Archive for the ‘organization’ Category

24
Feb

Storing my Genealogy Research

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in How To, organization

File:Stack of Copy Paper.jpg

[Image by Jonathan Joseph Bondhus]

Marian Pierre-Louis of the Roots and Rambles Blog has been discussing the format she keeps her genealogical information in (with a follow-up on paper vs. digital) and how it relates to reviewing and analyzing your research.

I seem to follow the same basic pattern she does.  My information is stored as follows: 

  • Print outs in sheet protectors in 3-ring binders, divided by family. 
    • This includes pedigree and family group sheets, vital records, census records and obituaries.  These print outs go into the binder  upon entry into my genealogy program.
  • Legacy Family Tree genealogy program
    • Used to keep track of all of my information in an easy to see format.  This is particularly useful for distant cousins who I have limited information on, such as census records.  Also on my laptop are digital copies of all records I have used which are in a folder and tagged with metadata on the family and record type.
  • Microsoft OneNote
    • This allows me to make research plans, type out conclusions and show my methodology into my findings (particularly when using GPS).  This is one of the areas I need to focus on more this year.

Why do I have so many ways of keeping my information? 

  1. In order to do any type of analysis, I need the papers out in front of me.  I am very much a paper person and see more when I can look at and hold the item in my hands.  The papers also allow me to spread out a large amount of documents in front of me to compare information.  These are all things I cannot do easily with digital copies.
  2. There is an ease of looking at the conclusive information in a genealogical program and of looking at my thought process in a word processing program (my writing is awful…) that is not available on paper.  I can easily update a birthdate and reprint a new family group sheet much easier than I could re-write one (and with much less possibility of error).  By tagging research logs and reports I can find all the work I have done on an individual or family.
  3. One of my favorite things to do with the information I find is to show it to my family.  Although we could all gather around my laptop, it is so much more enjoyable to flip through a binder on the family and look at all of the documents relating to our ancestors life.

What format do you keep your research in?

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8
Oct

Legacy Genealogy Cruise: Day 2 (PM)

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in conference, Legacy Genealogy Cruise, organization

After our lunch break on day 2, we came back to two more sessions: “managing your genealogy data” and “building a research toolbox” with Thomas MacEntee.

I think many (most? all?) genealogists have a data management problem.  It is hard for people who love the search to always sit down and put the information into notebooks and computers in an organized fashion.  ”Managing Your Research Data” focused on organizing your genealogy data on your computer.  Thomas gave a multitude of ways to store your data, with the most important part being to do what makes sense to you.  I really liked his discussion on tags in Windows.  By tagging your images, both photographs and record images, you can make it easier to find the data you are looking for.  Tags I am now using include my surnames, “Census”, “Military”, and “Birth”.

I loved the way he sets up his genealogy information, basically one big folder with files titles “Surname-First Name-Record”.  For instance, I now have a file titled “Whitehead Charles William Census 1900″.  This is simple, everything is easy to find, and makes it easy to remember how to name files.Thomas uses maiden names for women’s documents and “unknown” for a woman whose maiden name has not been found.  I spent the rest of the trip moving files into a new folder under this naming idea and making sure all the information from them was added to my Legacy database properly (so easy to source everything thanks to this mornings session!)  After the tagging session, this was the session that most helped me out (3rd were the photo sessions by Steve Salisbury that were later in the cruise).

Next Thomas continued his recommendations on data management by gaving a presentation on “Building a Research Toolbox”.  He has previously done this as a webinar for Legacy, which you can purchase.  He also has his toolbox available on his personal blog.  The toolbox is all about being able to find the websites and resources you have used in the past when you need them.  Again, it is important to use a format that you enjoy and will keep updated.  Ideas include a basic text or spreadsheet format, a note taking program, a blog or a social bookmarking site.

After classes were over, it was time to run back to the room to get ready for our first formal night.  Held in the dining room, this was a fun time to meet other genealogists on the cruise and discuss research.  The ship then sailed on to our first port, Portland, Maine.

Miss the other posts on the Legacy Genealogy Cruise: 29 Sept-8 Oct 2011?  Find them here.

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30
Oct

Sorting Saturday – My eReader Makes Everything Better

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in organization

I received a Sony eReader as a present a couple months ago (thank you Tara!!!) and this week I finally put a bunch of items on it.  I downloaded all the back issues of National Genealogical Society Quarterly (available to members on the NGS site), bought a new genealogical guidebook and created a pdf of my family tree and to do list and put them all on my eReader.

This has saved a lot of trees, a lot of space in my apartment and a lot of money, since eBooks are less expensive than paper copies.  Additionally, since my eReader fits easily in my purse, whenever I have extra time, I can easily read these items, furthering my genealogical education.  There are also highlighting and bookmarking features so that I can easily mark items of interest.

I also think this will be quite useful when doing genealogical research.  I am a paper and pen researcher, and obviously cannot bring all of my information when I go to libraries or court houses.  In the past I have come across names I know are related to my family, but cannot recall how.  By having my family tree with me in this way, I will (hopefully) never have this problem again.

Weekly Sorting Goal: Continue with organizing my blue bin of genealogical chaos.  Put all legal size documents into my new legal size binders.

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23
Oct

Sorting Saturday – The Beginning

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in organization

I just learned about Sorting Saturday, created by Michelle Goodrum of  The Turning of Generations.  Looking around my apartment, it is clear that this is an excellent thing for me to become involved in.  Yesterday I ordered 2 legal sized 3-ring binders to hold the wills and other legal sized documents I have.  Today I went through my family tree program and began creating a list of research to do when my classes begin.

Based on todays post by Michelle Goodman, I am going to try to organize all the documents I have , a few at a time.  This includes checking if they are in my family tree program and then putting them into their proper binder.

Goal for the week: Organize all the documents I have in my big blue bin of genealogy chaos by surname over the next week.

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27
Dec

Goals for the New Year

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in carnival, dearmyrtle, eichorn, fink, germany, goals, gress, karpinski, new years resolutions, organization, poland, tross, weiss

In 2010, I hope to accomplish the following:

  • Interview my grandmothers, parents and great aunts, uncles and cousins on video ASAP!
    • Goal is to do this by the end of February for my grandmothers
  • Update each of my lines sideways and forward.
    • I usually do well with my information about my ancestors siblings, but I have not done so well finding cousins in more recent generations.
  • Focus my search for my German lines so that I can visit their hometowns while I am in Germany for 4 1/2 months
    • I will therefore focus on the Eichhorn, Gresz, Fink, Weiss and Tross lines for the next two months
  • Stay in touch with my relatives searching my fathers side of the family.
    • I research my mothers side as I have great aunts and uncles who research my fathers.  I will be helping my Aunt Dottie with her search in Poland for the Karpinski’s (my great-grandmother’s line)
  • Complete Dear Myrtle’s finally get organization checklist from 2009
  • Start researching my fiancé’s line (at the very least, get the information he knows into my file)
  • Blog: Participate in Surname Saturday each week in order to get my surnames out there and find new cousins!  I plan on going alphabetically though all my surnames.
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7
Feb

Source time

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in dearmyrtle, History of the Nuwers, nuwer, organization, source citation

Following month two of the DearMYRTLE organization checklist, it is time to make sure all of the items I have are properly sourced in my genealogy program.  I have been doing pretty well, but I need to go back through and make sure I have all the father and mother relation filled in for Legacy, as well as citing the information I received from interviews.  I also have to better use the notes section, both for transcribing and my views of some of the information.

I am very well aware of the necessity of sources, due to a couple documents I have that were not sourced and have created some problems for me.
The first of these is a pedigree chart my grandfather created, which I will talk about further as soon as I buy a scanner and can attach images of all the documents he had.
The second is a document created by Estella Nuwer Minderler on December 8, 1974.  Estella is my second cousin, four times removed on my father’s mother’s side.  Titled “The History of the Nuwers.”, I was given a copy of this in elementary school by my grandmother when I was doing a family history project.  
It begins, on page 3, with a “Narrative” as follows:
“Beginning in the 1840′s and continuing for the next thirty years, millions of Europeans emigrated to the United States and Canada.  The Nuwers of Alsace-Lorraine were an early part of this movement.”
It continues with information on the town of Lancaster, Erie County, New York where they settled, biographical information on several of the people listed and a list of descendants of Anthony and Margarete (Ludwig) Nuwer (my 5th great-grandparents).
This is a wonderful item to have, as the information on the later generations is taken first hand from interviews Estella did.  Unfortunately, none of it is documented and the later generations do not completely match up with research that has been done in more recent years.  The most depressing part of this is that Estella mentions an immigrant relative Christine Nuwer who kept a diary of her trip across the Atlantic.  It is depressing because there never was a Christine Nuwer and no one can locate the diary, to find out who had actually written it.  Further discussion on the diary can be found by Brian Smith.
I want to make sure that all information I write and that gets passed on to other researchers and further generations is correct and documented as such, so that they do not have to redo the work I have already done.  This will probably mean very little new research in February, which will be okay as I am waiting for quite a few New York vital records and my great-grandfather’s WWI military records.
Source:
“The History of the Nuwers.”  Estella Nuwer Minderler, 8 Dec 1974; privately held by Amanda Acquard, [STREET ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE].
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29
Jan

FamilySearch Indexing

   Posted by: Amanda E. Perrine, MSLIS   in dearmyrtle, familysearch indexing, indexing, organization

I have been following DearMYRTLE’s ”Finally Get Organized” January 2009 checklist.  All of my papers in plastic sheet protectors and binders, so I went to the next step today and did my first extracting with FamilySeach Indexing.

It was much easier than I had anticipated, though I’m glad that there are two people indexing each page, just in case (some of the writing was a bit difficult to decipher).  I should be able to do this Thursday nights while watching Dear Betty.  It will be good practice for both transcribing records properly and deciphering different handwriting styles.  Besides, a little good genealogy karma never hurt anyone;-)
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