Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Just registered for RootsTech!

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rootstechlogoI am very excited to be attending my first large-scale genealogy conference. Yesterday, I registered for RootsTech 2014, which will be held in Salt Lake City, February 6 to 8. Looking into the conference had been on my to-do list for awhile. When I finally went to the website, I was surprised and delighted to see that the early-bird conference registration fee for a four-day, full-access pass was only $159. That includes more than 200 classes. Talk about a deal. I didn’t hesitate for a moment.

In case you’re not familiar with it, RootsTech (in the words of its website) is, “A global family history event where people of all ages learn to discover and share their family stories and connections through technology. At RootsTech, there is something for you, regardless of your experience in family history or your skill in technology.”

I love the focus on technology. I love the notion of mingling with fellow genealogy enthusiasts and talking with the vendors. And I’m delighted by the idea of the educational sessions. I saw a couple of the talks that were streamed over over the internet last year and was inspired and impressed. I told myself I wanted to attend next year. And now I am.

Have you registered for RootsTech? If you’ll be attending, please let me know. I’d love to meet you!

Free National Archives virtual genealogy fair next week!

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virtualgenfairposterI am really excited about the virtual genealogy fair the National Archives is putting on next week, September 3 and 4. Anyone can not only view a variety of genealogy lectures, but also there will be a genealogy help line open during the afternoons of the fair where you can ask your own questions! Recordings of the sessions will be available afterward.

And there’s no charge.

I so wish I didn’t have a client appointment on September 4. However, I’ve blocked out the 3rd on my calendar.

Here are the bare bones details. Go to the Archives fair website for complete details, including links to handouts.

What: National Archives Virtual Genealogy Fair

When: September 3, 10 am to 4 pm eastern and September 4, 10 am to 5 pm eastern

How: View live broadcast via UStream (the webcast includes closed captioning and American Sign Language interpretation.) Questions will also be monitored on Twitter, hashtag #genfair2013

If you’re interested in participating, I urge you to click on the above link and read the instructions for participating in the webcast. You’ll need to create a UStream account if you don’t already have one, and you might want to get your ducks in a row in advance, so you don’t miss any of the fun.

The Organized Genealogist Facebook group

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Yesterday, thanks to an Upfront with NGS post, I learned about a relatively new Facebook group called The Organized Genealogist. It’s a place where genealogists can share information, ideas, and resources on organizing their research. And, boy, do they share! After only a couple of months of existence, there are 2358 members of this closed group. I spent some enjoyable time perusing the group’s posts today and plan to check in regularly.

Since I know you’re interested in organizing and genealogy, I urge you to check it out and request membership. It’s a closed group and membership must be approved, but it’s as simple as clicking the request button.

I think it’s a terrific resource!

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.