Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Solved! The mystery of my grandfather’s birthplace

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daveadamsbirthannouncementI’ve been frustrated by a little mystery surrounding the birth of my grandfather, David Adams. I knew from the Social Security Death Index that he was born on November 12, 1904. According to census records, he was born in Oregon. In the 1900 census, the family was living in Sacramento, Kentucky. In the 1910 census they were Quinault, Washington, where my great grandfather, Elmer Adams, worked as a farmer.

I visited my parents earlier this month and I asked my father why the family moved from Kentucky to Washington. He said it was never discussed, so he had no idea. When I told him that the census records indicated that his father had been born in Oregon, he was surprised. He had never known the family to live in Oregon. We guessed that perhaps they traveled to the big city of Portland for the birth. That gave me an idea: Why not search for a birth announcement in the Portland newspaper?

Today, I finally had a chance to do that. Thanks to the State Research Guide for Oregon put out by Family Tree Magazine, I was easily able to find the Historic Oregon Newspapers website. A search on the words “Elmer Adams” within five words of one another, limited to newspapers published in 1904, garnered seven results. Only one of those articles was published after November 12. A click later, I saw it: a birth announcement for a son born to Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Adams on November 12. It appeared in the November 30 edition of the Portland, Oregon, Daily Journal. The two-line announcement also gave a street address. Apparently, they were living in Portland when they first moved west! (My grandfather’s sister, Dora, was born in Kentucky in 1902, so the move west must have taken place  a year or two before my grandfather’s birth.)

Without a place of birth, I’d been unable to request a birth certificate for my grandfather. But now, knowing he was born in Portland, I visited the state archives’ website and was able to order his birth certificate. This should arrive in just a few days.

I’m very excited! It’s been bothering me that I didn’t know where my grandfather was born and I can’t wait to get my hands on his birth certificate.

 

The Organized Genealogist Facebook group

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Yesterday, thanks to an Upfront with NGS post, I learned about a relatively new Facebook group called The Organized Genealogist. It’s a place where genealogists can share information, ideas, and resources on organizing their research. And, boy, do they share! After only a couple of months of existence, there are 2358 members of this closed group. I spent some enjoyable time perusing the group’s posts today and plan to check in regularly.

Since I know you’re interested in organizing and genealogy, I urge you to check it out and request membership. It’s a closed group and membership must be approved, but it’s as simple as clicking the request button.

I think it’s a terrific resource!

Asking the right questions

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I’m in Walla Walla, Washington, visiting my parents. Last winter, I wrote about how excited I was to be able to interview them about family lore. Unfortunately on that visit, they weren’t remembering a whole lot of information. (Though I was able to share some information with them, which was nice.)

This trip, I’ve decided to focus on their own parents. My father’s mother’s family and my mother’s father’s family are pretty well documented. But I realize I know less about my maternal grandmother’s family and my paternal grandfather’s family. So that’s what I’m going to focus on.

This year, I’m going to use my Livescribe pen to record our interviews, which I have high hopes will come in handy down the road.

Last year I was disappointed at the results of my family-history-related conversations with my parents. This year, I’m going to try to come up with specific questions that might spark some helpful memories. Winging it wasn’t a great strategy last time.

As an aside, if your parents are not yet elderly, I encourage you to get as much information from them as you can while their memories are good. How I regret not having these conversations 10 or 20 years ago!

Loving my electronic file system

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wheelerfilefolder

A snippet from my Finder window

Back in January, I blogged about reorganizing my electronic file system. I took inspiration from Ben Sayer of Genealogy Tools, creating a file structure format for each individual, organized into surname folders on my Mac. What I name individual documents within a folder is fairly loose, but the folder naming structure has been standardized.

I’m happy to report that it’s been a success! I can easily find a document I”m looking for and, even better, I’m now saving documents with confidence and alacrity. A nice side benefit of that confidence is that I’m printing fewer documents that I find online. (I blogged about the printing dilemma in January as well.)

I wanted to save money on paper and toner by printing less. What I didn’t take into account, though, is that I also save time by saving documents rather than printing them. It takes a bit more time to type the file name than to click Print, but once I’ve done that, the process is over. I don’t have to file the paper documents. And they’re also easier to retrieve. Since I store my genealogy file cart in a closet in my office, retrieving files took a little effort.

Another benefit is that when I’m feeling industrious, I can link images of source documents from my hard drive directly into the Reunion software I use. Once I get consistent about that, I’ll really be set and it will be so easy for me to see the research I’ve found.

I’m saving more documents and easily using this new naming protocol for folders. The next step will be to work on my backlog. My 2012 files are not consistently filed. But I know if I work on it a little at a time, I ca bring order to my hard drive!

My electronic file system has evolved a great deal since 2013 when I wrote this post. In 2021 I published an Orderly Roots Guide called How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow that provides detailed information on how I organize my own genealogy research, which is now 100 percent digital. It is available for $19.99.