Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

How’s the July 30 x 30 challenge going?

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We had a record number of people say they were up for this month’s 30 x 30 challenge, in which we commit to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or organizing or digitizing or whatever project you choose) for 30 days in a row.

We’ve passed the half-way point of the challenge, so I wanted to ask: how’s it going?

I’ve managed to do at least 30 minutes of genealogy research each day. It’s been so enjoyable and I feel very connected to my ancestors. On almost all the days, I’ve researched in the morning, before I left the house. On the weekends, I’ve managed to put in more time. But on weekday mornings, I set a timer and stop after 30 minutes.

I’m using my Evernote research log consistently, so it’s very easy for me to pick up where I left off.

Your turn: Please report in the comments. How’s your challenge going?

Join me for a July 30 x 30 challenge?

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My life has been a bit hectic and genealogy research has dropped to the bottom of the priority list. My antidote to that? A new 30 x 30 challenge!

Who wants to join me? In the 30 x 30 challenge, I commit to doing 30 minutes of genealogy research (or genealogy organizing) every day for 30 days. This challenge will start on Sunday, July 1 and end on Monday, July 30.

Whenever I make this commitment, my research goes to the top of my priority list (which usually means I do it first thing in the morning) and my genealogy productivity and enjoyment skyrockets.

Please comment below if you’d like to join me in the challenge. Mid-month I’ll post a progress report. Here’s to a July full of fun genealogy research!

Shifting my focus

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My strategy for focusing my genealogy efforts in 2014Looking back at May, I realize that I wasn’t able to research a whole lot. Life got very hectic in the middle of the month when my husband was in a bad car accident that left him unharmed but his car very harmed. It was a total loss and we had to shop for a new car, which is always surprisingly time consuming. Between that and his negotiating for and accepting a new job, I probably went two weeks without doing any genealogy research.

I love doing daily research, so this made me feel really disconnected from my ancestors. Over Memorial Day weekend, I got back into it, thank goodness. I went to my research log and was reminded that I’d been transcribing deeds recently.

I’m here to tell you that transcribing deeds isn’t my idea of a great time. Which is probably why I didn’t get an itch to research when other priorities took over. So I shook things up a little, just to make things more interesting.

I’ve been researching my Adams family line for the last 16 months. Desperate to get away from deed transcribing, I poked around on Ancestry and took a look at the small family tree of my first cousin (my father’s sister’s daughter). She had the parents of our great grandmother listed (though not sourced). I took that clue and ran with it. I found conflicting evidence and I have not yet resolved who my second great grandparents are, but I’m all energized by the possibilities. I enjoyed the digging and the problem solving.

I think that I will shift my genealogy focus from my father’s paternal Adams line to his maternal line, the Rascos, at the end of the quarter (or perhaps before). I’m feeling the need to explore some fresh names.

I loved being focused on the Adamses for so long because I was able to remember who was who and it kept clarity in my research. But after more than a year with them, I’m taking the blinders off and shifting to the Rascos. I’ll stay focused, just on something else. That feels good and exciting to me.

How about you? Do you focus on a specific family group or line in a single session, month or quarter? Or do you like to mix it up?

April 30 x 30 wrap up

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It’s May 1, which means that the April 30 x 30 challenge ended yesterday. How did it go for you?

My month went well, though I missed three days. I was going along just fine until I left town for a conference for professional organizers. I just plain forgot to do research one day! Another day, while at the conference, I started to do research, but my heart wasn’t in it. And then yesterday, my first day home, was hectic and I didn’t manage to do any research.

So I researched (or organized) 27 out of 30 days. I’m okay with that.

One thing I noticed, as I have before, is that I’m best off if I work on my genealogy in the morning, preferably before I walk my dog. If I leave it until the end of the day, I’m sometimes too tired or unmotivated.

Another thing that happened is that I started feeling overwhelmed by my backlog of downloaded documents to be processed. Some were deeds that I’d found on microfilm at the Family History Library and copied to a flash drive. Typically, the unprocessed files hang out in my Surnames folder, as loose files. Since they all start with a date, they rise to the top, above the individual surname folders.

So many deeds had accumulated (I counted 29!) that I was overwhelmed. I created a folder called *Deeds to be processed. (The asterisk puts the folder above the surname folders.) I moved all the deeds into that folder, then moved one at a time out of that folder, so that it was in the usual place for my backlog of documents. A deed stayed there until I finished transcribing it and extracting information. Then I moved the deed and its transcription to the appropriate person folder. (You can read more about my digital workflow…the point of all this is that I created a temporary folder to corral the deeds that were overwhelming me.)

I’m trying hard not to do new research until my backlog is finished. The deeds are a little tedious but they’re providing some great insights, so I’m grateful to be working on them.

Enough about me. If you participated in the 30 x 30 challenge, how did it go? If you didn’t participate or had to cut out early, rest assured I’ll be having another one before too long.