Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Inherited items: From overwhelm to order

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As I mentioned recently, last month I shipped seven boxes of photos and documents that had belonged to my father and aunt, both of whom have moved into care facilities. Actually, one of the boxes contained just a few large items, so it’s really six small-size moving boxes full of small items. They arrived last week and I vowed to not let them linger.

But looking at the unopened boxes, I felt overwhelmed about dealing with all the stuff. I told myself that I would go through a box a day for a week and I’m happy to say that I have been able to do that. I have one box left, which I plan to go through today.

My plan was to take everything out of the large boxes and sort the items so that they feel approachable.

So far I’ve been able to follow the plan! I used Stacy Julian’s How to BEGIN with the BOX approach, which I had used when I was dealing with a box of stuff I brought home from Walla Walla in 2020. That gave me a great framework for storing the sorted items until I can start going through them. Using Step One of Stacy’s methodology (adapted a little for my current needs), I divided the contents of the boxes into these categories:

  • Documents
  • Narratives and correspondence
  • Photos
  • Framed photos
  • Albums

I put the albums and framed photos in a bin to go through later. (But I did enjoy looking at them while I was emptying the boxes.) Once I get through the last box, I’ll turn my attention to the documents, as well as narratives and correspondence. I’ll employ Stacy’s Step Two, in which I’ll select 10 items at a time–the ones that interest me most–and scan them, then process them as I would anything I found online. After the first ten are finished, I’ll go back to the documents and select ten more and so on.

The photos will be a little trickier for me, but my plan is to scan them, share them with relatives and keep the originals stored in an archival box or boxes. I’ll do the same, in turn, with the framed photos and albums.

Incidentally, the unruly bunch in the photo at the top of this post is my father and aunt, with their parents, grandparents aunts and uncles. I’m not sure who all the kids are (yet). I had never seen that photo before this week and now, thanks to this project, I’m able to recognize my great grandparents, William Reese Rasco (1878-1957) and Luella Watts Rasco (187-1953), in photos. That makes me really happy.

Having a methodology to deal with the contents of these boxes is giving me huge peace of mind. (Thank you, Stacy Julian!) Having places to put the sorted items after I go through each big box has been hugely helpful in keeping me from feeling overwhelmed. I’m excited to go through the final box so I can started processing documents. I found a number of death certificates, birth certificates, diplomas, passports and newspaper articles that I know I’ll enjoy going through.

This has been a great focus for this month’s 30 x 30 challenge!

Follow-up notebooks to the rescue!

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I’ve been using follow-up notebooks in Evernote for years to keep track of clues that I come across so that I don’t get distracted from my current research question. I have follow-up notebooks by Surname in my Evernote Genealogy stack. I also have a notebooks called Library Look Ups, where I paste links to FamilySearch documents that must be accessed from the Family History Library or one of its affiliates.

Two days ago, I met up with my genealogy buddy, Vickie, at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters’ Genealogy and History Library. The headquarters is closing tomorrow for more than year for renovation. While some of the genealogy collection is moving to another branch starting July 5, the resources won’t be as abundant.

Vickie and I thought it would be a good idea to pay one last visit while we could. We scheduled it a few weeks ago, before my trip to Walla Walla. Because of family and work obligations, I just haven’t had time to do genealogy research or even prepare as I normally would for this library trip.

So I just showed up with my computer at the library, with no plan or research question. But, thanks to my follow-up and library look-up notebooks in Evernote, I actually had a productive time! I first looked up everything in the library look-up notebook and then turned my attention to the follow-up notebooks by surname. That kept me busy the whole time I was there. And it got me away from the “what should I work on?” question that sometimes bedevils me.

I heartily recommend having a spot to record look-ups and follow-ups so you easily start researching when the opportunity arises.

How They Do It: Diana Elder

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Today’s entry in my How They Do It series in an interview with Diana Elder of Family Locket. I’ve admired her talks and her contribuitions to the genealogy community through the years and I was delighted when she agree to do this interview. Diana Elder AGⓇ is a professional genealogist accredited in the Gulf South region of the United States. Diana authored Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist’s Guide and co-authored the companion volume, Research Like a Pro with DNA: A Genealogist’s Guide to Finding and Confirming Ancestors with DNA Evidence. Diana and her daughter, Nicole Dyer, are the hosts of the Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast and share research tips on their website, FamilyLocket.com.

How They Do It: Diana Elder

How long have you been doing genealogy research? 

I started researching my family in earnest in 2003 when my dad gave me all of his research in a suitcase. In 2015 I started doing client work and found I loved researching in a variety of locations.

What’s your favorite thing about being a genealogist?

I love making discoveries  – especially solving brick wall cases.

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

Right now my biggest challenge involves the three large file boxes of documentary work I inherited from my father and added to once I took over the research in 2003. I’m slowly working through the files and making sure the research is digitized and organized in my digital files.

What is your favorite technology tool for genealogy?

Hands down, my favorite tech tool is my Airtable research log. I use it for all my research whether it involves DNA or not.

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

I would follow my Research Like a Pro process – doing a project for each ancestral line and ending up with a source-cited report for each ancestral couple.

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

Absolutely! I don’t feel that I’m doing real research unless I am working from my research plan and tracking the results in my Airtable research log.

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

The Airtable research log template has a column/field for comments or results. I add notes here or sometimes add another column for ideas for further research. My research report always includes a section titled “Future Research Suggestions.” I’ve found that no project is ever finished – there is always more that can be done. (That’s a screen shot of Diana’s Airtable DNA Research log at right. Click on it to see a larger image.)

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

I write up my research in a fully cited report that I upload to an ancestor’s profile on FamilySearch. I can also easily share the report with other researchers.

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

I prepare a research plan based on my objective, the available sources, and what I hope to discover.

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

Research by objective. Focus on something specific that you’d like to discover such as death date and place, unknown father, etc.

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

Yes, I have an office with my desktop computer, two monitors, shelves for my many books, and a filing cabinet.

Thank you, Diana! If you’d like to explore more of Diana’s advice on researching like a pro, be sure to check out the Family Locket website and blog. She and her daughter Nicole have such clear and complete advice on many genealogy topics. (If you favor videos, be sure to check out their YouTube channel.) Diana’s enthusiasm for Airtable has me wanting to check it out! If you’re intrigued as well, check out this Family Locket YouTube video on using Airtable for creating a research log for FAN Club genealogy research.

Video: Creating a Digital Workflow

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On March 30, I did a one-hour Facebook live presentation called Creating a Digital Workflow for MyHeritage. If you’re interested, the video is available on MyHeritage’s Facebook page. Here’s the link.

In the presentation, I talked about the benefits of having a digital workflow and went into some detail about my own digital workflow. As always, I repeated the caveat that this system works really well for me, but it’s not the only way to do it. But if you’re curious, please check out the Facebook Live video!

By the way, MyHeritage has published the entire 1950 census and they’re indexing like crazy, releasing states as they’re finished. As of this writing on Friday morning, April 8 (according to their Facebook page), they have completed Wyoming, Delaware, Vermont and American Samoa.