Getting Organized
NancyR
I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
Any ideas?
Nancy
"NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net>
Steve Hayes
> I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
> how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
> perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
>
> Any ideas?
>
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Steve Hayes <haye...@hotmail.com>
Gene Y.
> I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
> how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
> perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
>
> Any ideas?
>
Try using Legacy Family Tree software from Millenia Corp. It has a
To Do function that does what you want. You can record all of the
above and either view or print it in several ways. The Basic
version is free.
--
Gene Y.
"Gene Y." <n2...@cfl.rr.com>
ne...@jecarter.us
> I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
> how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
> perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
>
> Any ideas?
>
How are you tracking the family tree?
The various genealogy software programs usually provide some form of
"what's needed" references.
I use Legacy and it provides guidance on what to look for next
(which is the other side of the "what have I found" coin). You can
downoad the free version here:
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/
If you want to have a copy of the ancestry.com documents on your PC,
create a folder named FamilyTree and then sub-folders under it, such
as Census, Cemeteries, Marriages, Births, etc. Save the images with
names that are meaningful to you - I use the name of the person of
interest or the head of household plus person of interest, plus the
year, state, county (and township if appropriate). This tells me
that I have searched a specific census year and location for a last
name (and its variants). The same logic applies to marriage
records, etc.
Some examples:
AppleburgMildred(13)-1870-TN-Shelby.jpg
AppleburyMildred(14)-1870-TN-Tipton.jpg
AppleberryRichard-Mildred(4)-1860-TN-Tipton.jpg
[number in () is age at census]
Then we get to the hard part: Is "Appleburg" the correct
interpretation of the census taker's handwriting in the first
example or is it a sloppy "y" in "Applebury"?
John
ka7suz
> I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
> how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
> perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> "NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net>
If your genealogical software has a 'tasks' feature - where you can
make notes of research plans you have for people, that would be the
place to add where you want to look, what you want to find and your
results. Otherwise, I suppose there is the ever faithful
spreadsheet. :-)
NancyR
I'm using Family Tree Maker. I've learned that if I find something
of interest on the internet, print it as soon as possible as it can
disappear. I was going to go with index cards sort by ther person's
name and just write down where I've looked. But I thought someone
might have a better system.
Nancy
"NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net>
Keith Nuttle
I use FTM for the database for my genealogical data. For all of the
documents, pictures and other things I collect, I store them
electronically. In a primary directory I all Biography, I have set
up the following directory structure on my hard drive.
For each set of grand parent I have created a directory. In that
directory there are subdirectories for the following items
---Documents: Contains Death certificates, marriage licenses, draft
cards, etc. This also has copies of letters I have received with
their results of for research they have found for me.
---Census: Contains copies of each census page where I have found
people of interest.
---Residences: Contains pictures and specific location maps for
the homes of ancestors
---Burials: Contains pictures of tombstones and maps of the
cemeteries where those graves are located.
---Pictures: Contains family pictures. ie picture of my great
great grandparent, picture of their school classes, etc.
---Newspapers: Full pages of the newspaper where I have found
information about the family.
Depending on the volume of documents I may also have subdirectories
for:
---a researcher who has provided me with a lot of information
---a great great grandparents family.
---an indirect family branch that I am tracking for some reason.
In the in the Biography directory with the grandparents there are
some special directories.
---Maps: Contains area map of the places where my family lived.
Township plat maps, state county maps, etc.
---Places: I have a couple of directories for churches and small
communities that I have been developing history.
---General Interest book: I have download PDF files containing
frequently reference books. old county histories, etc.
If I was setting it up again I would consider creating
great-grandparent directory instead of grandparent directories.
Current research ideas or unconfirmed notes are tossed in the
primary directories. (I frequently clean it, or refile)
I maintain images or e copies of every document I collect as it is
easier to find on the computer rather than digging through boxes and
file cabinets. Having everything as images or e-copies makes it
easier to share my source material with other researchers.
Sorry for getting quite windy, but hope it helps you to set up your
system
Keith Nuttle <keith_...@sbcglobal.net>
ne...@jecarter.us
Does FTM have a place to record notes about each person? If so, use
this to keep the references with the associated people.
Just remember to make regular backups of everything you store on the
computer - an external 500GB USB drive is less than $100. Having
spent years in IT support, I'm probablya bit paranoid about backing
up data - I currently have 3 or 4 copies of the genealogy data on
various media: CD (possibly at another location), another PC, an
external drive.
John
Steve Hayes
> I'm using Family Tree Maker. I've learned that if I find something
> of interest on the internet, print it as soon as possible as it can
> disappear. I was going to go with index cards sort by ther person's
> name and just write down where I've looked. But I thought someone
> might have a better system.
>
As I said, Evernote.
They are electronic index cards.
singhals
> I've signed up for a year with ancestry.com and am wondering about
> how to set up a system to track what I have searched, copied,
> perhaps "need to research", contacts, etc.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> "NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net>
As others have said, whatever genealogy software you're using
probably has features to do this for you or that you can use to do
this.
No one has ventured out here where angels fear to tread, so I will
bring it up for your consideration:
A Need to Research list frequently becomes outdated and if you don't
remember to go delete stuff as you find it, your to-do will get /
seriously/ unwieldy. Part of this results from serendipitiously
finding Fact H while searching for Fact B, part of it results from
the disconnect between one's thought-process (aka logic) while
creating the list and confronting with an actual research process
(i.e., "I need all the Friddlyfrabs in Podunk County" goes on your
to-do list, but Ardus Friddlyfrab married in Squonk County, where
you're researching the Mendicants -- and since you don't HAVE Ardus
by name on the to-do list ...he gets not-marked as found.
//or//
you've already been through the Middle County census, and so you
mark it "done" -- and two weeks later, you find a maiden name and
you need to look at Middle County again, but your list says you've
done that ...)
Copying something does you no good unless you can find it when you
need it again (said the blonde with 4 copies of the same 4 pages).
A lot of this is solved by using the SOURCE listing to record
negative as well as positive results (I don't care how often I look,
or which name of the book I use, one fact I need simply isn't in
there, and the sooner I manage tor remember that, the better.) but a
a lot of it /isn't/.
Bottom line -- ugly, annoying, and incovenient, but often true --
Organization is in the mind of the organizer. (see also: the
archives for discussions of the "best" way to keep one's file
folders.)
Cheryl
singhals <sing...@erols.com>
cecilia
> [...]
> I'm using Family Tree Maker. I've learned that if I find something
> of interest on the internet, print it as soon as possible as it can
>
> "NancyR" <nan...@nospam.net>
If quoting the internet as a source, giving the URL and the date
when it was seen, the Wayback Machine
http://www.archive.org/index.php
can sometimes be used to retreive the information.
my...@ic24.net (cecilia)