have begun to use Evernote for some.

How do you go about sharing your personal research with cousins or other interested parties?

I am now adding to my bare bones trees on some websites, provide material when they ask, do some personal stuff on my own blog, and I have shared special things at Christmas. I have had them open up a big envelope all at the same time.

What’s the most important thing you do to prepare for a research trip?

Thoroughly scour the websites of convention and visitor bureaus but most importantly do the same for the courthouse, library or archive I will be visiting.

What’s your biggest piece of advice to genealogists in terms of organizing their research?

Set up an appointment to do sorting and filing and KEEP that appointment. Once a week? Once a month?

Paula Stuart-Warren's genealogy space

Paula’s genealogy den

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

I have a small den, but my computer and I are more likely to be found in the living room where there are nice big windows that add great light.

Do you have anything to add?

Bring in a friend, neighbor, aunt, or fellow genealogist and have them give you an outsider’s opinion on your work area. My daughter is great at this.

I love the idea of setting up (and keeping) an appointment with yourself to work on organizing your genealogy research. And, like Paula, my favorite tech tool for genealogy is my laptop. I take it with me wherever I research.

You can read more of Paula’s genealogy wisdom on her blog, Genealogy by Paula. Thank you so much for partcipating, Paula! 

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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.