Organize Your Family History

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Quick Tip #29: Pick a line for focus

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Here’s the next in my occasional series of bite-size Quick Tips. Click on the Quick Tips tag for my other Quick Tips. Because I tend to write longer posts, I wanted to provide a quick-to-read (and quick-to-write) post every couple of weeks on a small topic that pops into my head. This one  helped me gain focus in my research.

Pick a line to research

Choosing what to work on in a given research session can feel overwhelming. It used to be my number one genealogy challenge. Then, in 2014, I decided to focus on one of my family lines per quarter. I assigned each of my grandparent’s ancestors a calendar quarter and switched every three months. This kept me from jumping all over the place but still gave me some latitude so I didn’t feel too hemmed in. (I blogged about it at the time and discussed the pros and cons of the strategy.)

If you find yourself darting all over your tree, this technique might give you some much-needed focus.

Photo by Sam Dan Truong on Unsplash

How They Do It: Gena Philibert-Ortega

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Here’s my latest How They Do It interview, this one with author, researcher and instructor Gena Philibert-Ortega, whose focus is genealogy, social and women’s history. She holds a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Psychology and Women’s Studies) and a Master’s degree in Religion. Her published works include two books, numerous articles published in magazines and online, as well as five editions of the Tracing Your Ancestors series from Morsehead Publishing. Gena has presented to diverse groups worldwide including the Legacy Family Tree Webinar series. Her current research includes women’s repatriation and citizenship in the 20th century, foodways and community in fundraising cookbooks, and women’s material culture. I love her focus on women, as well as the confluence of genealogy and food in Gena’s work. Enjoy!

Photo of Gena Philibert-OrtegaHow They Do It: Gena Philibert-Ortega

How long have you been doing genealogy?

Professionally for a little over 20 years. But I’ve been in love with family history since I was a child. My maternal grandmother was family historian and she told me stories of our family and it intrigued me. I’ve always loved mysteries.

What’s your favorite thing about being a genealogist?

Research. I love research. My favorite place to be is a library, archive, or museums. I like asking questions and finding the answers in records.

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

Since I have been doing genealogy since pre-Internet days I have a lot of paper and then I have all the computer files. Plus, I have the genealogy paper collections of several relatives that I have inherited. So organizing all that is a challenge.

What is your favorite technology tool for genealogy?

My iPhone. It’s the one must-have tool I use whenever I research. It’s always with me and it can do the work of several stand-along tools (camera, scanner, paper and pencil). I use it to take notes, email, search online catalogs, refer to my online family tree, and take photos of books and documents.

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

I know most genealogists answer that they wish they would have kept better source citations. I can relate to that but I really wish I would have done a better job writing up narratives and research logs. I entered information into my genealogical program but I didn’t do a great job of noting what I knew, what I didn’t find, and what my next steps needed to be. I find that older research today and really wish I hadn’t assumed I would remember everything. Isn’t that the biggest lie we tell ourselves? I’ll remember!

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

YES! It’s vital. I usually keep it as a simple Microsoft Word Table that I customize according to the project. If it’s a larger project involving various people (related or not) I use a spreadsheet.

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

I try to use the Research Log or I’ll note it in my genealogy software program.

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

This is something I’ve been concerned about since I realize I won’t always be around. I’ve been working on making sure everything is online, via an online tree. I also email family with images and pedigree charts/Family Group Sheets. In the past I’ve burned CDs with images and information and have compiled small booklets with images, pedigree charts and short narratives and then gave one to everyone. I did this for a relative’s 50th wedding anniversary. I’m a firm believer that the more people who have a copy of something the better. We never know what can happen to us, our homes, or our “stuff.”

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

Study the online catalog first. I always go through the catalog and make a list of what I want to look at. I prioritize that list so that the items that I can’t live without have a #1 next to it or the day of the week I want to look at it. I always assume that the unexpected will happen such as getting sick, the repository suddenly closing, or the item you want is lost. I try to build in a day that I haven’t planned anything so that I can use it to chase leads I found on the other days or change course and do something I wasn’t planning.

You waste a lot of time and money by not going through the repository’s online catalog first. You never want to go to a library or archive and find out that that must-have record was digitized and available online since last year.

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

Organize it so someone else can understand it. One day my oldest son said something to me that I am always thinking about. “How am I going to know what’s important?” No one wants to inherit a pile of “stuff.” People do want to inherit what’s meaningful. My son had a good point. I have other people’s genealogy, items I’ve purchased at antique stores, and copies of documents I’ve made for articles. It’s not all important and it’s not all about our family. I need to not only organize what I have but do it in a way that he can effortlessly see what is vital to keep and why.

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

I do! (Thank goodness). I have my own office (basically a small bedroom in our home) with my desk, bookshelves, and a filing cabinet (remember I have a lot of paper from decades ago). I also have a more comfortable chair for reading.

Do you have anything to add?

Let’s face it. For most of us, organizing isn’t what gets us excited about genealogy. We like the research, the hunt, the discoveries. BUT without the organization we end up with a pile of papers that no one will look at after we are gone. Organizing is crucial and it’s a great idea to turn to those who are good at it (Janine 😊) to get ideas that work for us. Everyone’s different and you need to choose a system that works for you. Otherwise, you won’t stick with it.

So many wonderful nuggets in this interview! Thank you so much, Gena. I really loved the wise words on the value of organizing our research so that others can understand it and value it when we’re gone. To learn more about Gena, check out her blogs, Gena’s Genealogy and Food.Family.Ephemera, and the articles she writes for the GenealogyBank blog.

At Thanksgiving, we can create history for our descendants

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I originally wrote this post five years ago, and I like repeating it on Thanksgiving where we might once again be getting together for a meal with our loved ones. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

This Thanksgiving week, I’ve been thinking about how the ordinary lives of my ancestors are endlessly fascinating to me. As I slowly plow through my great great grandfather’s Civil War pension file, I get very excited when I come to a form he filled out 125 years ago that has a little extra information in it (like the names and birth dates of his children). Any peek into what his life was like is a special treat.

It got me thinking about how mundane aspects of our lives today might be really interesting 100 years from now to the people below us on the family tree.

Of course, we fill out fewer paper forms now. And genealogy will probably look very different in the twenty-second century. But I think photos and records will always be valuable.

This year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving (or really just go about our lives), we have the opportunity to create history for our descendants. We can be mindful of our legacy as we’re taking pictures. We can take care to label them (or add metadata to digital photos) so future generations know who the people in the photos are. We can do oral history interviews and carefully preserve them with labels for future generations.

If you have older relatives around your Thanksgiving table, I urge you to ask questions and preserve those conversations for generations to come (as well as for your own genealogy research). I sure wish I had. Wouldn’t it be great to put your hands on a recorded interview with one of your ancestors? You could be the person making that possible for your descendants.

Thanks to smartphone technology, it’s so easy for us to record conversations and take videos. Let’s do that while we can and mindfully tag and back up those recordings. (And hope that the medium will still be readable decades from now.)

As much as I urge my organizing clients to part with paper or other items that don’t serve any purpose any longer, I do sometimes encourage them to hang on to documents or photographs that might be of interest to their descendants. I encourage you to be mindful of that and store those items that so that they might be passed on to family-history-minded descendants when you pass.

Remember: Every day we have the opportunity to create history.

Photo by Robert and Pat Rogers via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

How They Do It: Julie Miller

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I am so excited to bring you another interview in my How They Do It Series. Julie Miller is a Certified Genealogist and a Certified Genealogical Speaker and a fellow of the National Geneaological Society. Julie is a full-time professional researcher, speaker, and writer who lives in Colorado. Those of us who enjoy attending NGS Family History Conferences have a lot to thank Julie for. She was the conference chair of the 2010 and 2012 NGS Family History Conferences, was Chair of the NGS Conference Committee from 2012–2018, and is currently a member of the committee. I was so happy when she agreed to do a How They Do It interview!

How They Do It: Julie Miller

How long have you been doing genealogy?

Forty-five years. I was in college and was inspired by the book Roots by Alex Haley.

What’s your favorite thing about being a genealogist?

It makes me feel connected to family I never knew personally. 
Also, I love that there’s always something new to learn.

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

Slowing down and taking my time. Things get missed when I don’t.
 For example, it’s a challenge to make myself process a document before going on to the next document. I want to keep researching and find all that I can. When I do that, I not only wind up with a mess that takes a lot of time to sort out but I also overlook information that makes it necessary to redo the research. This happens when I’m working on the computer at home and it’s especially hard when I’m researching in a library or repository.

What is your favorite technology tool for genealogy?


Evernote. I’ve always been a pretty organized person so I look for things that will improve my organizing methods, but only if it will save time allowing me more time for research. 
I’ve been using Evernote for ten years now and it has changed how I research, create a lecture, write an article, etc. Evernote for me is a temporary place for information, I don’t store all of my genealogy there. I use it as I used to use notebooks, except Evernote stores everything in one place and I take it with me everywhere.

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


So many things but to name just a few:

  • I would cite all my sources. Not just those I was sure about but those sources or clues that I used to get to where I wanted to go.
  • I would take one question at a time and try to find the answer. I tried to do too much all at once and the result was a lot of partially finished research.
  • 
I would take a beginning genealogy class instead of teaching myself.
  • 
I would join a genealogy society to learn from others and to connect to others with an interest in genealogy. Genealogy can be a lonely and isolating interest even before the internet but it can be more so now.

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


Yes. I have a combination research log and plan that is in Evernote. I have the template that I copy when starting a new project.

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

I have a future research and notes columns in my research plan. 
I also use Evernote to save ideas.

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


Private web site that is just for family. I have a skeleton tree on some DNA websites. Other inquiries are handled on an individual basis.

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

Hands down, a research plan(s). I always take more plans than what I think I can get done. There are times when the information just isn’t there or a problem is solved faster than expected. If you don’t have more to do, precious time is wasted.

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


Be consistent. No matter how you choose to organize (and it will be different for each person), write down how you want to organize and consistently stick to your choices. I recommend creating a personal style guide to record the choices selected.

Also, it is so important to research and evaluate different organizing methods before starting. Then you can decide on what’s right for you. Don’t listen to what other people think are the best methods. Their situation and thinking process are not exactly the same as yours and so what’s the best system for them will not necessarily be the best for you.

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

Yes, it is my office. I have an L shaped desk, a standing desk that is height-adjustable, a desktop with dual monitors, printer, scanner, and bookcases.

Do you have anything to add?

If we want our genealogy to stand the test of time and be handed down to the next generation, we have to have it organized. Too much work has been tossed in the trash because descendants don’t have the time or the inclination to organize the research that they have been given.

Amen, sister! So much of what Julie had to say resonated with me; I found myself nodding along as I read her answers. I’ve admired Julie since I heard her speak at the NGS conference in St. Charles, Missouri, back in 2015. Her talk on Civil War Pension Files set me off on a wonderful journey with these records. (She even helped me when I was trying to get my source citation right!) For more information about Julie and her services, check out her website JPM Research. Thank you so much, Julie, for sharing such great advice and for giving us a peek at your spacious, organized research space. (I’m green with envy.)