Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

My evolution from paper to digital

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I just re-read a blog post I wrote on August 12, 2012, just a couple of months after I started this blog, called How I organize my family history research. It outlines how I organized my research back in the day, when I kept everything on paper. If you have all your genealogy documents on paper, you might find it helpful.

What struck me in reading this six years later is that, with the exception of using Reunion software, I no longer do anything I outlined in that article. Wow!

Specifically, I don’t print documents. Therefore I don’t file documents. And I almost never access the documents I printed and filed six years ago. If I wanted to see them and didn’t already have them filed on my hard drive, I would just go online and download them. The exceptions are the few documents I have that were mailed to me. And I scan those whenever I come across them.

Am I better at organizing my genealogy research now than I was in 2012? Not necessarily. I’m a professional organizer and I did a great job of organizing my papers back then. But is my current system better than my 2012 system? For me, the answer is unequivocally yes.

My digital filing system is easier, more convenient and less labor-intensive than my paper filing system was.

If you’re curious about my evolution of paper to digital, check out these posts:

It’s so fun having a blog so that I can look back and see how things have changed over the years. This transition from paper to digital has undoubtedly been a positive change for me!

My electronic file system continued to evolve and 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. The downloadable pdf is 37 pages and available for $19.99.

Photo by Tom Woodward via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

Reviewing my source documents

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Last weekend I had the great fortune to hear genealogist and speaker Amy Johnson Crow give several talks at the Missouri State Genealogical Association‘s terrific conference. One of her talks was called “How to Milk a Source for All It’s Worth” and in it she shared tips and techniques for harvesting every bit of information you can from a source.

That got me thinking about the source documents I had found early on in my genealogy research, six or seven years ago. Back then, I was focusing on direct-line ancestors, so I’m sure I left a lot of information on the table. Rather than entering every scrap of information into my genealogy database (Reunion), I would have just glossed over it.

That was confirmed yesterday when I was going over an Alabama Census of Confederate Soldiers questionnaire my 2nd great grandfather, Laban Taylor Rasco (1844-1926) had filled out in 1921. I had found that source in 2012. (It’s source #127 in my database; I now have 834 sources.) I was shocked to see that I hadn’t recorded the information about his living children that was shared in that questionnaire. They were in my tree, because I’d added them at a later date, but back in 2012 I just wasn’t adding collateral lines. (I know, I was short-sighted.)

So I started adding that info and in doing so solved a little mystery. My grandmother Beatrix Rasco Adams, who was born in 1907, was living in Memphis, Texas, with her family on the 1920 census. In 1910, they were in Alabama, where she was born, and in the 1930 census they were in Washington state, where she lived the rest of her life. I never knew why they lived in Texas in 1920 (though I didn’t try very hard to find out). But I learned yesterday by focusing on that Confederate census, that her uncle, Joseph Taylor Rasco (1872-1964) was living in Memphis, Texas in 1921 and is nearby in the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Her family must have joined him. Mystery solved, or at least illuminated.

That made me realize that I have a lot of work to do with the source documentation that I have already downloaded and entered into Reunion. My genealogy research skills have improved so much that I find myself drawn to look at all those less recently found documents so I can pick all the meat off the bones.

Two summers ago, I started systematically going through my source documentation, primarily to correct the citations and to make sure that each source document was attached as a multimedia file to the source record in Reunion. At the time, I had 300 sources in my database. I got through Source #85 by the time I stalled out on that particular endeavor.

Fast forward two years and I now have an additional 500+ more sources, but I’m hopeful that the last several hundred were much better analyzed.

Last month, I shifted my focus to my father’s maternal line, the Rascos, and plan to work on them for the rest of 2018. So this is what I’ve decided to do: I’ve created a list of all the sources that pertain to the Rascos and I’m planning to systematically check each source record, making sure the citation is correct, that the source document is attached to the source record, and that all possible information is gleaned. When I see clues for further research within a document, I will either make a note of it in Evernote or, depending on time constraints and my whims, go ahead and pursue that clue.

I think this process will give me more confidence in my source citations and it will help me feel comfortable that my research is thorough–plus it will doubtless garner a lot more facts to add to my database! I also love that it will give me an easy starting point for research each day.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Creating bio sketches of your ancestors

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Reader (and professional genealogist) Maria Tello commented in my recent post on shifting my focus that she is in the process of creating biographical sketches for each of her ancestors, so that she can pass information on to her children and grandchildren, who are not genealogists.

I was intrigued by the idea and asked her to give me a little more information, along with an example.

Maria wanted to make her research more easily understood by her children and grandchildren, she is writing these short sketches of each ancestor. Her research on some of her lines goes back to the 15th century, so it’s a big task!

I’m thoroughly impressed that Maria’s goal is to write one of these each day. I think that’s a wonderful way to make an overwhelming project seem much more attainable.

Maria said that she used the Register Style Template from the New England Historic Genealogical Society as the basis for her sketches. I love that sources and footnotes are a prominent part of the template.

Here’s a sample sketch, of one of Maria’s ancestors on her father’s side. She explains, “My accreditation is in Mexico and the bulk of my research is done in Spanish language areas. I used tools that were developed for New England colonial area research, however, and that works splendidly.”

Click on this link to read Maria’s sketch of José Anastasio Tello.

Maria reports that her children not only have found the sketches easy to understand but they’re actually grateful for them!

In addition to the obvious benefit of having an easily understood way to present genealogical information to those who follow you, I can see how useful this exercise is to find holes in your research. I can also see its benefits for reacquainting yourself with your ancestors.

Reunion, the genealogy software I use, will create these reports automatically, I discovered. But Maria and I discussed the benefits to doing them by hand. There’s a big difference between creating something and reading something. (This is part of a larger post I’m contemplating on manual versus automatic in genealogy–keep an eye out.)

As I look toward shifting to a different family line in my own research, I think I’m going to take the time to write a bio sketch for the main ancestor I’ve been researching, George Washington Adams (1845-1938) before I say goodby to him for a little while. I think it should be a fun exercise.

Maria, thank you so much for sharing what you’re doing! And best of luck completing all the profiles!

 

A time-saving addition to my digital workflow

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I’ve posted before about how I process documents that I download from online sources. In an ideal world, I follow my workflow from start to finish as soon as I download a document. But in the real world, it’s not unusual for me to run out of time to process the document immediately. (By “process” I mean, create a source, extract facts, add those facts to my genealogy software and properly file the document on my hard drive). That’s an inevitable outcome in researching in short, frequent sessions, as I do.

When I download a document, without fail I rename the file using my file-naming protocol (Year Document Type-Ancestor Name-Location) and file it in my Surnames folder. But all too often I don’t have time to properly process it and the document languishes in the Surnames holding pen until I do have time.

Today, I added a small item to my digital workflow. As soon as I download a document and rename it, I right-click on the file in my Mac’s Finder, select Get Info, then in the Comments section, I paste the URL of where I found the document. That way, if I need more information to create a source, it’s simple for me to get back to the online source. Per my workflow, once the source citation is created, I replace the URL in the Comments area with the citation itself (which includes the URL).

It’s a small thing, but I know this is going to save me time in finding the document online again. And it will reduce aggravation. Sometimes little things can make a big difference!

For more in-depth information on going digital with your genealogy research, check out The Paperless Genealogy Guide, a 44-page downloadable guide written by paperless expert Brooks Duncan and me and available for $9.

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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.