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!

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.

Happy blogiversary to me!

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happyblogiversarylgA year ago today, I posted my first blog post on Organize Your Family History. This feels like a great milestone.

I’m so grateful for the blog, because it’s helped motivate me to give family history research a higher priority in my life. I love thinking of and writing the posts. I love sharing my discoveries. But let me tell you the greatest thing that’s happened as a result of this blog: I’ve been in touch with family members I never (or barely) new before. My mother’s cousin, Jerry Brown, who’s been researching the family for years and years, found the blog and reached out. Then he sent my contact info to email list of cousins and many lovely conversations have ensued.

I even met some of my Missouri cousins earlier this year, thanks to Jerry’s reaching out to me. He’s also shared some great genealogical information.

I’ve added one organizing package  related to family history, my Heirloom Explorer package, to my organizing business and I hope this summer (if life calms down enough for me to do it) to add some pages to Organize Your Family History that will outline some services offerings related to organizing your genealogy life.

As far as the blog goes, here are a few stats (via WordPress) about what’s transpired here in the last year:

  • I’ve written 79 posts
  • There have been a total of 6,424 views
  • I’ve received 106 comments (which doubtless counts my replies to comments)
  • 82 people subscribe to the blog

My goal is to blog at least once a week, preferably twice a week. I appreciate your pageviews and your comments. If there are any topics you’d like to see me cover, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

Here’s to a great Year Two!