Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

My genealogy staycation!

By Leave a Comment

This morning I looked at my calendar and realized that, at this moment in time, I have a free week in a couple of weeks. That is, I have no organizing appointments scheduled for the week of June 20 (well, a tentative one on Friday the 24th). Thankfully, I’ve been in business long enough to see that as the blessing it is, rather than freaking out that my business is failing (which it certainly isn’t).

A few years, I wrote a post here about my dream genealogy staycation. I fantasized about what I’d do if I had a week to devote to genealogy research. When I looked at that gloriously empty week on my calendar this morning, I realized that I could make that dream a reality! So I’m going to block out the week and start making plans about how I’ll spend it. Lucky for me, that blog post is a great starting point.

I’m getting another amazing opportunity when I go on the NGS research trip to the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in August. I think my staycation will be a great precursor to that. The work I do this month should help make that trip even more productive.

How about you? Have you ever taken a chunk of time off to work on your genealogy? Did it meet your expectations? And do you have any suggestions for me?

Are you watching Roots?

By Leave a Comment

Are you watching Roots?

Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte

In 1977, when the history-making miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley (which was based on his genealogy research), first aired I was in junior high. And I was glued to my television all eight nights. I remember being awed and moved by the production. I even made a scrapbook of it, containing clippings from TV Guide.

So when I learned that A&E was making a new version of Roots and that it would air four nights in a row starting on Memorial Day, I cleared my calendar. I watched last night and was riveted. The production is lush. The acting is terrific. And the story of this country’s history of slavery told through the eyes of many generations of one family, is so moving and important.

It made me want to know more about the lives (not just the names and dates) of more of my ancestors. And isn’t that what genealogy is about?

I don’t have cable TV; I cut the cord five years ago. Roots is airing on the cable network the History Channel and is also being shown on sister networks Lifetime and A&E. I didn’t want to have to wait for it to be streamed Netflix or Hulu or some other streaming channel where I watch most of my TV. So I signed up for a 7-day free trial of Sling TV. It allows you to watch live presentations of dozens cable TV networks, including History. It also allows for some on-demand viewing. The cost for Sling after the free trial is $20 a month. I’ll be weighing whether I will keep it, but for this week I am so grateful to have access to Roots.

Roots can be uncomfortable to watch at times. There were moments in last night’s broadcast where I had to close my eyes. And even one moment where I had to squeeze my eyes shut while covering my ears and humming. But I think it’s important viewing and I hope that the generations after me who missed out on the 1977 broadcast (or who tried to watch it later and found its production values outdated) will watch.

If you missed it last night, you’re not too late to start. The first episode is being re-aired tonight at 5:45 pm central time, right before the broadcast of the second episode. And it’s also available to watch on the History Channel’s website right now.

Genealogy is about the history of our family’s. Alex Haley’s family’s story (even though it was fictionalized) encompasses part of our country’s history that I’m not proud of. But it’s important to remember and acknowledge it. I encourage you to watch.

Identifying military ancestors

By 3 Comments

identifying military ancestorsWhenever I read about a records collection for a certain conflict (which seems to happen around military-related holidays, like 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 well worth the time spent.

Letting go of should

By 14 Comments

shouldgraphicIt’s natural to ask about questions about organizing (your genealogy or anything else) that start with the word “should.” Should I organize my documents this way or that way? Should I store things here or there? Should I focus on this or that?

When I try to answer a question that starts with should, the answer is almost always, “It depends.” Because it’s all about what will work for you.

I encourage my clients (and anyone else who will listen to me) to let go of the word should. And to also let go of asking questions that start with, “What’s the right way to…” or What’s the best way to….”

Because here’s the thing: I can’t tell you what you should do. Only you know what’s right for you. It can be much more beneficial to think in terms of what you’d like to do, or what you think will work best for you, rather than what you should do. Especially when it comes to organizing your genealogy research, the thing you should do (in my opinion) is the thing that works well for you and that you can keep up.

For example:

  • Maybe you’ve always heard that you should store your paper documents in binders, but you have trouble keeping up with that. Let go of that should and consider using file folders or scanning your documents.
  • Maybe you think you should print every document for the sake of posterity but you’re overrun with unfiled paper. You can let go of that should, particularly if your electronic documents are already organized.
  • Conversely, maybe you’ve heard you should scan every bit of paper and store files electronically, but you’re overwhelmed by the prospect. Bye bye, should. You can let your paper files be sufficient. Or just start storing new files electronically and leaving your papers unscanned.
  • Maybe you’re told you should keep a research log, but you just can’t get yourself to do it. A research log can be hugely beneficial. But don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have one just because you think you should.

In other words, set yourself up for success and do what works for you. Decide what your priorities are (accessibility for you, accessibility for others, ease of use, etc.) and focus your organizing systems on those priorities. Don’t do something just because someone told you you should if it doesn’t seem like it will work for you.

All that said, there are some genealogy shoulds that I think you should pay attention to:

  • You should cite your sources so you can find them again and know where your facts came from (but you don’t have to cite them perfectly if that’s getting in the way of citing them at all).
  • You should back up your electronic data in case of a crash. (I use an external hard drive and automated cloud storage.)

Genealogy is supposed to be fun. Don’t let the shoulds drag you down. Make your own choices and own them. And keep yourself open to new ways of doing things. (See what I did there? I told you all sorts of things I think you should do, without using that word. Take what works for you and let go of the rest.)