Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Sharing information is a two-way street

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I visited my parents earlier this month in Walla Walla, Washington, and as I posted last month, I was hoping to get some more family-history information from them.

Well, it turns out they didn’t know the answers to most of my questions (perhaps I’m asking the wrong questions), though my mom was able to fill in the information that her cousin, Jerry Brown, had asked about in a comment to that earlier post.

(Confidential to Jerry: My grandfather, Crawford Brown’s fuel business was called International Fuel and its address was 730 North Washington in Spokane. And my mother’s childhood home, which you visited in around 1949, was E 30 31st also in Spokane.)

But even if I didn’t get my own questions answered, I was able to share information with my mother about what I’d learned about our family history since my last visit. A large part of that was due to the above-named Jerry Brown and his sister, Judy, who generously shared their genealogical information about my mother’s paternal side of the family. That includes a delightful oral history and it was really fun to share that with my mother. I also shared the emails I had received from her cousins when Jerry first found this blog.

So thank you, Jerry and Judy. I appreciate your help. And I appreciate the reminder that even if my mother’s not in a position to further my research, I can enhance her life by sharing what I learned.

I just started a Facebook page for this blog. If you’re on Facebook, please hop over there and like it. I’ll be posting links to blog posts and starting conversations.

Taking stock of my records

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My genealogy file cartI love the last couple of weeks of the year. This is when I set goals and resolutions. And I also typically try to do some decluttering and organizing around my house. I’ve already started the goal-setting process for my genealogy work. But I realized this morning that I needed to spend some time organizing my genealogy records and see where things stand.

I started doing genealogy research back in the first part of the 21st century. My records then were all paper. In fact, I hand wrote my ancestry charts. Since taking up the research more seriously this year, I’ve done more electronically (my family tree is now entered into software), but I do have a tendency to print things out and file them. I blogged awhile back about how I organize my genealogy files.

Above is a photo of the file cart that holds my genealogy files. As you can see it’s looking a little unruly. During that lovely week between Christmas and the end of the year, I think I will go through those files, see what I records I have and what’s missing and tidy things up. I’ll also explore the contents of the files I created years ago called “Census possibilities,” “Places to go,” and “Research tips.” By the end, I hope to feel like I know where things stand with my research. I suspect I’ll end up with a list of things to research, mysteries to solve and holes to fill.

If time allows, I’ll also spruce up my electronic files. They’re in decent shape, but there’s definitely room for improvement. I’ll write a post when that process is over and share the benefits I gained from this effort!

Finding the time for research

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I love doing family history research, but I have to admit that it can be challenging to carve out the time to do it.

Part of the reason is that I always think I want a large chunk of time to work with. I know that once I sink my teeth into a research challenge, it can be hard to stop. But I also know that if I wait until I have a large chunk of time, I may be waiting a very long time. (This is true of so many things, especially decluttering. On my organizing business’s blog, I’ve talked about the power of working on things just a few minutes at a time.)

Yesterday, I had an afternoon without outside obligations. I’m just back from visiting my parents and I have a (non-genealogy) to-do list as long as my arm. But I decided to take some time out to check out the genealogy room at the newly re-opened Central Branch of the St. Louis Public Library in downtown St. Louis. The library was closed for renovation for over a year and it’s a sight to behold. I took the opportunity to acquaint myself with the genealogical holdings of the library and am very excited to make use of this resource.

Another day soon I want to check out an LDS FamilySearch Center here in St. Louis. Taking the time to actually leave my office to check out resources or do some research sometimes can feel really challenging. But I know it’s how I’ll actually manage to make some real progress in my family history research, something I really want to do in the coming year.

Making time for family history research (or any other hobby) is about priorities. I want to make this a big priority for 2013. And I look forward to talking here about some of the progress I make!

Setting my genealogy goals

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One of my favorite things about December is goal setting. I take stock of the year and how did on the goals I set the prior December. And then I create new goals for the coming year. I do this for my organizing business every year, but this will be the first year I’ve set specific goals for my family history research.

I think having goals will help me get past the overwhelmed feeling I sometimes get when I think about my family history research. I think I’ll also create a running wish list, a place to capture research subjects or activities I’d like to do at some point. That will help with the “what should I work on today?” question that comes up from time to time.

I’m going to spend some time honing my genealogy goals over the course of the month, so these might change. But right now, the goals that occur to me are:

  • Take a research trip
  • Meet some of my new-found cousins
  • Attend at least one genealogy-related conference
  • Learn about and take advantage of local research opportunities
  • Do family history research at least twice a week
  • Post to this blog twice a week
  • Increase the readership of this blog

I’m noticing that none of these goals are related to actual research results or the research that I want to accomplish. And that’s okay with me. I’m a big believer in doing things a little at a time and rewarding effort, rather than results. I don’t know where my research is going to take me and I’m really enjoying the journey. So my goal for next year is continue with the research and enjoy the fruits of my labor.