Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Questioning my assumptions

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I wrote last year about the importance of keeping a research log and my intention to keep one. I still think it’s important. Despite that, I’m still not really keeping one.

Oh, but I wish I were. My grandfather’s grandfather was George Washington Adams. I had accumulated a certain amount of information about him–and I’d recorded sources for everything. But now as I revisit him, I’m starting to doubt whether the military sources I found are necessarily for the right guy. And I think if I’d been keeping a good research log, I’d have perhaps written down why I was so certain that the George W. Adams from Company A, 35th Kentucky Infantry (Union), who ended up in the National Soldier’s Home for awhile in the 1920s and 1930s was my great great great grandfather. But looking at it now, I’m not so sure.

So I’m going to go back to all the data I’ve gathered for him and cast a critical eye on what I’ve found and make sure that I’ve got the right guy. And I’m going to carefully record my efforts and my reasoning for every fact. I’m not pledging to start keeping a research log for every bit of research I do (though I hope to at some point). I’m just pledging to do it for this one ancestor.

Once I figure out if I have the right guy, I’ll write here and let you know!

Tracking progress

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My memory is not what it used to be. And I’m finding the more family history research I do, the more I’m duplicating effort. In the process of researching one person, another person will pop into my mind. I’ll look for a record for that person, rejoice in finding it, then realize I’d already found it!

So in an effort to avoid that, as well help me in my never-ending quest to not feel overwhelmed about my genealogy research, this past weekend I created a series of progress-tracking spreadsheets. I was inspired by Miriam’s Census Spreadsheet, which is a Google Doc. I’m a Mac user and I used the Numbers program (similar to Excel) to create three spreadsheets (so far) that track progress, by ancestor, on finding the following records:

Sheet 1: BMD

  1. birth records
  2. marriage records
  3. death records
  4. burial records
  5. grave photos

Sheet 2: Censuses

On the first table (pictured above) I have a row for each ancestor (this is a work in progress…I’ve been adding info a generation at a time and up to my great-great grandparents), and a column for each U.S. Census. I fill in the square in blue if that record was found. A grey square indicates the ancestor wasn’t alive for that census. A blank (white) square indicates I still need to find this record. I also have a table of state censuses, so I can note those.

Sheet 3: Military

Here I track what military records I’ve found for each ancestor, by war or conflict. This one’s definitely a work in progress.

Going through this process helped me realize how much census work I’d done and how much more work I had to do to find birth, marriage and death records. I think these charts will help me feel a sense of accomplishment and also help me hone in on work that needs to be done. I’ll keep adding ancestors from Reunion, until I’m caught up, and then plan to keep up with the spreadsheet as I find more records.

Research sometimes means re-search

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At Ancestry Day last month, a thought occurred to me that has really stuck. While learning about various ways to search Ancestry.com and how their databases are constantly being updated, I realized that searching again for information (i.e. re-searching) is critical. I can’t assume that since I didn’t find information when searching Ancestry (or any other database) for an ancestor I never will.

I guess this really points to the necessity and usefulness of a research log. I have to admit that since blogging about creating a research log, my use has been sporadic. I guess I should redouble my efforts.

So you might want to take a look at your brick walls and try searching again the databases that came up short before. At the rate new information is being indexed and posted, you might be in for a pleasant surprise!

Embracing Evernote

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A couple of days ago I wrote that I was ready to give Evernote a try in organizing my genealogy notes. The truth of the matter is that it’s been a crazy busy week in my business and I haven’t had a chance to do any family history research and give Evernote a test drive.

On Wednesday, I did a web search to try to get my head around how Evernote could help me with my family history research. I quickly was overwhelmed when I didn’t find exactly what I needed. So I stopped looking.

But then, while I was at the gym, I listened to Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast comparing Evernote to Microsoft’s OneNote. That led me to her Premium Video all about Evernote. And that was all I needed to really feel comfortable with giving Evernote a trial run.

I am so excited by the notion that, using Evernote, I can quickly keep and organize my notes, documents, newspaper articles as I come to them during the course of my research. I have a feeling that my consumption of printer paper and toner is about to go down.

I’ve known about Evernote for years and had friends show me how they use it. But I never felt like I had the problem it was solving.  But now I can see how it really might simplify my genealogy life. And I look forward to telling you that I’m right. (I promise to tell you if I’m wrong, too!)

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