organization – GenealogyAtHeart.com

2023 Genealogy To-Do’s

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I think about tasks I’d like to complete, improve upon, or try out. If you need some ideas to jump-start your genealogy this year here goes:

Organize – During the colder months it’s always a good time to go through your accumulated family paraphernalia. You may have an “ah-ha” moment and get a clue for further research. If you scan your items, you’ll get extra security knowing the record resides in more than one location.
Research – Go through your family tree and make a list of items you are missing, such as the burial location or marriage place of an ancestor. You can use the notes section of the software program you are using or save it in a Word document by location. That way, if you happen to visit the area in the upcoming year, you’ll know what you need to research.
Reach Out – Connect with far-flung families either online or by snail mail. It’s easy to find a family by seeing who else has your ancestors in their public trees. Then, look for them on Facebook or contact the family to see if they might have a way to reach the individuals. You never know who may have important family information until you ask.
Explore – The world is reopening so if you’ve put off a long-planned trip to an ancestral town, now’s the time to visit it. I was disappointed to learn that an earthquake had devastated my maternal’s side cemetery in Europe. If I had been able to go as planned in 2020 I would have been able to see it as it was when my ancestors lived in the area.
Gain New Ideas – read a journal or magazine that you didn’t previously subscribe to. Check out the prior years’ indexes to see if the surname you’re researching was mentioned. Many can be viewed for free from your local library or through Kindle. Even if you don’t find your family mentioned, techniques you might not have tried may be mentioned that can help you get over your brick wall.
Add On – look over your tree and add missing spouses or children. Search for a marriage record to unveil a woman’s maiden name then check out other trees who may have listed her. Look at census records and church records to find more children for the couple.
Keep Growing – identify an area you are uncomfortable with. Perhaps it is a location or time period you don’t have much knowledge about. Check out Wikipedia, Youtube, your local library, or reach out to a genealogy or historical society that specializes in the information you need.
Document Today! – Today is tomorrow’s history. Begin a journal, upload the photos from your phone and make sure they are saved, and update your tree with any special events (marriages/new births/deaths, etc.) that may have occurred in the past year. Trust me, you won’t remember the graduation date in a few years so record it now while it’s still in your calendar and fresh in your mind.
Future Plan – Are you the keeper of the family archives? If so, do you have them stored effectively? In case of emergency, will they be protected? Who will you bequeath them to one day? Now’s the time to make decisions on how you’ll preserve for the future.
Enjoy the Moment – Family history can be frustrating, a study in patience, and expensive. All the more reason to celebrate your great find. If you’ve been searching for a deed, will, or DNA connection and you discover it this year, definitely take a moment to savor the find. Do a happy dance, share with those who understand, or simply cry. Yep, cry. Tears of joy are a great release and you deserve it.

Here’s to 2023 – health, happiness, and historical finds!

You’ve Scanned – Now What? More Genealogy Organization Tips

Courtesy of Google

You’ve successfully scanned all of your genealogical research and are quite proud of yourself. Definitely pat yourself on the back because you’ve accomplished a task that is mundane (as you’d rather be researching), frustrating (when the hardware glitches) and at times, confusing (should I keep the paper or should I recycle it?!).

I hate to break it to you but you aren’t done. Here are the next steps to think about:

Where have you stored the scans? If the answer is on your desktop or computer hard drive then you must think of a backup location. If your computer fails your work was all in vain and you’ll really be upset if you’ve thrown away the originals. I have saved it to a Cloud and to a stand-alone hard drive. I intend to copy the files to two other stand-alone hard drives and distribute them to my adult kids. Why? If the internet goes down and I can’t access the Cloud and my hard drive isn’t working, then I can “borrow” the secondary drive from one of my kids. If this sounds paranoid to you, think again. When a tornado, hurricane, or wildfire hits there often isn’t time to take everything important to you. You may be seeking shelter in a location with minimal internet. When the world is tumbling down I sometimes retreat to my genealogy. We aren’t the only ones living in troubled times, your ancestors did also. Having a backup to a backup is sensible and may lessen your stress level. The cost is minimal for peace of mind.
When do you backup? I’m thinking December holidays and Mother’s Day the kids can bring their hard drives back and one of my “gifts” is that they’ll backup their devices to mine. Remember, you’re never finished! You’ll be adding files as you continue researching so you want all your backups to reflect your newly added finds.
Wouldn’t it be easier to save to a stick? Sure, if you don’t have a huge amount that is a good solution. I have stick issues. Seriously. I was cozying up in my favorite armchair with my laptop and the cat jumped up on me. As I tried to adjust the laptop with the cat on it the stick hit the side of the chair and bent. I couldn’t retrieve anything. I took it to a computer repair place and was told they couldn’t get the data, either. I tried another place, nope. So, if you don’t have cats you may be okay with a stick but for me, I only use them when I travel to give a lecture. I also tend to lose small objects. If you don’t have those problems you’re fine with saving to a stick.
Help, how do I find the info I scanned? The key here is how you named your file. There are many different organizational tips so you have to find what works best for you. Many people save by date. For example, it’s a marriage certificate from 1888. With this technique, the file name would be 1888.Marriage Certificate.Samuelson Family. This method allows you to save in a timeline fashion with little need for folders. Personally, this wouldn’t work for me as I have too much stuff! I’d be scrolling down to the year and then zeroing in on the item and then the person. When I’m researching I tend to think first of searching by the individual and unfortunately, we’ve got a zillion family members named George! I made a folder for each individual by last name dot first name middle name. That helps me differentiate my same-named folks. I also use Jr. or Sr. if it’s appropriate and added a birth year and death year in a few cases. All the scans for that particular person are saved in that folder. Example: Harbaugh.George Frederick.Marriage Cert. I don’t need the date because I have timelines for my people. If you use any genealogy software (RootMagic, Legacy, etc.) or an online program (Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com) you’ve got the timeline built-in. To find an item I just need to open the folder with the person’s name and scroll down. Cloud storage often has a search bar so I can type in “marriage” and the files in that folder that contain the name marriage will magically appear.
What do I do with the info that I want to save that isn’t necessarily for one individual? I created a file folder of a few surnames, such as Leininger Family. This is where I keep scans of documents that I’m not sure belong to my line or not. I also included geographic and historic info I discovered about the place where the line resided. My Leiningers emigrated to Ohio and then moved on to Indiana. If I have an article about researching in Celina, Ohio, I would save it to the family surname folder. This is my catch-all for all those hints we discover but aren’t sure if they are meaningful or not. I also have files for lecture syllabuses saved by lecture title.presenter.organization. This way I have additional research ideas to consult readily without having to dig through a mound of paper.

Next week, I’ll discuss Cloud options.

Practicing What I Preach About Organization

Hello, Dear Readers! Didn’t blog last weekend because I was trying to do what I recommend everyone do – organize your genealogy. It is NOT fun!
Let’s start with the negative to get it out of the way…
It resulted in my allergies going bonkers from the dust (and the Sahara Dust Storm further put me over the edge), bags of refuse for the trash collectors to have to heave away in the intense heat (we’ve had advisories for a week now) and a field day for the cats who were running through the piles knocking them to the floor just to see paper fluttering. Why do cats do what they do?
On a positive note:

I can find everything I need quickly
I have a lot more office space
I have a much healthier environment
I found a few personal genealogical gems
I feel great that I am well on my way to completing the task

I would love to tell you I started this major undertaking because it was the right thing to do but that wouldn’t be honest. Two weekends ago, we had a generator installed since I’ve got a freezer full of food that I typically don’t have at this time of year due to the ‘rona. In Florida, summer is the lean times, meaning we grill and eat lots of quickly made cool foods right from the fridge. Open a can of kidney beans for a salad, mix up a can of tuna with some mayo and you have a sandwich, you get the picture. Since our groceries were in such short supply of canned goods and charcoal from the break in the supply lines, I didn’t stock up as usual and instead, had to rely on frozen items. I don’t want to lose all that food when the power goes out, which it does in our area frequently, so we decided to buy a generator and have it installed.
That meant we had sporadic electricity the day it was installed so I didn’t blog. I had all intentions of doing that the following day but, I was bored so I decided I would just go through one of four tubs I keep in the office where we store our warranty receipts and other important papers. That project consumed me for the next few days so the blogging didn’t happen.
I may have mentioned in past blogs that my family and I have been fortunate so far escaping covid which is spreading like wildfire in my area (well, we think one of our kids had it in late January and the other in early February but it was mild compared to what could have been and hubby and I didn’t get it, although we were in close proximity to both of them at their sickest. One kid tested with the results of no immunity so we have no idea what they had but it matched all but one of the symptoms. Hmm.)
I don’t know what “virus” infected our appliances but in the past three months, the following has needed repair: refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave (still waiting for parts), toaster, coffee maker, iron, sewing machine, vacuum, pool vacuum, pool heater, laptop power cord, cell phone, blow dryer, flash light, water softener, ceiling fan, chain saw, pole saw, blower, jet ski battery and then, there was the well guys cutting the lines so we had to have the internet and phone cables reinstalled and they broke several sprinkler heads so there was more fixing needed. Luckily, most of those items were under warranty (which says a lot about how items are made these day). Although that saved us tons of money, it resulted in my constantly pulling out the four tubs to find the necessary paperwork to contact companies to arrange repairs. The organizational system quickly became a mess and I knew I had to devote time to cleaning it. With the electricity off it seemed like a great time to devote to it.
You may be thinking – why does she keep this stuff in tubs? Simply because I live in a hurricane state. After losing everything in Hurricane Elena in 1985 I learned that file cabinets aren’t the way to go here. Put stuff in tubs and you can easily transport in your car when you flee and have the documentation to prove to FEMA when you return. Plus, no bugs get in and it does cut down on dust somewhat.
I got the brilliant idea to change the file folders from “Small Appliances”say, to the room in which the item is held. That meant making new labels; I love my Dymo but that’s starting to act weird, too. Any item we no longer owned went into the trash and those remaining went into a pile on the desk based on the room they were housed. That’s where the cats had a field day.
My reorganization left me with space in the tubs so I decided I’d tackle an attic niche where we store tax returns. I had taken Judy Russell’s APG seminar earlier that week and according to her, I only needed to store the IRS documentation for 7 years. I’ve had much more saved and although I hated the thought of pulling it all down and going through it, decided I had to do it. That’s where I made my personal genealogical discoveries that are meaningless to everyone but my husband and I. I found his very first tax return from the 1970’s when he worked part time at Pepper Pot Pizza. I found my Work Permit signed by my guidance counselor and school nurse for my first job while in high school (it was for a summer job as a “basket girl” at a local pool – I became a mole that summer, standing for hours in a dark room that was a partial basement handing patrons baskets to put their belongings in and then retrieving them when they were ready to leave. It smelled of chlorine and sweat. Yuck! But I was making $2.00 a hour so all way good.) I found paperwork for family members who were deceased that my husband and I served as administrators. Looking over some of the medical records reminded me of things I once knew about the person but had filed away somewhere in my brain and wouldn’t have been able to retrieve had the documents not jogged my mind.
Tossing all that stuff out felt great and now everything is together! You’d think I’d stop there but I was on a roll so I next decided to clean a small tub that I place in person conference syllabuses. I decided to pitch what wasn’t important to me and scan what was. I am in the middle of that project now.
I am leaving two shelves of genealogical gems to clean out when I retire someday. They once were housed in the attic (hence the dust) but when we cleaned the attic out a year ago I moved them to an indoor storage area. I seriously hate the thought of going through that stuff and figure it will take me a few months to get all that organized – it’s WW2 diaries, notes from older family members, letters, etc. What does one do with old film, negatives, camcorder stuff? We’ve digitized all of it to DVDs and some to the Cloud but what should I do with the original? It’s probably deteriorated and no longer viewable even if I had the device to see it. I actually was ready to pitch it but hubby said no which is surprising as I’m the one who usually hangs on to stuff. Let me know if you’ve faced this situation and how you resolved it.
So, for the remainder of today, as I look out at the milky white sky, I’ll be scanning my dwindling pile of syllabi. Think I’ll get another cup of coffee first. Have a great weekend!

Genealogy Cleaning Hints

Since returning home from vacation, I have been on a genealogy cleaning spree. Although I hadn’t planned for this, I discovered a few days before I left that I really had to make it my priority when I returned. While packing, I was frantically looking for items in the closet when I got hit in the head by falling journals. Ouch! If that wasn’t a wake up call I don’t what would be.

Cleaning is not fun but the results are wonderful! I have also been fortunate that the heat index has been in the extreme and when the temperature drops, it’s pouring. With both of those curtailing my outside activities, I hit the office closet first for a redo. Because I live in an area prone to hurricanes, I keep records in either plastic tubs that I can quickly transport to the car when we evacuate, or in binders high up on a shelf. The binders contain vitals by surname and though they would be a loss, the original exists safely elsewhere with a scanned copy I placed online, on my computer and backed up on a portable device. I’ve tried various organizational methods but found this one works best for me.

Recently, I switched my journal and magazine preferences to online only; no point in killing trees when I can access and read the articles anywhere. I decided to donate my saved hard copies to my library. That helped clear the shelf and gave me more space to acquire more vitals! (Family eye rolls here).

I also keep office supplies in this closet so it was a great time to take an inventory. I made a list of items I’m getting low on, such as labels, that I can acquire at sale prices hits.

Once the closet was done, I tackled a file cabinet I use for business projects. I updated my portfolio of work samples to include recent projects and replenished forms. I don’t keep many copies of forms but I like to have a few available in case the printer is down or electricity out. (In my area, the electricity goes out frequently – 3 times in the last 5 days due to severe electrical storms.)

I then tackled the electronics which was the least favorite part and took the longest of this process. I started with thumb drives. I have a lot of them and I decided I really needed to go through and make sure that I had saved to the appropriate place. After checking that I had, I deleted the files from the thumb drive so I have a clean one to use on my next research trip.

Actually, looking through the drives was a wonderful walk down memory lane. I discovered several drives that held a probate record from colonial New Jersey that is the only record that shows two generations of Duers connected. The reason I had the document on different drives was because of unusual events at the time I discovered the document’s existence. I had been researching at a local library a different ancestor when I struck up a conversation with another researcher who was working on DAR lineage paperwork. I mentioned my desire to prove the Duers and she brought up the document – she had remembered the name as she was working on a different New Jersey family from the same area. It was the first time I had known of this document’s existence and I copied her copy to a thumb drive but she did not have the complete document. I then began my search for the original which wasn’t on FamilySearch.org but was available at LDS sites. Of course, the nearest LDS Family History Center to where I was would close in a few minutes so there was no way I would get there in time. The next day, I grabbed a different thumb drive and drove to the site, found the record and thought I had saved it all but when I returned home discovered one page was missing and oddly, it was the page she had missed. That meant I had to return and save again. A few days later I was back and again resaved. I was so paranoid I brought the page up twice from the thumb drive before I left to make sure it was saved correctly. Even though it appeared at the LDS library, it disappeared by the time I got home. This happened before clouds so thumb drives were the best option for saving. Hubby suggested that maybe something was wrong with the thumb drive so I grabbed two others and we headed out, in a violent thunderstorm, to another LDS site much further from our home as that was the only one open. The volunteer said he was about to close as he didn’t think anyone would have ventured out in the inclement weather. I again located the document and this time, saved it to two different drives. For whatever reason, it saved correctly and I was able to open it when I returned home. Now on this cleaning spree, I deleted them off four different drives.

Next, I cleaned my download file on my computers, then cleaned the desktop. Next, I went on my three clouds and placed documents I had saved over the past year into folders. I then logged on to various organization to which I belong and downloaded and saved syllabuses for workshops that interested me but I hadn’t had time to attend. I plan to review them and watch the saved webinars if I needed more information.

This was followed by cleaning up my email account. I sent some follow up emails regarding projects that I haven’t gotten responses from in the past month and put mail I was done with in the appropriate folder.

I was feeling quite proud of myself so I went on to perform updates, which I hate doing because I’m inpatient of the time spent and the possible problems that result; for some reason, updates to our printer sometimes freezes the computer. While doing the updates, I realized I had neglected updating several of my tree software programs as new versions were available. All was well until I remembered that Roots Magic was linked to Ancestry and I hadn’t bothered to update changes I made to Ancestry in the past year. I almost had a heart attack when I clicked “Only show changed people” on Roots Magic. On a positive note, I was able to see how much progress I’ve made in my family tree but on a negative note, my goodness did I have a lot of work ahead of me to get the files saved to my personal computer. I seriously considered just redownloading my entire Ancestry tree but I knew with all the media I had, it would take at least a week as it had the first time I did it. I worried that the program would crash, especially with the electrical outages so I opted to painstakingly go through every individual and update. The majority of my cleaning time was completing this project. but I think it was worth it as I’d be crushed if something happened to my online tree at Ancestry. Having a backup, with all the media, is vitally important to me. Having it saved in numerous places is also worth the effort.

I am happy to report that I am ready to return to researching, my true love. I can’t wait!

Simple Tips to Maximize Your Genealogy Research

Recently, I volunteered to provide free genealogy assistance through a local genealogy society to which I belong. I try to help twice a year – fall and spring – which is advertised throughout our county. Every time I attend, I learn something new about genealogy practices. Here’s my latest revelations:

1. Keep your email accounts current – My first “client” had gotten everyone in her family to test. That included her siblings, children and herself. She had a DNA question for me but she couldn’t readily access any of her accounts because she had used an old email address she no longer had. I recommended she contact the DNA test companies to update her records. But that led to the next problem:

2. Know where you did your DNA test and when – She recalled she had last tested with 23andMe but when we clicked “Forgot your password?”, it was sent to her current email The problem was that kit was for her daughter. She then recalled she had purchased the kit two Christmas’ ago intending to use it but gave it to her daughter instead. We tried FTDNA, but couldn’t get in because that was the older email account. She thought she had used Ancestry.com for her sister but it turned out those were her results. Clicking around used up a good deal of time we could have spent analyzing the results. I shared how I save my info; I use Excel to keep a list of the Kit numbers, date the test was ordered, who the test was for and the company that was used. On a second tab, I record contact information from others after the results are returned. This way, I avoid duplication of effort.

3. Try, Try Again – Last fall I assisted a woman trying to find an obituary from the mid-1950’s. Her grandmother had been active in the community where she resided but she couldn’t find the obit in the nearest big city newspaper. I had recommended she contact a research librarian to find out the names of newspapers that were publishing at the time in that location and where the microfilm of those papers were held. She said, “I called and someone said they’d get back with me but nobody did.” Here’s a lesson we all need to heed, don’t think that call is going to happen now, months later. Call again. Ask to be connected with the Reference Desk. If a few days pass with no results, email. I love the Ask-A-Librarian online contact. Not only do you have a record that you made the request, it saves you a phone call and having to spell out the surname while the librarian is trying to take notes.

4. Two Heads Are Better Than One – I love paper but I don’t love having to sort through a ream and a half of every item ever discovered on a brick wall ancestor. In other words, be organized. If the information had been presented in time line order, we could have gotten through it much more expeditiously. The woman used the method of last found information was placed on top. I recommended she sort the information on a table by the year that the record was created. Sure, the immigration paperwork completed when the ancestor was in their mid 30’s had the date and place of birth but keeping the documents in created age order helps to determine the accuracy of the information found. She told me her method drove her uncle nuts but she was so into the hunt for records she didn’t like to take the time to organize them. I recommended she get with her genealogy buddy, the uncle, and see if he was more adept at organization. Then, they could put their heads together and make a timeline on paper (she hates software programs) to find holes. This approach also helps in finding information that was out there that you initially glossed over because you focused on something else. For example, she had the ship manifest so she knew where the ship sailed from. She also had a birth location from the immigration record. She had scant information between the birth and the immigration. I recommended reading the history of the area at the time the ancestor was born to determine if the family had relocated soon after (hint, it was probably the potato famine). If she wasn’t interested in that type of research, her partner could do it and then they could discuss where she could research further.

5. Know What You Want to Know – Your research question is imperative. “I want to know everything about my great grandfather” is not a question. You might be able to eventually get to the point where you know a lot about your great grandfather but to do so, you’ve got to start with a name or a place and a time from which to build. If you start small, you don’t get overwhelmed and quit. INMHO, that’s why people give up on genealogy. It is a practice in patience, analysis, and sometimes, dumb luck. You can control two of the three components. My recommendation for this individual was to focus on one area of a person’s life, like their career, and see what you can find. Then move to why that individual held that job. Perhaps there was indentured or apprenticed paperwork. Maybe the great grandfather or another relative was in the same line of work. Here’s an example I shared; my husband comes from a long line of carpenters. The original carpenter, however, didn’t build homes. He was a ship’s carpenter. That would have been a modern job when ships provided the largest means of transportation. His son was a ship’s carpenter early on in his career but switched as he aged to building homes. That man’s son moved farther inland and continued with the trade. That original research question could disclose a wealth of family information over generations. It pays to be specific about what you’re looking for.

Happy Hunting!

Musing About Life Lessons Learned That Apply to Genealogy

It’s been a slow week genealogywise for me as I’ve been consumed with the house renovations and an increased workload at my educator job. I thought I’d have difficulty coming up with a blog but instead I’m bursting with lessons learned from those situations that apply to genealogy.

With renovations, there is a lot of moving of “stuff” around as we empty one area of the house with the goal of making it an improved place. It’s a total pain to have to physically move items. I also realized I have a lot of things that I no longer use so I’m donating or pitching as I go (or pawning off on my children). This got me thinking about genealogy practices…

I used to have alot of stuff I took with me when I researched; I carried my clunky laptop, notebook, charts, lots of pencils, a camera, phone, stickees, and thumbdrives. It was a workout just getting into an archive. I’ve streamlined considerably and find I can simply take my Kindle, phone, a mechanical pencil and stickees. Instead of many thumbdrives that contained my surname info and individual thumbdrives for my clients, I now just take one for microfilms in case I can’t email it to myself and use the ap on my phone, Office Lens, to take a picture and immediately send it to One Note, for everything else I used to save to a thumbdrive. I can view that from my phone and Kindle to make sure it looked the way I want before I leave so I never get home and realize I needed to get a better view. Also on the Kindle is Evernote, which has my research log template. I still carry the stickees to flag book pages I’m interested in. These changes have made my research life much saner and safer. I don’t have to worry about someone walking off with the laptop if I have to go back to the stacks for another look. I have more flexibility in where I park myself down to research and I lost weight without having to diet. Very cool! Have no idea why it took me so long to figure out I needed to do this room by room in my house.

After a room is finished I find that I might be better off moving items around for increased efficiency. For example, my drinking glasses used to be in a cabinet closest to the sink. I realized it’s a better idea to move them in the cabinet next to the refrigerator as that’s where we go to get cold, purified water, ice and lemon. This practice definitely applies to genealogy. Just because you used to do something doesn’t mean you should continue to do so. Back in the day, I organized my genealogy files by lines. As the data grew I found that it was too complex so I took the time to reorganize by surname. A binder system works well for me today but may not in the future and that’s ok! Change is good although I must admit, as a creature of habit, I do tend to go back to the old cabinet to seek out a glass when I’m exhausted. Habits may be difficult to break but can be done. Investing time to make a task better is time well spent. You may be in for a happy surprise, which gets me to my next lesson learned.

Ironically, last Wednesday I blogged about my recent Dropbox experience. At my educator job, a decision was made right after I wrote the article that our team was going to only use One Note. I spent all day Thursday and part of Friday dropping and dragging files from Dropbox to One Note. Although I wasn’t thrilled to have to readjust my work priorities during a busy time, the situation did give me a big Ahaa! In Dropbox, I saved by event but in One Note, the decision was to save by date. Same situation as moving my drinking glasses and reorganizing my genealogy files! The data is the same but where and how it’s stored is different. So here’s where I learned another lesson – looking at the older files was quite enlightening. I was able to identify some holes in our program which we’ll be discussing this week. Try this with your brickwalls. If your found records are in timeline order, shuffle them up and place them by type of record or location where they were made. You might identify where your gap is and be off and running to locate overlooked events or places where they occurred. It sure is the same stuff but my looking through a different lens you might make a new discovery.

In other words, you’ve got to change your practices up to move forward, even if it’s painful. Happy Hunting!