Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

How They Do It: Kitty Cooper

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For this month’s entry in the How They Do It series, I’ve interviewed genealogist, DNA expert, and blogger Kitty Cooper of Kitty Cooper’s Blog: Musings on Genealogy, Genetics and Gardening. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kitty at the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Genealogy Jamboree in 2015. She was speaking on DNA–a topic that I find  challenging to understand–and made me really appreciate the value of genetic genealogy. Since I know she’s a very busy genealogist and blogger I was interested in learning how she organizes her research.

How They Do It: Kitty Cooper

How long have you been doing genealogy?

I have been doing genealogy for 20 years and genetic genealogy for six years but I was always asking for family stories from my relatives from the time I was little.

What’s your favorite part of doing genealogy?

Solving puzzles and learning about the lives of my ancestors. Using DNA to solve mysteries, particularly unknown parentage cases. Blogging about it all. I am constantly surprised by how much I love blogging and how much effort I put into writing and rewriting my posts.

Do you consider your genealogy research well organized?

The electronic part is very well organized, paper less so. Everything is in well labeled folders but the problem is where those folders have wandered to. The scan pile? The current pile? The desk pile? Or the file cabinet drawer it should be in. After reading your blog I decided to reorganize my office in 2015. I am trying to get all the paper documents scanned in and uploaded to my various trees

What type of software do you use for organizing your genealogy research?

I have a folder for every client and for every ancestral line and for the lines within those lines so some of my folders are nested fairly deeply! All of these folders are in dropbox so I can move seamlessly from computer to computer to tablet to smartphone. As I regularly destroy laptops (coffee, water, dropping them, etc) this is very important. I no longer have a desktop computer.

I have Family Tree Maker 2017 but I mainly use it to export gedcoms of specific lines for cousins. I also have Rootsmagic which I like for its synching with familysearch. However my up-to-date tree is online at GENI.com and Wikitree.com (great for its DNA features) as well as somewhat at familysearch.org

I am a heavy user of spreadsheets (OpenCalc) for tracking all my matches, my correspondence, my clients, my time and many other things. I also have found that using a spreadsheet to do a McGuire diagram is really helpful for tough DNA cases or just drawing the picture. I take copies of documents from archives by taking photos with my smartphone. Next I use Adobe Photoshop Elements to improve and crop images as well as to make diagrams for my blogs. I use Google images to archive photos from my phone. I use WordPress for blogging and CMS Made Simple for my family history site. I use slides.com for my presentation slides. I would be lost without the ability to search my email, thank you Google for gmail.

For DNA work, I am a “pro” user of the tools at GEDmatch and DNAgedcom (Gworks). I keep a separate folder system for DNA data which is all in spreadsheets and text file logs. One for every relative I track. Plus my own online mapping tools to make pictures for family and my blog.

There are many other online tools and apps I use, if only I could remember which ones.

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

I keep a research log for each client, each family line, and each DNA tested relative. Plus a log of what to look up in the Norwegian farm books when I am next in Salt Lake City and what to look up in the NYC municipal archives when visiting there. These are just free form text files in Notepad and I note what I find in them as well. I often just take a tablet or smartphone to an archive which can easily update those logs since they are plain text files in dropbox.

Do you have a tree on Ancestry? If so, is it public or private? Why?

Yes I have a public imperfect tree so that ancestry’s cool DNA matching can match me to relatives who also have trees. With only one parent and one grandparent born in the USA (to immigrants), I do not have that many matches, or circles and no NADs.

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

Finding the time to scan in the photos and documents from before I was mainly online. Dealing with the fact that my memory is not as good as it once was so I need to track everything in lists including paper and pencil for my daily to do list.

What’s your biggest piece of advice to beginning genealogists in terms of keeping track of their research?

CLUB: Cite, Log, Understand, Backup. In other words, keep good track of where each piece of information and record is from (cite) as well as what you found or did NOT find on a research trip (log), try to understand that dates and spellings often vary (as do Norwegian surnames), and always back up your work. Best to have off-site transparent backup whether dropbox or something similar. It is also good to contribute your work to one of the collaborative world trees for posterity.

What do you think is the most important thing for people to do to stay organized when it comes to family history research?

Use a system that works for them. Typically start with tools they use(d) in the work place, folders, spreadsheets, and word processors and then figure out what they need in addition. A genealogy program that fits their needs is a good thing to have as well.

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

Note which relative told me what. I did not cite my sources well in the beginning. Scan and upload everything as soon as I got it. Filename should say what it is, for example LJMunsons1940census.jpg or HMLeeWWIdraftCard.jpg, with the person or family name first so that they are listed together in the folder.

Not be so trusting of the random trees online, especially at Ancestry.

Do you keep paper or electronic files (or both)?

Electronic only but I have extensive paper files from the 90s and archive forays before smartphones could take great pictures of documents and book pages. These are slowly getting scanned and added to my folders and online trees

Are you folder or binder person for your paper files?

Folders. Although I do have a binder from my first year of doing genealogy.

Do you use Evernote, One Note or any other electronic organizing system for your genealogy? If so, how do you use it?

No to Evernote. I use spreadsheets extensively via OpenCalc and Google Docs. Plus simple text files and FTM 2017.

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

I have a home office for all my endeavors (I also have a web design business that I am slowly retiring from). It is a full sized room, formerly a bedroom, with a view of my fig tree, good natural light, good closet space, two file cabinets and two bookcases and a sweet dog keeping me company. Plus my wonderful husband has his own office in the next room over, so much better than when we shared an office, but still within shouting distance.

CLUB (Cite, Log, Understand, Backup) is a new acronym to me and I love it! I was fascinated to read all the tech tools that Kitty uses. I must also add Kitty’s disclaimer: “My brother, Shipley Munson, works for familysearch.org – he organizes the yearly RootsTech conferences and my son works for Google.” Those of us who attend RootsTech are very familiar with Shipley–it’s fun to learn that he and Kitty are siblings. What a genealogy-rich family!

How I process a downloaded document

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Last March, I wrote a post called My digital workflow that detailed what I do with a document I find on the Internet. (I never print it.) My digital workflow has not changed since then and it’s working out really well for me.

Last weekend, I did a talk at the St. Louis Genealogy Conference about going paperless and in my Powerpoint I included screenshots of the digital workflow and also a summary slide. The attendees asked for copies of the summary slide, so I decided to post it here.

The process is basically the same as my March post but I switched up the steps a little.

The example I used in my talk was my father’s uncle, Jay Ellis Adams (1914-2004). I had found his obituary online at the newspaper’s website. Here’s the workflow:

1. I click Print and, in the printer dialog box, Open in Preview (my Mac’s default pdf reader), which downloads the document to my computer. (If it had been a document at Ancestry, I would have clicked Save, then Save to My Computer.)

2. I immediately rename the file, using my file-naming protocol, which is Date Type of Document-Ancestor Name-Locality. I stick it into my Surnames folder, as a temporary holding place until I file it in step 6. I know that any unfiled documents in the Surnames folder require processing.

 

3. I select a fact from the document, add it to Reunion and create a source citation for it.

 

4. In Reunion, I click the Preview tab in the source record and then click Copy Source. (For the eagle-eyes among you, I originally found a transcript at Genealogy Bank and used that as the source citation. Then I decided to go to the newspaper’s website and download it from there, so I changed the source citation. But I was too lazy to take a new screenshot.)

5. I paste the source citation into the metadata of the source document (the obituary) by Ctrl-clicking on the file and selecting Get Info from the menu that appears, then pasting into the Comments area.

 

6. Then I file the document into my folder structure. My folder structure for collateral relatives is Genealogy/Surnames/Collateral/[Surname]/[Name of Ancestor (YOB-YOD)]. If the document  applies to multiple people, I duplicate it for each person and then drag it into the appropriate folder for each person. But I don’t take the trouble to rename it.

7. The final step is to drag the document into the Multimedia area of the source record in Reunion. This creates a link to the document so that I can open it up inside Reunion, which is very handy.

 

From there, I continue to extract information from the source document and add that it to Reunion. Every piece of information I glean from a single source document uses the same source number, no matter what person it applies to.

Here’s the summary slide:

This is the way I do and it works well for me. Of course, it’s not the only way to do it or perhaps the best way to do it. But I’m hoping you’ll find it useful to see my workflow. I’ve been processing documents this way for almost a year now and it’s working very well.

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

Keeping track of my progress

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Keeping track of genealogy researchThis year, I’ve been focusing on one family line, the Adams line. I’ve been trying to gather as much information as possible not just on my direct-line ancestors (my focus in past years) but also on the siblings of my direct-line ancestors. It’s fun and fulfilling. But it’s also a bit overwhelming because there are so many people I can’t remember all of them.

I keep track of everything in my family-tree software, Reunion. But I also like having an at-a-glance summary of where I stand in my research on each person. Three years ago, I created a progress chart, which had a series of tabs on a spreadsheet in which I marked the documents I had found on each of my direct-line ancestors. That worked pretty well and gave me an at-a-glance summary I craved.

I find myself wanting a similar chart for all my research subjects, including the collateral lines, and I’m struggling with getting my arms around that. Part of my problem, I think, is that I want to be able to see everything at the same time, which is challenging when your family tree’s branches stretch wide.

Here’s what I’ve settled on. I’m creating a single spreadsheet for all the data I’m looking for for each family group (B/M/D, censuses, newspaper, military, wills, land, etc.). In my previous progress chart, I’d had all my direct-line ancestors listed on each sheet, with a separate sheet for each type of data. In this new chart, I have all my data types across the top, with a row for each member of the family group. I have a separate sheet (a tab) for each family group. I decided to start with my parents in the first sheet and work back in time by generation.

I’ve spent a little time with it and I think it’s going to be really helpful. As I started filling it out, I paid attention to how it made me feel and I had two conflicting feelings:

  • Overwhelm because there are so many people to enter into it and so many data types to research
  • Excitement as I realized how many opportunities for research there are

I think the key to making this useful and not overwhelming is putting one family group on each sheet. That narrows the focus and allows me to see what I have and what I can still research. It also helps me avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Having each family group on a separate sheet makes it easier to fill out the chart initially as well. I ordinarily enjoy filling out forms and updating progress charts. But this one was so large it felt like it might turn into a big exercise in tedium. So if I take it one family group at a time, it feels like fun, not drudgery.

I’ll keep you posted. Once I have it in shape where I think it might be useful to others, I’ll blog again and offer to send it to anyone who might want to use it.

If you have a similar chart and/or have any suggestions for mine, please share in the comments. I’m all ears!

How They Do It: Randy Seaver

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This month’s How They Do It interview is with genealogist and blogger Randy Seaver. I’m willing to bet you’re familiar with Randy Seaver and his popular GeneaMusings blog, which he has been writing more than ten years. GeneaMusings offers so much content and analysis; Randy posts multiple times per day. Randy is a prolific researcher and writer and a true luminary in the genealogy field.

When I read his interview responses I was blown away with the sheer quantity of research he does–he spends eight to ten hours every day on genealogy-related activities! I really enjoyed reading about how organizes his voluminous research.

How They Do It: Randy Seaver

How They Do It: Randy SeaverHow long have you been doing genealogy?

I finally read Roots in 1987, and watched the TV series, and figured “I can do that.” I started in early 1988 using information from my father’s Seaver siblings and my mother’s collection of papers and photographs. My paternal grandmother told her children that we were descended from Peregrine White, the baby born on board the Mayflower in 1620, so proving that became a goal. My Aunt Marion, who had been a schoolteacher, had a Seaver genealogy from a town history book, but I found errors in some of the information. I visited local libraries and the Family History Center, and quickly filled out the “easy” part of my family tree. Then it was on to research trips to New England and ordering microfilms from Salt Lake City to find more and more information about all of my ancestors.

What’s your favorite part of doing genealogy?

It’s twofold for me: THE HUNT – finding more records, and especially new ancestors, or solving a thorny research problem. THE COUSINS – finding new cousins through research and DNA testing.

Do you consider your genealogy research well organized?

I am mentally well organized. The genealogy cave has a desk, a computer, and is full of paper with 50 linear feet of bookcases, file cabinets and stacks. Half of it is genealogy magazines and conference syllabi. The balance is printed books, genealogy periodical articles, family research notebooks, local society stuff, and stacks of folders and papers. I have not spent a lot of time weeding out unnecessary papers in recent years. My descendants may have that task. I fear I’m a pack rat at heart.

The computer digital files are well organized – I have a file naming system, a file folder filing system, and I can find a specific document, or file a new one, in seconds. See My Genealogy Digital File Folder Organization. [See a photo of his digital filing system below.]

What type of software do you use for organizing your genealogy research?

I used Personal Ancestral File from 1988 to about 1995, then Family Tree Maker until 2006, and now I use RootsMagic 7 for all of my data entry. In addition to the data entry, I use the Correspondence feature, the To-Do list feature, and the Research Log feature in RootsMagic. I also have Family Tree Maker 2017 and Legacy Family Tree 9 on my computer and use them occasionally for specific tasks, especially report-writing and charts.

I have entered all of the information about my ancestors from my collected books, periodicals, correspondence and vital record certificates into my RootsMagic family tree database. I have collected digitized books, periodical articles, genealogy and family history records, and much more and entered the text information, image and source citations into my database. I have digitized the paper certificates, family letters, and family photographs and added that information to my database.

A lot of the digitized information finds its way into a blog post – I post a transcribed document on Monday, extract data from documents on Tuesday and Thursday, post family photographs with comments on Wednesday, write an ancestor biography on Friday, and review one of my specific ancestral surnames on Saturday on my blog, www.GeneaMusings.com. All of that comes out of my RootsMagic database.

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

I started out keeping a Research Log on paper – one sheet for every surname. That became time consuming and overwhelming quickly. At present, I use a To-Do List and a Research Log only for a thorny research problem – of which I have many! I update them before I go to the Family History Library or another repository.

Do you have a tree on Ancestry? If so, is it public or private? Why?

I have about 15 trees on Ancestry.com. Some are Public, some are Private. My public DNA tree is limited to the ancestral families of my wife and me. Another public tree is a “cousin bait” tree that has all of my research for my ancestral families and descendants of my key surnames – Seaver, Dill, Buck, Carringer, Auble, Vaux, etc. Now that I can TreeShare my RootsMagic database with an Ancestry Member Tree, I have a public “Record Hint” tree that generates Hints for records as I add new people, and information for old people, to my database. I TreeShare every day now. I have several private trees for past client work, and for “testing” things.

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

In the 21st century, genealogists are inundated with records that apply to their ancestral families – the record providers push Hints and Matches to you to work on. I have fallen behind on dealing with Ancestry Hints for my 48,000 person Ancestry Member Tree – there are over 40,000 Hints now and I will never be able to deal with all of those in my lifetime. I work on them almost every day as I receive them and try to keep up. Sourcing the Hints using EE-quality citations, takes the most time, especially census records.

The pace of discovery has increased significantly. However, those Hints and Matches do not include every record for my ancestral families – I still have to search in online and traditional repositories for records of my families.

What’s your biggest piece of advice to beginning genealogists in terms of keeping track of their research?

It is very important for beginning genealogists to understand the available record groups and repositories, the search and research process including the Genealogical Proof Standard, the art of source citations, and the use of genealogy software programs or online trees. All of this takes time, and beginners often feel overwhelmed.

Experts say that becoming competent in a subject requires 10,000 hours of work and study – that’s 5 years of effort 40 hours a week. So my advice is to set aside time to learn about different record groups, how to search record providers effectively, how to craft source citations, to join and participate in a local society, and to attend workshops, seminars and conferences, etc. It’s a lifelong learning process. Also, always remember that it is not all on the Internet, and it probably never will be.

What do you think is the most important thing for people to do to stay organized when it comes to family history research?

Stay on top of your paper and digital files – find them, obtain them, source them, enter the information into your genealogy program, and file them in your paper and/or digital file system. Try to “touch” each record once, but file it in a place that you can find it so you can review it along with other records in the future.

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

I figured out in about 2006 that I should be crafting a source citation for every assertion in my genealogy software program – names, events, dates, places, relationships, etc. So I would take the time to add source citation information to my software program. I’ve been adding about 1,000 source citations each month to my genealogy program trying to “catch up” while still doing new research on my families.

Do you keep paper or electronic files (or both)?

Randy Seaver's digital filing system

Randy’s digital filing system

As noted above, I have entered almost all (?) of the data in my paper files into my genealogy software program. All new research from online resources is put into my digital file folder system. When I go to a library or other repository, I use digital photographs of records or books and enter them into my digital file system and genealogy software program. I still have almost all of my paper files, but I rarely use them.

Are you a folder or binder person for your paper files?

I have both folders and binders, and the paper files in the bookcases are in binders for a specific surname, or a locality group of surnames. I used DearMYRTLE’s system for binders for a specific family for several of my ancestral families and that worked pretty well. However, I felt that I was wasting my research time putting them together for hundreds of family lines.

Do you use Evernote, One Note or any other electronic organizing system for your genealogy? If so, how do you use it?

I have used Evernote occasionally – usually to save online documents, and to transfer workshop, seminar or conference notes from my tablet to my computer system. I never became an expert at it, and don’t use it much at this time.

How do you “advance the ball” in your research on an ongoing basis?

“Advancing the ball” in my research means:

  • Reviewing Ancestry, MyHeritage, FamilySearch and Findmypast Hints/Matches on a daily basis, and entering information from them into my software program.
  • RootsMagic TreeSharing with my Ancestry Member Tree and matching RootsMagic persons to FamilySearch Family Tree are helpful on a daily basis to keep those trees updated.
  • Reviewing what I’m “missing” in terms of records for my ancestral families and then searching for those records. For example, I have searched for and found many probate records of my ancestors in FHL microfilm and online databases, but have searched for and found relatively few land records. A To-Do list is helpful for this.
  • Writing about ancestral records, transcribing documents, composing an ancestor biography every week on my blog. I believe in the “chunk” theory – if I add something of value every day, I will have a bigger and better database by the end of the year, but it will never be “done.”

The desk in the Genea-Cave

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

Ah, the Genea-Cave!! It’s a 10×12 foot back bedroom with a desk chair, desk, computer system, printer, free-standing lamp, a fan, file cabinets, bookcases, boxes, and stacks of paper. There is very little remaining floor space. It is warm in the summertime – we don’t have air conditioning. The family photo albums are in one bookcase, and there are M&Ms in a container.

Do you have anything you’d like to add?

Genealogy and family history have been a second vocation for 30 years for me. It is a tremendous intellectual challenge and a lot of genealogy fun. Traveling to ancestral locations and genealogy cruises or conferences are exciting, educational and productive. My family health situation now prevents us from traveling extensively, but I’m able to get out to teach and speak, and to contribute to and attend local and regional society programs. I spend 8 to 10 hours almost every day doing genealogy related activities. Life is good – genealogy rocks!!

Randy contributes so much to the genealogy world with GeneaMusings and I really appreciate his taking the time to share with us how he organizes his own research. I agree with so much of what he’s written, especially the advice to step away from the computer and seek sources that are not available online. And, of course, I share his transition from paper to electronic storage of files.

If you’re not reading GeneaMusings, I encourage you to explore it and learn from Randy’s musings. Thank you, Randy!