Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Getting back in the saddle

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I wrote a novel last month, as part of National Novel Writing Month. It was a fun challenge that I do every five years. But this year, my November was particularly busy with organizing clients, so my time was very tight. In order to fit in 1700 words a day, something had to give. And that something was genealogy research.

So the novel is written and put away forever and now I get to think about my ancestors again! But when I sat down to research today, I realized that I had no idea where to start. The question of what to research today has plagued me for years and one way I overcame that challenge was frequent research and the “next steps” question in my research log.

Today, I feel adrift because it’s been more than a month since I researched that I can’t even remember what I was working on. That’s where my research log came to to the rescue. I read the last few entries (from late October) and was reminded what I’d been working on and how I might pick up the threads of my research. These were the choices I found:

  • Continue working on reducing my backlog of downloaded, but not processed, documents;
  • Read the book I’d checked out through interlibrary loan about the Mentelle family, from whom I’m descended. (On my Kentucky research trip, I’d made the connection between me and this relatively famous family.) That book is due to be returned later this month;
  • Listen to some of the talks from the NARA Virtual Genealogy Fair.

I literally had forgotten about the talks from the virtual fair that I’d wanted to listen to. And despite being in physical possession of the library book, reading the book had slipped my mind as well. (I do know where it is, though!) I’m very grateful for my very informal research log, which is helping me jump back i n.

In case you’re curious, since my library book is due this month, it has become more urgent and is therefore commanding my attention. So my research time this week will be spent reading and extracting information from that book.

I’m looking forward to getting back to daily (or at least almost-daily) research. And I plan to start a new 30 x 30 challenge in January, so stay tuned!

October 30 x 30 wrap up: How’d it go?

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It’s last day of October. (October felt very long to me!) For those of you who participated in the 30 x 30 challenge in which you committed to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research for 30 days in a row (or some variation, at your discretion), I’d love to hear how the challenge went for you!

As I mentioned in my mid-month update, I had a blockbuster first half of the month. The only day I failed to research in the first 26 days of the challenge was (ironically enough) the day I posted that update. I had two trips in October, one to Walla Walla to visit my dad for a week followed shortly by a five-day trip to New York City to pal around with my college buddies (which was heaven). I managed daily research all the way to my penultimate day in New York, which was October 26. But when I got home after so much travel I had to hit the ground running with appointments and other obligations for my organizing business. So I’m ending the month with a whimper.

But I’m very proud that I researched 25 out of the first 26 days of the month. I love how daily research keeps me connected with my ancestors and my research.

In November I’ll be working every day on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, so I’m thinking I won’t get a lot of genealogy research done. Maybe I’ll surprise myself. I think I’ll start another 30 x 30 challenge in January. I hope you’ll join me!

In the meantime, please report in, if you’d like!

October 30 x 30 mid-month check in

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It’s October 15 already and we’re halfway through the current 30 x 30 challenge. How’s it going? Please let everyone know in the comments.

I am  happy to report that I have not missed a day! I did so poorly in the August challenge that this month I was bound and determined to succeed in the challenge. So I made genealogy research a true priority. Mostly, I accomplished this by researching first thing in the morning. Most days I set a timer and researched for the full 30 minutes. Some days I went a little longer and some days a little shorter.

I am traveling now, visiting my dad in Walla Walla, Washington. I have still been able to keep up with the research, which is great. Mostly I’ve been processing the documents that I found in my June research trip to Kentucky. I’m almost finished with those. But I’ve also added to my backlog this month, so my initial goal of eliminating the backlog has gone by the wayside. But I’m still happy with my performance on the challenge.

One nice, motivating factor has been the opportunity to discuss family history with my 89-year-old dad. He did some reminiscing about his childhood and I was able to fill him in on some details of his grandparents’ and great grandparents’ lives. He really enjoyed that, as did I.  That’s been keeping me going with my 30 minutes of daily research each day while I’m here!

How about you? If you signed on for the challenge, how’s it going?

October 30 x 30 challenge – who’s in?

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Boy do I need a 30 x 30 challenge. I barely did any genealogy research in September–my priorities kept shifting away from genealogy. I did spend one day at the library with my genealogy buddy (more on that next week), which was great. But otherwise, my research log for September is pathetic.

So clearly I need a 30 x 30 challenge to elevate genealogy on my priority list. Who would like to join me? This month, I vow to spend 30 minutes a day working on genealogy research every day for 30 days. My focus will be finishing up (or at least making great progress on) processing the documents I obtained on my Kentucky research trip in June. And I’m committing to creating an entry in my Evernote research log each day.

If you’d like to join me, please just leave a note in the comments. If you’d like to mention what you’ll be focusing on, all the better.

I have high hopes for October!

Edited to add: Apologies if you tried to comment and were blocked (and thank you to the readers who told me about it). The firewall issue is now fixed.