Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Now’s a good time to declutter your research desk!

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I originally published this post in 2015 (and republished it at the end of 2016), and today I thought it might offer helpful information during this stay-at-home time. A lot of folks (including me) are taking the time to do some decluttering and organizing these days. Perhaps it’s because we’re surrounded by our stuff 24/7! As a professional organizer, I know a lot about tackling a messy desk (any kind of desk), so I share my expertise here, in case you’re up for some step-by-step instructions.

If you can’t remember the last time you saw your desktop in your genealogy research space, perhaps it’s time to experience the joy of a clean desk. I know that time to do genealogy research is limited for most people and the last way  you want to spend your precious genealogy time is on cleaning up your desk. But it’s worth it. When you sit down at a clear desk, your mind is more clear and you can be more focused on your research.

But there’s good news: It doesn’t have to be hard or time consuming. Here’s a step-by-step suggestion for creating some order on your desk, swiftly.

  1. Set your timer for 25 minutes.*
  2. Clear everything off your desk (and I mean everything except, perhaps, your computer). Put like things together into rough categories as you go. (For example, put papers together in a pile on the floor near your desk; put office supplies together, etc.) It might helpful to have some bankers’ boxes or plastic totes handy to hold the categories, but the floor will do too.
  3. Put away the items that already have homes. For example, put binders and books where they belong. If something belongs in another room, put it in a box or bin that you’ve marked “Relocate to another room” so you don’t wander away from the room you’re working on. At the end of the session, you can put all that stuff away.
  4. Go through the non-paper items and put back on the desk those things that deserve to take up such prime real estate. Only those things you use every research session should be placed within arms’ reach when you’re sitting at your desk (with the possible exception of items that give you great pleasure to look at). Relocate or discard the other non-paper items that were on the desk.
  5. Take all those papers and put them in a box of some sort. Mark that box “Backlog.” (I use a box similar to this one from IKEA for that purpose and I place that box on a shelf.)
  6. Every time you’re at your desk, set a timer for ten minutes and go through the papers in the backlog, discarding, scanning and/or filing as required. Do this ten minutes a day for as long as it takes to eliminate the backlog. (You might be surprised how few of these short sessions it takes.)
  7. Don’t add to the backlog box. Instead, at the end of each research session take the time (probably less than five minutes) to clear off your desk and put everything away. That way, you’ll start each session fresh.

* When your timer goes off, stop what you’re doing and take a five-minute break. Then set it for another 25 minutes and get back to work, unless you’re done.

I trust my tree. Do you?

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When I first dipped my toe into genealogy research around 20 years ago, I went online and found Family Search and Ancestry. I subscribed to Ancestry, printed out some five-generation pedigree charts and started writing down what I found, by hand. I collected names and dates and quickly went back many generations. I still remember what a thrill it was.

I made many mistakes back then. The biggest was probably that I didn’t write down a single source. The second biggest was that I didn’t apply a critical eye to anything. I didn’t check any sources, let alone create source citations. I just wrote down the information as I found it.

Of course, before long I started finding information that contradicted what I’d written in my pedigree charts. And, because I lacked sources, I couldn’t verify anything. I came to the realization that I couldn’t trust my tree. And that’s when I became overwhelmed and threw in the towel.

Fast forward to 2011 when I decided to try again. This time I realized that my handwritten pedigree charts were useful only as clues. I downloaded some genealogy software (I chose Reunion) and started with myself as the base of my tree. And I slowly started to grow my tree. I made two vows to myself:

  1. No person would be added to the tree unless I had a strong evidence they belonged there.
  2. Only facts supported by sources would be added to the tree.

As a result, my research is much slower paced than it was back in that first attempt. And it’s also much more satisfying. I love that everything on my tree is based on a source. And if I do find contradictory information I can easily compare the sources and come up with a conclusion.

For me, being able to trust my research, as it’s displayed on my tree, is everything. Do you trust your tree? Or do you have some weak branches?

If you can’t trust your tree or you don’t know if it’s trustworthy, you can do a couple of things to try to remedy that.

  • You could do a genealogy do-over. Thomas MacEntee over at Abundant Genealogy started a popular Genealogy Do Over program a few years back. He outlines his 12 steps for a Genealogy Do-Over at www.genealogydoover.com. He also offers a workbook for a do-over on that site.
  • You could go through your tree and make sure that every fact there is supported by a source. If it isn’t, you have a research question to solve! I would suggest marking the unsourced “facts” somehow so that it’s easy for you to add sources (and then remove the mark). Be sure and keep track of the facts you need to verify.
  • You could check all your sources to make sure they’re cited sufficiently and that you’ve picked all the meat off the bones. I started doing systematically going through my source documents that in 2016 (but stalled out). And then in 2018, I started going back through my source documents to make sure that I had collected all the information I could from each source. That process is ongoing.

I went from having a wildly inaccurate family tree to one that I feel confident about. That’s made all the difference in how I feel about my hobby.

Free access to NGS Monthly archives for a limited time

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Here’s another free resource to explore during any extra time you may have during this pandemic. The National Genealogical Society is providing free access to five years of archives of the NGS Monthly, an online publication usually only available as a benefit to members. Access to the public started yesterday and will continue until July 31. The archive is housed here on the NGS website. It appears that each issue has two articles, so that means there are 120 articles now freely available. NGS encourages you to share this information with family and friends.

Issues are arranged in reverse chronological order, but there is a search bar at the top of the page that will allow you to search the archive. Individual articles are also tagged, so exploring tags of interest is another way to approach reading the archive.

NGS Monthly is currently written and edited by award-winning genealogist Aaron Goodwin and the articles are clear and easy to read. I’m a member of NGS but I have to admit that I haven’t paid close attention to the NGS Monthly. I am grateful to be reminded what a wealth of information is available there!

Exploring ICD codes on death certificates

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Death certificates can provide such great information, which is why I always try to track them down. Often my eye makes a bee-line for the names of the parents of the deceased, but of course there’s much more information to be found. One area, cause of death, is always of interest. Unfortunately, that information seems to often be the most illegible. In the past, if I could make out the words I would add them to my database. But if I couldn’t, I’d just move along.

But I’ve learned that with a little more effort you can decipher the cause of death and learn more about your ancestor. Often, in addition to the written-out words describing cause of death, there’s a ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code as well. If you can’t read the words, you can look up the ICD code to get more information. Just visit the International Classification of Diseases page at Wolfbane.com to track down the meaning of the code.

Let’s use a death certificate from my great grandfather’s brother, Jesse Wiley Rasco (1978-1957), to illustrate this.

Here’s his 1945 death certificate. I’ve put a red border around the ICD codes.

Death certificate for Jesse Wiley Rasco

 

As you can see, the ICD code for the primary cause of death is 94a. And the ICD code for the secondary cause of death is 83d. I could read the words for the primary cause of death. To me, it looks like Coronary Arteriosclerosis. Ordinarily, I would have stopped there. But the secondary cause of death was hard to decipher and I was curious.

I went to the International Classification of Disease page at Wolfbane.com and clicked on ILCD Revision 5 (1938), which would have been the version in use in 1945, since the next revision came out in 1948. The codes are listed in numerical order, so it was easy for me to find 94a, “diseases of the coronary arteries.” The secondary cause of death, 83d, is “hemiplegia and other paralyses of unstated origin.” Once I read that, I could see the word hemiplegia in the handwriting. It’s hard to make out the word after, but it looks to me like it could be “stroke.” I looked up the word hemiplegia and learned that it means “Paralysis on one side of the body.” [Edited to add: I received a note from reader Dennis Young suggesting that the handwriting says “Rt. side.” That makes complete sense and now seems obvious! The plot thickened a little when I received a note from reader Brad Pierce suggesting that the words say Lt. side, not Rt. side. Brad’s a physician himself so is probably good at deciphering doctor’s handwriting! I can’t tell whether it’s left or right, but I’m so glad to accept the “side” part. Thank you Dennis and Brad!]

Knowing that this 76-year-old farmer was living with paralysis on one side of his body at the time of his death gives me a bigger picture of what his life experience (or least the end of his life) was like.

As you can see, taking time to look up ICD codes when you see them might provide you with more information about your ancestor or might even solve a mystery. Just be sure you’re looking at the pertinent Revision!

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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.