Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Take action now to fight rate hike for genealogical immigration records

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I follow genealogist Jennifer Mendelsohn on Twitter and through her learned that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS, which used to be called the Immigration and Naturalization Service) is proposing a substantial rate hike for genealogical records.

You can read all the details at Records Not Revenue, but the Reader’s Digest version is that, under the proposal, digitized genealogy records will cost $240 and paper copies will cost $625. The current rate for those same documents is $65. Prior to 2016, the rate was $20 to $35. Obviously, this rate hike would have a big effect on many genealogists’ ability to access these records, which include naturalization files, alien forms, visa files and registry files.

Records Not Revenue, an effort of “coordinated by an ad hoc group of genealogists, historians and records access advocates,” points out that this rate hike is relevant to all genealogists, not just those with immigrant ancestors whose records might be available through the USCIS. The website states, “If USCIS finalizes a rule to make these records much more difficult to access via significant fee hikes, who’s to say other governmental agencies won’t follow suit? Attempts to make one record set less accessible should make any researcher in any field nervous.”

I’m bringing it up now not to worry people but rather because there’s something those of us who are worried can do. Records Not Revenue urges us to read the proposed rule, and submit comments to the Federal Rulemaking Portal, copying our Senators and Representatives, before 16 December 2019. The provide all the links necessary, along with suggested conversation starters. They’ve made it as easy as possible.

To learn more, check out Records Not Revenue, as well as this article on Medium by Jennifer Mendolsohn. That article gives real-life examples of how these records can help people with their genealogy.

Please help with my RootsTech talk

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How does perfectionism get in your way?Back in late September, I created a post asking for your input on the impact of perfectionism in genealogy as I worked on my RootsTech talk, “The Imperfect Genealogist.” I was surprised when I didn’t get much of a response and I then I discovered that an updated security package with my GoDaddy account had turned off commenting as a default and I didn’t realize it.

I’m getting back to work on my talk (it’s due next month!) and thought I’d try again. Thanks very much to those of you who replied to the September post after I got comments up and running! I’d love to hear more from others in comments to this post. Here’s what I wrote in September.

I think about perfectionism a lot. It’s the topic of the podcast I co-host with my friend and life coach Shannon Wilkinson every week. But lately I’ve been thinking about it particularly in relation to genealogy, since I’m working on my RootsTech talk next year, called “The Imperfect Genealogist.”

Here are some ways I have seen perfectionism causing genealogists to stall in their research:

  • You don’t know how to do source citations correctly, so you don’t do them at all.
  • You haven’t come up with the perfect way to organize your research, so you just keep doing research without organizing it.
  • You don’t have a whole weekend to devote to your genealogy research, so you don’t do any research at all.
  • You don’t know the very best way to preserve your archival documents, so you let them languish in an unsafe, non-archival environment. (We discussed this very thing on Episode 20 of Getting to Good Enough.)

It’s your turn. Can you help me out and let me know  how perfectionism can get in the way of your genealogy life? Please share the things you tend to get perfectionistic about and the impact it can have. (If you’ve figured out strategies for getting past that, I’m all ears!) Just leave a comment on this post. I’m sure you’ll contribute things I haven’t even thought of!

 

Don’t forget to check the next page on the census!

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Recently, I was doing some research with the 1850 census and almost missed a 10-year-old child in the family because he was listed on the next page. I’ve developed the good habit of always looking to the next page when the family I’m researching is on the last line of a census page. But in this case, though the family was last, there were two blank lines on the page, so I didn’t bother to click ahead. (That’s a snip of the page at the top of this post.) I’m not sure what caused me to look about a half hour later, but I’m glad I did!

That’s such a easy mistake to make, I thought I’d mention it here. Of course, even if the family you’re researching isn’t the last family on a census page, it’s a good practice to look at the next (and previous) page to observe their neighbors and see whether there are other family members living nearby. Lesson learned!

ETA: I had a feeling that there would be some great comments to this post that would provide additional advice and information and I was right! Please be sure and read the comments. And thank you to those who have commented!

The beauty of a genealogy buddy

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The joy of a genealogy buddyLast month, I had a genealogy play date. My friend Vickie Sheridan, whom I met through this blog, and I met at the History and Genealogy department at the St. Louis County Library headquarters. The library has great resources. But that’s not the only reason we met. There are many benefits of having a genealogy friend to research with–even if you share no common research interests. These benefits include:

  • Setting aside time for research. By putting a six-hour (including lunch) genealogy date on my calendar, I elevated genealogy research on my priority list that day. In a month where I got precious little research done, this day was a stand out.
  • Getting out of the house. I appreciate an excuse to go to the genealogy library, rather than researching online at home. I have more resources available to me at the library (including access to documents on Family Search that I can’t access at home). Having a dates gets me away from my desk.
  • Keeping me focused on my research. When I’m researching quietly beside a friend who’s also researching, I tend to stay focused, rather than let my mind (or feet) wander.
  • Having someone to brainstorm with. It’s so nice to be able to pick Vickie’s brain (or vice versa). We’ve been genealogy buddies for five years now, so we’re a bit familiar with one another’s research. We try not to interrupt each other’s research, but when we do have questions, it’s really helpful.
  • Our mutual interest in genealogy. Some (most?) of my friends outside the genealogy world really don’t want to hear about my little genealogy victories. But Vickie does!
  • Having company. Genealogy can be such a solitary pursuit. It’s really nice working on my own research in the company of someone else. Vickie is also my genealogy conference buddy. We’ve attended more than ten conferences together–we even drove to Indianapolis together this summer to attend Midwestern Roots. It’s great to have someone to hang out with at conferences.

If you have local friends or family who are also genealogy enthusiasts, I encourage you to get out to a library or cemetery or conference or other genealogy site together. Genealogy buddies are real treasures!