Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Focusing my efforts in 2014

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My strategy for focusing my genealogy efforts in 2014In December every year, I take some time to set some goals. I set them for my organizing business and for my personal life. This will be the second year I’ve set goals for my genealogy research. (If you want, you can read the goals I set last year.)

In thinking about my genealogy goals for 2014, I realized that I really want to be more focused and organized in going about my research. I still struggle with not knowing what to work on in any given session. And that lack of focus makes it hard for me to actually get started.

I just hit upon an idea that I think I’ll try. I’m going to assign a family line to each quarter of the year. In this structure (which I just thought of, so it’s still evolving in my head), I won’t be limited to working on that line necessarily, but if I don’t have something else specific I want to do, I will work on the family line assigned to that quarter.

I’ve decided that the schedule will be as follows:

  • 1st quarter: Adams (my father’s father’s line)
  • 2nd quarter: Brown (my mother’s father’s line)
  • 3rd quarter: Rasco (my father’s mother’s line)
  • 4th quarter: Jeffries (my mother’s mother’s line)

At the start of each quarter, I’ll take stock of where my research lies. I’ll use my progress tracker to see what census, vital and military records I’ve already located.

During each quarter, I’ll try to do the following for each of the lines:

  • Fill in the gaps on my progress tracker
  • Make sure my surname files for that line are organized on my hard drive
  • Ensure that everything in my paper files for that line is also organized on my hard drive
  • Fill in collateral relatives on my family tree in Reunion
  • Search for sources for unsourced data provided to me by cousins
  • Go up at least one generation in verified information
  • Attach photos to my family tree in Reunion

What I like about this idea is that it should keep me more focused. And help me feel less overwhelmed. It should get me past the “what should I work on today?” question that can be such a barrier. And, perhaps best of all, it gives me some specific goals and a deadline–the end of the quarter. (I love a deadline!)

Label old photos while you can

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A great example of how not to label a photo!

A great example of how not to label a photo!

I’m visiting my parents in Walla Walla, Washington, and today my mother and I went through (for the second or third time) a big box of photos that she inherited after her mother passed away. Most of the photos are from here father’s family, the Browns. Thanks to my getting to know some of the Brown cousins earlier this year, the names made more sense than they had in the past.

But oh how I wish more of the photos had been labeled. And that those that were labeled had better labels! (The photo with this post is of the back of one of the photos we looked at today.) And, of course, my other big wish is that I’d taken the time a decade or more ago, when my mother’s memory was stronger, to go through them with her.

If all the photos had been labeled with the first and last names of those pictured and the date the photo was taken, my time going through them with my mother would have been more of a trip down memory lane for her, rather than a series of head scratchers. But we did make some progress and we had a very nice time.

My mother has given me permission to take the photos home with me. I intend to do more detective work and scan the photos that I can identify and attach them to my family tree. (Yet another reason to buy the scanner I’m coveting!) I’ll be attending the Brown family reunion in June and my intention is to bring those photos with me and ask for help in identifying some of the unlabeled photos. And, of course, I’ll be happy to share photos.

Once I get home from my trip and start dealing with these photos, I’ll do more research on what to do with the originals, as well as how to electronically tag and file the photos for ease of access in sharing. (And I’ll share here.)

I have many steps ahead of me. But one thing I know is that while I’m grateful that generations before me hung on to these photos, I wish they’d taken the time to give them good labels!

My genealogy gratitude list

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The grave marker for my great great great grandparents

The grave marker for my great great great grandparents

It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., my favorite holiday. I love it because it’s an occasion where family and friends gather to eat good food and express thanks for all they are grateful for.

It seems appropriate therefore, for me to make a list of the genealogy-related things that I’m grateful for. (I published a more general gratitude list today on my organizing business’s blog.)

This year, I am grateful for:

  • The ease of online genealogy research. The instant gratification of finding a record via ancestry.com or Fold3 or elsewhere is such a rush.
  • The thrill of in-person research. I was delighted to find three generations of Jeffries buried in a single cemetery in western Missouri this year. I also visited my the graves of my great grandmother and great grandfather Brown (a different side of my mother’s family) on the same visit. Seeing the actual gravestones (rather than pictures of them online) was unbeatable.
  • Getting the chance to learn about preservation of family papers. I’m devouring the great information provided by Sally Jacobs, The Practical Archivist.
  • The prospect of going to my first large genealogy conference. Can’t wait for RootsTech 2014 in February!
  • The family members that I have met thanks to this blog. I am so grateful that it has connected me with my mother’s cousins. I can’t wait for the Brown Family Reunion in June!
  • This blog’s readers and commenters. I so appreciate the support this blog has received this year!

How about you? I hope you have much to be thankful for (genealogy-wise or otherwise) this year!

Direct vs collateral lines

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Keeping track of ancestors' siblings can provide valuable genealogy clues.

My grandfather, Crawford Brown, with his parents and siblings, 1916

So far in my family history research, I’ve focused on direct lines. Except for my own brothers, every person entered into my genealogy software (I use Reunion) is someone I’m directly descended from. I think one of the reasons for that is to try to make genealogy research less overwhelming. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how useful it would be to record brothers and sisters of direct ancestors (i.e. collateral lines). They can give valuable clues and help verify that a person being reached is the right person.

I worry a little about where I should draw the line–if I record the children of the siblings of my direct ancestors, will my family tree feel bloated? Will I feel more overwhelmed?

This came to a head this week when I learned that my grandfather’s only surviving sibling, his sister Mary, passed away at the age of 99. I was fortunate to meet Mary for the first time earlier this year. (That’s Mary, on her father’s lap at the age of four in the photo. My grandfather, Crawford, is standing at his father’s left shoulder.) She was delightful, with sparkling eyes and an easy laugh. I’m saddened by her passing.

Somehow it feels wrong that Mary’s not included in my family tree entries. I’ve decided to record siblings of my direct line as I come across them. My mother’s cousins Jerry and Judy Brown (Aunt Mary’s nephew and niece) have done a lot of genealogy research–including oral history with Mary–so adding that part of the family will be easy. I don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to research collateral lines (though who knows?), but I intend to verify and record information as I encounter it.

It seems clear to me that I shouldn’t be afraid of having too much information, as long as I apply the same standards of accuracy to my collateral lines as I do my direct lines. I don’t mind recording information–in fact, I rather enjoy it. So I’m comfortable with my decision to start including collateral lines. I’ll try not to let it overwhelm me!

For more in-depth information on how I organize my own genealogy, including my collateral lines, check out  How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow, a 37-page downloadable pdf published in 2021 and available for $19.99.