I just have to share this. I’ve been stuck on my husbands great grandfather. I took your advice and started going back through notes I’ve made in the past, and bingo! I talked with Grandma Jones back in the 80s and she had told me great grandfathers brothers name and his wife’s name. I’m now getting new hints, haven’t gotten back another generation yet but this is incredible to add to his tree. I’ve learned so much from watching your videos, thank you.
I'm doing one direct ancestor on one line to the 5th generation. I then add to my hard drive, Google, WikiTree, and send a copy monthly to my sister and daughter.
Based on some of your recent videos, I have already started working on each of my direct ancestors' folders in my genealogy filing system. I'm already completely digital. I started renaming all of the files consistently and then transcribing the records and abstracting. I've done my parents and am starting on my grandparents. You're definitely inspiring me!
Lorna: FILES: What File Naming system did you use? FOLDERS: Do you use Family Folders (husband, wife, children in one folder, until the children have their own family) or Individual Folders for each person in your tree? I started with Individual Folders, then wondered what to do about the Family. So now I'm stuck.
this seems like a great question. I was wondering the same thing since surnames change in the same line (e.g. how to organize brothers and sisters of family members in the file folders). I've just found this channel and am just getting ready to embark on digitizing the notes that are becoming unwieldy and find a way to more easily look at things I've already found about a family member when I need to verify a new piece of information. @@mikeh704
Thanks for another good one. I'm pretty organized now, but have learned most of my lessons the hard way. I have just published KITTY'S PEOPLE, a biographical novel of my grandmother's family. The organizational tool I relied upon most was a consolidated (or relational) timeline that showed where all the family members were and what they were doing in any given year and often on any given day. My constant question was "While X event occurred, what else was going on?" What was my grandmother doing when her father remarried, when her dear sister died from a back-alley abortion, when her brother was gunned down in Chicago? Maintained in OneNote, I wound up adding things like what day Easter or Thanksgiving fell on, what the weather was like, when exactly Prohibition took effect in St. Louis, and the tick-tock for the unfolding of the Spanish Flu pandemic in St. Louis. I also added in significant events occurring to FANs when they seemed relevant to the family's state of mind. For two years, this relational timeline evolved and became my chief reference. I had one for the Flanagan family. Then when Kitty married into the Barrett family I put together a relational timeline for them too and continued Kitty's tracking from there. You can't imagine the insights I got from this intertwined time-mapping--including blasting through some brick walls! I don't know if OneNote was the best tool for this, but it did allow me to easily spin off more detailed descriptions of locales, institutions, physicians, and topics like the early 20th c. grocery business and the various diseases family members suffered from between 1885 and 1934. In the end, a vast amount of detailed information was captured and usefully organized (with sources, when I finally realized how essential they were to avoid rework!).
Absolutely yes. It is interweaving the historical events, family events, and even the weather that makes for a great family history story. Congratulations on your book.
Your videos are so good! Incredibly informative and entertaining at the same time. Love watching them. Thank you for all you do to help us with our family research.
I love the way you showed us to keep research notes... and have started getting more items digitized and saving those. I've got stuff on multiple computers, multiple drives on multiple computers, some on my phone and all the various hard copies LOL :). I need to pull all this stuff together. Thanks for the one ancestor challenge !
Me I started doing this a few years ago but life got in the way so I am starting at ground zero but much more excited this time. I am retired so now I have the time.
Love this video, Connie. I am just getting started and have been looking for all help I can find for how to organize the research so I can get started. For me, this one video seems to put it all in one place and so efficiently! I know I will be returning to it again and again. So glad I found you!
Great information Connie. I already started doing the research notes for one ancestor. Will accept the challenge for another ancestor. Look forward to next Wednesday's class and further discussion on organizing my information.
Thank you for reassuring me I’m trying to get better organized. With back to school sales at Staples, I bought 8 different color 2 pocket binders and 8 matching college rule note books. I’m putting papers I come across on the left side of folder and once documented in Ancestry or Family Tree Maker I am filing them on the right side in chronological order. I acquired STUFF from my in law’s they were cleaning / throwing out after a death in family. How do I date this tin photo? I have my parents’ old photo albums from 1920’s and earlier items. It’s fun….now, I will work on ONE relative and find all I can instead of bouncing all over our tree. Thanks!
I have ClearScanner on my Android phone. It lets me create PDF's of documents using my phone camera. It cleans up the document, straightens the edges if necessary. Perfect for capturing documents away from home.
Thank you for the time you spend to keep us all on the right track and growing. One question, when you say "transcribe" are you referring to placings facts into the reasearch document?
Great suggestions! Way back when I first began researching, goodness 25 years ago now, I started doing paper. Quickly realized how massive that would be so thought long and hard about whether to switch over to mostly digital. Digital won, so did a bunch of research on how to organize my digital files. Many people basically just did their digital the same way they did their paper files. For whatever reason many people seemed to like filing by document; so all the birth certificates are in one file, all the marriage documents in another file. This never made sense to me and I had started keeping my paper files by surname, then given name b/c that's how I was working with the documents. Meaning, when I'm researching, I'm working on everything for a person or family. I'm not looking for ALL the birth records or ALL the marriage records. Anyway, I set up my digital documents using my file naming protocol to have the computer sort all those files in alphabetical order by surname, then given name, then birth year, event/description, date acquired. Doing it this way all my documents basically in a timeline and no having to open different folders to see what I have for who. Love your videos!
I suspect you took a peek at my desk this morning because boy, oh boy, did this hit home. I found notes last night that I took in the earlier days of my research and some were just a name and a date. No sources. No idea where they fit in or why I had jotted them down. I've also learned the hard way to make backups in the cloud because you never know when disaster will hit and you'll be out of a computer. Not even a half hour ago I found a note to remind myself to deep dive into a newspaper for one of my ancestor's home town and now I'm sifting through a gold mine of names, dates, and some terrific stories of their lives. Nothing better than reading about an ancestor who claimed to have had a ghostly visitor he had to "beat off with a broom." LOL
I will take the challenge. By doing what you've suggested and writing down my thoughts in my research notes I've been able to go back and make corrections and confirm or disaffirm information I've found. As Connie says I've been able to see things I've initially missed. Am I perfect at it no but working at it yes. I've also been experimenting with Evernote, I can clip it, tag it and it keeps the link to the original source. This has been especially useful when reading association bulletins online.
Oh this helped me immensely! My father passed away this year. My mother had passed away three years ago. She was a local historian and family genealogist. However when I'd attempt to go into her office to take things of the family and incorporate into my genealogy Dad would become upset. So I never got to address her work until now. Sadly Mom, like most of us, enjoyed hunt and the write up of findings more than organizing her research and documents. Now I'm left with boxes of electronic media (SD cards, jump drives, floppy discs, CDs) as well as paper piles and things of all types. I'm working to establish order to it all. Then comes the integrate into my files (and a few piles of mine will need to be filed if I'm honest). I accept your challenge for not a person but a collection of a lifetime genealogist and local historian.
I think your 'one ancestor at a time' idea is great. When I open my external hard drives to try to tame the mess of records, the overwhelm just shuts me down. I have the files broken down like you suggest already, but after multiple backup, I have some records possibly hundreds of times. Some records inadvertently get named with the same name, even though they aren't the same record, so I can't just overwrite the files. I think your 'one ancestor at a time' idea might help me to control the overwhelm! I can just shut the other folks out of my mind while concentrating on that one ancestor. Doing it that way, maybe I can get these digital files under control before our infant grandson graduates from college. haha Keep up the good work. Have a blessed weekend!
I finally found a " Connie Knox conundrum" in my tree. I have a DNA cousin that lives across the pond, and we've been trying to figure out how we're related. We're related thru a specific bloodline, but having trouble coming up with the how. Pretty sure someone isn't who they thought they were. But proving it is super challenging, especially since it says were 5th-8th cousins. Been looking back thru your videos on your ancestor who loved having children but not the man in her life. It's funny how one small photo or note, puts you down some of the deepest rabbit holes. So we share only 5 matches, and we've solved 3 of them. I haven't had a chance to try WATO yet. It's like learning a foreign language LOL.
I have all the paper work that my mother did for her family. It is nicely bound in 3 ring binders. However, it is organized by generation. I am going to go through it person by person and follow your organizational tips here primarily the abstract and create research notes as I verify all her research. Her intention before her death was to give a copy of all 10 binders to each of my cousins. I am going to compile this into a private webpage for them rather than mailing many pounds of paper to each. I guess I am taking on your challenge!
I am recovering from total knee replacement now. A good time to reorganize the family. I found so much more stuff from the past. Majority of my brickwalls has been fixed. I have no scanner nor computer to work on now. A lot of printed off papers. Still gonna take me awhile to get everything together. One person at a time should work! I'll let you know!
I would LOVE to sit down with you on organizing. I have been working on my family history for a few years but when family ask me where I found the stuff, I can’t remember. It might be weeks or months since I did that. But this year I want to get organized. My plan for next year when I retire is to spend more time on my family history.
That's awesome. We have done to major lessons in the Genealogy TV Academy on getting organized. They are available now for members. Learn more here genealogytv.org/about-genealogy-tv-academy/
I love this challenge...I started doing this with one surname last week. broke them down to each person. my files are a mess. but I finally found my system how I organize. but I never use digital (and I won't) . it's all notebooks . my important papers are locked in a fire proof safe.
And hopefully you have back-ups in an additional location, because fireproof safes only provide a limited protection for a finite amount of time during a fire.
So timely. Just today I slammed into the "brick wall" of one of my ancestors--several before me have apparently mis-identified his parentage and I feel like I stepped through a looking glass where nothing is as it seemed. I know I have THE document somewhere that may clear things up...but where is it? It is what I call "fugitive information" that is being held for ransom in some random file. I will use your advice and FIND and DOCUMENT it properly!
Even before watching this video I had started filing my ancestors physical records first by surname and then by given name. I do have one question though. When it comes to the females do you file them by maiden name or married name? I have filed mine by maiden name, but on their file I have included their married name(s) after their maiden name. I know this makes the last name hyphenated but in all honesty nearly all of our direct female ancestors are known by two different last names. This also makes it a little easier for me to remember exactly which family line they originated from. And no, I really don't think I will change my system. I will admit that I do have some female ancestors with multiple last names (they were married multiple times) and I have tried to do my best to put all the last names on the file. If it seemed impossible I merely went with the maiden name and the married last name I knew them by. I just made sure to put in the notes that they were also known by the other last names.
What do you research at the library? Related question - have you ever visited a Family History Center run by the LDS / Family Search organization? I always figured that would be the next step after finding an index of a record, like a marriage record, but not actually seeing the record itself online (very frustrating!!!) . I would be very interested in seeing the value added of such an experience, if there is any.
hey connie, at what point would you recommend an ancestry membership? if I put money into genealogy, should ancestry be the first thing to spend money on?
Yes... I would. It's my favorite platform. If you want to try it, here's a 14 day free trial. prf.hn/click/camref:1101l4aFW/creativeref:1011l28781 (my affiliate link)
Connie, I have been doing my family history since 1986. I did bits & pieces- starts & stops for YEARS. I do have a digital filing system that basically works for me. I was sloppy for YEARS! I want to do a better job. How can I take ALL THE LOOSE, unorganized papers & notes...and use them if I don't sort things somehow BEFORE I tackle one ancestor?. Honestly, I have so many unassociated pieces of information, that I could be culling through piles for days to see if I missed something relevant to the ONE ancestor I'm working on. I'm determined to get it together. I've unpacked everything. The Good , Bag, & Ugly! What would you suggest I do as step one to get myself on track and stop wasting time, energy & brain power?
Start keeping research notes (one per ancestor)... and add all those little slips of paper and notes into each ancestors research notes in chronological order. This is something I teach at the Genealogy TV Academy. Here is an older video that explains how to do it. th-cam.com/video/bi2Gi6YLfDk/w-d-xo.html
@GenealogyTV Thanks so much...printed some research log pages. As I get to each piece...I WILL create a research log sheet. I'll watch the video...Thanks for sharing it with me. I appreciate EVERYTHING I have learned from your videos.
Watched the video... 30 years + and i just NOW got it... Research Log vs Research NOTES!! I can understand the methodology. Thanks again. As an aside... Is the summary on Ancestry with the ancestors "facts", not the same as a time line without the visual sources and citations?
Word always. Think about my 200 Year Rule. Can someone access and navigate your research notes 200 years from now. This is why I don't use those electronic notebooks, because I'm not sure they'll be around 200 years from now.
Connie, I will take on this challenge with a research question regarding the parentage of one of my ggg grandmothers. There are few records that mention her directly, so I will have to research her husband, search for a possible first husband, and research potential siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents. I plan to keep research notes on each individual, but I'm not sure that will show the relationships between all of these people. I think that initially a research report on the research question, including the research on all these known and possible relatives, with the information copied from the research report to the chronological research report might be a better approach. What do you think? Also, in your research files, do you distinguish between known ancestors, known collateral relatives, and the people who might or might not be related to you?
How very opportune. I am siting here on a damp miserable morning in New Zealand, with a large box of notes trying to sort them into family groups. I thought I should discipline myself to get organized before I have my daily venture onto ancestry. I understand your reasonings but don't know if I have the computer skills/knowledge to do it. Are you able to advise me how to organize a "cloud" backup system for starters, do you have a video covering that. I have boxes of notes for different branches of my tree, much sent to me by cousins and family relatives which I know will all slot into place but I do need to get organized because at the moment i am just adding to the pile. I must confess I like having paper references in my hand, I have difficulty reading from a screen. When you suggest picking one ancestor, do you aim for perhaps a grandparent or should I go a generation back from that. I do have a bit of an excuse as I promised my mother and an aunt I would never research their or my generation ,otherwise I would never had got any assistance from either, they were both dead against a family tree being done. My mother passed away last year a month short of her 94th birthday, my aunt three years ago so I feel free to start pursing the family skeletons, with the loose interpretation that the promise was only for the duration of their lifetime. Connie ,can you pick me one starting point, paternal or maternal and I will give it a go, otherwise I will just be double handling these boxes of paper Wish I had found your site sooner, but better late than never.
Personally, if it were me, I would start with those who appear to have been keeping secrets. I think their deaths end you having to keep to the agreement and whatever was being hidden might be something important for you and any children to know. If it was something that would be embarrassing to them, it isn't a concern for them now. I am so very sorry for the loss of your mother and aunt. My mother passed away last year, too. Have a blessed weekend.
Hi Alison, Sorry for your loss. Here's what I suggest. Group your papers by surname. As you scan them, add them to the same filing system on your computer as you do in the cloud. Surname folder, then Surname First Name folders within the Surname folders. Don't feel like you have to organize the entire closet of boxes (unless the rain never stops in NZ :)). Just kidding. Pick that one ancestor you want to know more about and get that one ancestor organized. One person at a time... before you know it in a couple of months, things will start to look more organized. Here is a video I did a few years ago that explains it. Good Filing From the Start th-cam.com/video/7whvacUyLHM/w-d-xo.html
On the topic of cloud backup ... all you need is a service like Google Drive (or DropBox or Microsoft OneDrive, etc). All of them are compatible with Windows and Mac computers. When you sign up for the service, you'll have a small program or other similar function that runs on your computer, in the background. You'll also have a special file area that's created on your local computer. Whatever gets put in that file area will by synchronized to the cloud by the small program. You won't need to be particularly computer-skilled ... just make sure you put all the files you want backed up in that one special area. (Of course, you're Internet connection needs to be available too.) So, for example, if you create a folder in the area called 'genealogy' and then start filing all your digital scans, research notes, etc into that folder, it will automatically get synchronized for you. Within that folder you'll, of course, want to be organized with subfolders, etc. Personally, I use Google Drive since I've already got a Google login because of my TH-cam account, etc. It's free, has lots of storage available and you can have it synchronize among all your devices (multiple computers & phones). You can also access everything from a web interface if you're on a computer that isn't sync'ed, such as at the library. To give you an idea of what it can hold ... I have about 2Gb of genealogy documents there, spanning 8 generations, with copies of all census pages, birth certs, digital books, photos and all kinds of other things. I've only used 10% of my available Google Drive space. The basic Microsoft OneDrive account is free too, but you only get about 1/3rd of the storage that Google gives. DropBox is not free but the basic monthly plan gives you about 5 times what Google gives. If you want to get started, just do a web search for the service name and go to the top result. For example, if you use Google Search to search for Google Drive, it will take you right there.
I have never been able to find the way to access the research notes hand out. Cannot see anything to click. Are the hand outs only available for a certain time I wonder?
how do you seperate families in your digital files who have the same surname but are different families? because three of my greatgrandparents surnames is Janzen 😅
You talk and give verbalize instructions excellently but some people including me need to see it done so if possible -- please do a simple example of the process of organizing just one ancestor -- if you need to, fake it but show not talk - please
Unfortunately, if your ancestors come from a country where patronymic naming was predominant (e.g. Nordic countries such as Sweden), organizing by surname is NOT very useful, as the surname changed at least every generation (and often more frequently).
Agree! Most of my ancestors are from Sweden. I'm trying to include the name of the location on the files, but still find some confusion with so many Anderssons.
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Thanks so much for sharing your expertise!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for the tip!
I just have to share this. I’ve been stuck on my husbands great grandfather. I took your advice and started going back through notes I’ve made in the past, and bingo! I talked with Grandma Jones back in the 80s and she had told me great grandfathers brothers name and his wife’s name. I’m now getting new hints, haven’t gotten back another generation yet but this is incredible to add to his tree. I’ve learned so much from watching your videos, thank you.
Thanks for sharing!! That's awesome. Happy Dance!
I'm doing one direct ancestor on one line to the 5th generation. I then add to my hard drive, Google, WikiTree, and send a copy monthly to my sister and daughter.
Oh fantastic June. Nice!
Oh that's even better sharing the information !!
Based on some of your recent videos, I have already started working on each of my direct ancestors' folders in my genealogy filing system. I'm already completely digital. I started renaming all of the files consistently and then transcribing the records and abstracting. I've done my parents and am starting on my grandparents. You're definitely inspiring me!
Thank you
Lorna: FILES: What File Naming system did you use? FOLDERS: Do you use Family Folders (husband, wife, children in one folder, until the children have their own family) or Individual Folders for each person in your tree? I started with Individual Folders, then wondered what to do about the Family. So now I'm stuck.
this seems like a great question. I was wondering the same thing since surnames change in the same line (e.g. how to organize brothers and sisters of family members in the file folders). I've just found this channel and am just getting ready to embark on digitizing the notes that are becoming unwieldy and find a way to more easily look at things I've already found about a family member when I need to verify a new piece of information. @@mikeh704
Thanks for this reminder Connie.
Excellent ideas!
The tree, know your roots. It's the key 🗝️ Showing my daughter
I'm starting to do this. And I'm finding a lot more info about this person. Thank you for covering this topic.
You offer the best information, hints and tips! Thank you.
Thanks
This is the video i so needed! Thank you for a fantastic video! 😁
Thanks Samuel.
Thanks for another good one. I'm pretty organized now, but have learned most of my lessons the hard way. I have just published KITTY'S PEOPLE, a biographical novel of my grandmother's family. The organizational tool I relied upon most was a consolidated (or relational) timeline that showed where all the family members were and what they were doing in any given year and often on any given day. My constant question was "While X event occurred, what else was going on?" What was my grandmother doing when her father remarried, when her dear sister died from a back-alley abortion, when her brother was gunned down in Chicago? Maintained in OneNote, I wound up adding things like what day Easter or Thanksgiving fell on, what the weather was like, when exactly Prohibition took effect in St. Louis, and the tick-tock for the unfolding of the Spanish Flu pandemic in St. Louis. I also added in significant events occurring to FANs when they seemed relevant to the family's state of mind. For two years, this relational timeline evolved and became my chief reference. I had one for the Flanagan family. Then when Kitty married into the Barrett family I put together a relational timeline for them too and continued Kitty's tracking from there. You can't imagine the insights I got from this intertwined time-mapping--including blasting through some brick walls!
I don't know if OneNote was the best tool for this, but it did allow me to easily spin off more detailed descriptions of locales, institutions, physicians, and topics like the early 20th c. grocery business and the various diseases family members suffered from between 1885 and 1934. In the end, a vast amount of detailed information was captured and usefully organized (with sources, when I finally realized how essential they were to avoid rework!).
Absolutely yes. It is interweaving the historical events, family events, and even the weather that makes for a great family history story. Congratulations on your book.
Your videos are so good! Incredibly informative and entertaining at the same time. Love watching them. Thank you for all you do to help us with our family research.
Thank you
I love the way you showed us to keep research notes... and have started getting more items digitized and saving those. I've got stuff on multiple computers, multiple drives on multiple computers, some on my phone and all the various hard copies LOL :). I need to pull all this stuff together. Thanks for the one ancestor challenge !
Glad it was helpful! I bet you find details you missed in the past... or may have forgotten about.
Love your new/old filming area the brown paint was an excellent choice.
Glad you enjoyed it. Trying to get away from the green screen stuff. Thanks.
Me I started doing this a few years ago but life got in the way so I am starting at ground zero but much more excited this time. I am retired so now I have the time.
Love this video, Connie. I am just getting started and have been looking for all help I can find for how to organize the research so I can get started. For me, this one video seems to put it all in one place and so efficiently! I know I will be returning to it again and again.
So glad I found you!
Awesome. Welcome. Thanks for becoming a member.
Great video. I immediately felt overwhelmed with no idea where to begin organizing. Glad you recommended taking one ancestor at a time. Thanks!
You can do it!
Great information Connie. I already started doing the research notes for one ancestor. Will accept the challenge for another ancestor. Look forward to next Wednesday's class and further discussion on organizing my information.
Wonderful! See you then.
Thanks for this video. I definitely need to take this challenge on ancestor at a time
Go for it!
Thank you for reassuring me I’m trying to get better organized. With back to school sales at Staples, I bought 8 different color 2 pocket binders and 8 matching college rule note books. I’m putting papers I come across on the left side of folder and once documented in Ancestry or Family Tree Maker I am filing them on the right side in chronological order. I acquired STUFF from my in law’s they were cleaning / throwing out after a death in family. How do I date this tin photo? I have my parents’ old photo albums from 1920’s and earlier items. It’s fun….now, I will work on ONE relative and find all I can instead of bouncing all over our tree. Thanks!
I have ClearScanner on my Android phone. It lets me create PDF's of documents using my phone camera. It cleans up the document, straightens the edges if necessary. Perfect for capturing documents away from home.
Thanks bunches
You are so welcome
Thank you for the time you spend to keep us all on the right track and growing. One question, when you say "transcribe" are you referring to placings facts into the reasearch document?
I’m talking about transcribing, Word for Word, documents in your files.
Great suggestions!
Way back when I first began researching, goodness 25 years ago now, I started doing paper. Quickly realized how massive that would be so thought long and hard about whether to switch over to mostly digital. Digital won, so did a bunch of research on how to organize my digital files. Many people basically just did their digital the same way they did their paper files. For whatever reason many people seemed to like filing by document; so all the birth certificates are in one file, all the marriage documents in another file. This never made sense to me and I had started keeping my paper files by surname, then given name b/c that's how I was working with the documents. Meaning, when I'm researching, I'm working on everything for a person or family. I'm not looking for ALL the birth records or ALL the marriage records.
Anyway, I set up my digital documents using my file naming protocol to have the computer sort all those files in alphabetical order by surname, then given name, then birth year, event/description, date acquired. Doing it this way all my documents basically in a timeline and no having to open different folders to see what I have for who.
Love your videos!
Love it. Keep up the good work. The future generations will appreciate it.
I really, really needed this. My desk is a disaster. I can do one. I hope.
Commit to the process Linda! You can do it!
I suspect you took a peek at my desk this morning because boy, oh boy, did this hit home. I found notes last night that I took in the earlier days of my research and some were just a name and a date. No sources. No idea where they fit in or why I had jotted them down. I've also learned the hard way to make backups in the cloud because you never know when disaster will hit and you'll be out of a computer. Not even a half hour ago I found a note to remind myself to deep dive into a newspaper for one of my ancestor's home town and now I'm sifting through a gold mine of names, dates, and some terrific stories of their lives. Nothing better than reading about an ancestor who claimed to have had a ghostly visitor he had to "beat off with a broom." LOL
Love it
I will take the challenge. By doing what you've suggested and writing down my thoughts in my research notes I've been able to go back and make corrections and confirm or disaffirm information I've found. As Connie says I've been able to see things I've initially missed. Am I perfect at it no but working at it yes. I've also been experimenting with Evernote, I can clip it, tag it and it keeps the link to the original source. This has been especially useful when reading association bulletins online.
Excellent! Nicely done Matt.
Oh this helped me immensely! My father passed away this year. My mother had passed away three years ago. She was a local historian and family genealogist. However when I'd attempt to go into her office to take things of the family and incorporate into my genealogy Dad would become upset. So I never got to address her work until now. Sadly Mom, like most of us, enjoyed hunt and the write up of findings more than organizing her research and documents. Now I'm left with boxes of electronic media (SD cards, jump drives, floppy discs, CDs) as well as paper piles and things of all types. I'm working to establish order to it all. Then comes the integrate into my files (and a few piles of mine will need to be filed if I'm honest). I accept your challenge for not a person but a collection of a lifetime genealogist and local historian.
Go for it! You can do this. Sorry to hear about your folks. I completely understand.
Oh I'm trying. I want my tree correct so it will help other people to discover .
I think your 'one ancestor at a time' idea is great.
When I open my external hard drives to try to tame the mess of records, the overwhelm just shuts me down. I have the files broken down like you suggest already, but after multiple backup, I have some records possibly hundreds of times. Some records inadvertently get named with the same name, even though they aren't the same record, so I can't just overwrite the files.
I think your 'one ancestor at a time' idea might help me to control the overwhelm! I can just shut the other folks out of my mind while concentrating on that one ancestor. Doing it that way, maybe I can get these digital files under control before our infant grandson graduates from college. haha
Keep up the good work. Have a blessed weekend!
You go girl! One ancestor.
@@GenealogyTV Thanks for the encouragement. :)
I finally found a " Connie Knox conundrum" in my tree. I have a DNA cousin that lives across the pond, and we've been trying to figure out how we're related. We're related thru a specific bloodline, but having trouble coming up with the how. Pretty sure someone isn't who they thought they were. But proving it is super challenging, especially since it says were 5th-8th cousins. Been looking back thru your videos on your ancestor who loved having children but not the man in her life. It's funny how one small photo or note, puts you down some of the deepest rabbit holes. So we share only 5 matches, and we've solved 3 of them. I haven't had a chance to try WATO yet. It's like learning a foreign language LOL.
That ancestor was my GGM Rebecca Henley from Randolph Co. NC.
I have 8 billion spiral notebooks with information. My plan is to digitize as you say. Long overdue!
Please do!
I have all the paper work that my mother did for her family. It is nicely bound in 3 ring binders. However, it is organized by generation. I am going to go through it person by person and follow your organizational tips here primarily the abstract and create research notes as I verify all her research. Her intention before her death was to give a copy of all 10 binders to each of my cousins. I am going to compile this into a private webpage for them rather than mailing many pounds of paper to each. I guess I am taking on your challenge!
Love it! Go for it.
Great infomation and great video. What brand/model scanner do you use?
It's by Vivid Pix and Snap Scan. Go here to learn more. genealogytv.org/sponsors/
I am recovering from total knee replacement now. A good time to reorganize the family. I found so much more stuff from the past. Majority of my brickwalls has been fixed. I have no scanner nor computer to work on now. A lot of printed off papers. Still gonna take me awhile to get everything together. One person at a time should work! I'll let you know!
There are some very cheap scanning apps for your cell phone that make great scanners.
I would LOVE to sit down with you on organizing. I have been working on my family history for a few years but when family ask me where I found the stuff, I can’t remember. It might be weeks or months since I did that. But this year I want to get organized. My plan for next year when I retire is to spend more time on my family history.
That's awesome. We have done to major lessons in the Genealogy TV Academy on getting organized. They are available now for members. Learn more here genealogytv.org/about-genealogy-tv-academy/
I love this challenge...I started doing this with one surname last week. broke them down to each person. my files are a mess. but I finally found my system how I organize. but I never use digital (and I won't) . it's all notebooks . my important papers are locked in a fire proof safe.
And hopefully you have back-ups in an additional location, because fireproof safes only provide a limited protection for a finite amount of time during a fire.
As I always say... "You do You" what works for you is the right thing to do. Rock on!
So timely. Just today I slammed into the "brick wall" of one of my ancestors--several before me have apparently mis-identified his parentage and I feel like I stepped through a looking glass where nothing is as it seemed. I know I have THE document somewhere that may clear things up...but where is it? It is what I call "fugitive information" that is being held for ransom in some random file. I will use your advice and FIND and DOCUMENT it properly!
Love it... fugitive information.
Even before watching this video I had started filing my ancestors physical records first by surname and then by given name. I do have one question though. When it comes to the females do you file them by maiden name or married name? I have filed mine by maiden name, but on their file I have included their married name(s) after their maiden name. I know this makes the last name hyphenated but in all honesty nearly all of our direct female ancestors are known by two different last names. This also makes it a little easier for me to remember exactly which family line they originated from. And no, I really don't think I will change my system. I will admit that I do have some female ancestors with multiple last names (they were married multiple times) and I have tried to do my best to put all the last names on the file. If it seemed impossible I merely went with the maiden name and the married last name I knew them by. I just made sure to put in the notes that they were also known by the other last names.
I file by maiden name when I know it.
What do you research at the library?
Related question - have you ever visited a Family History Center run by the LDS / Family Search organization? I always figured that would be the next step after finding an index of a record, like a marriage record, but not actually seeing the record itself online (very frustrating!!!) . I would be very interested in seeing the value added of such an experience, if there is any.
That sounds like a whole other video "what to research at the library."
hey connie, at what point would you recommend an ancestry membership? if I put money into genealogy, should ancestry be the first thing to spend money on?
Yes... I would. It's my favorite platform. If you want to try it, here's a 14 day free trial. prf.hn/click/camref:1101l4aFW/creativeref:1011l28781 (my affiliate link)
Connie, I have been doing my family history since 1986. I did bits & pieces- starts & stops for YEARS.
I do have a digital filing system that basically works for me.
I was sloppy for YEARS! I want to do a better job. How can I take ALL THE LOOSE, unorganized papers & notes...and use them if I don't sort things somehow BEFORE I tackle one ancestor?. Honestly, I have so many unassociated pieces of information, that I could be culling through piles for days to see if I missed something relevant to the ONE ancestor I'm working on. I'm determined to get it together. I've unpacked everything. The Good , Bag, & Ugly!
What would you suggest I do as step one to get myself on track and stop wasting time, energy & brain power?
Start keeping research notes (one per ancestor)... and add all those little slips of paper and notes into each ancestors research notes in chronological order. This is something I teach at the Genealogy TV Academy. Here is an older video that explains how to do it. th-cam.com/video/bi2Gi6YLfDk/w-d-xo.html
@GenealogyTV Thanks so much...printed some research log pages. As I get to each piece...I WILL create a research log sheet. I'll watch the video...Thanks for sharing it with me. I appreciate EVERYTHING I have learned from your videos.
Watched the video... 30 years + and i just NOW got it... Research Log vs Research NOTES!! I can understand the methodology.
Thanks again.
As an aside... Is the summary on Ancestry with the ancestors "facts", not the same as a time line without the visual sources and citations?
Do you use a particular computer program for your research notes?
Word always. Think about my 200 Year Rule. Can someone access and navigate your research notes 200 years from now. This is why I don't use those electronic notebooks, because I'm not sure they'll be around 200 years from now.
Connie, I will take on this challenge with a research question regarding the parentage of one of my ggg grandmothers. There are few records that mention her directly, so I will have to research her husband, search for a possible first husband, and research potential siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and parents. I plan to keep research notes on each individual, but I'm not sure that will show the relationships between all of these people. I think that initially a research report on the research question, including the research on all these known and possible relatives, with the information copied from the research report to the chronological research report might be a better approach. What do you think? Also, in your research files, do you distinguish between known ancestors, known collateral relatives, and the people who might or might not be related to you?
Yes you can keep track of all of that in your research notes, kept in chronological order. We’re talking about all of that in the Academy this week.
And thank you for your continued support as a Genealogy TV channel member.
challenge accepted!
Yay!
How very opportune. I am siting here on a damp miserable morning in New Zealand, with a large box of notes trying to sort them into family groups. I thought I should discipline myself to get organized before I have my daily venture onto ancestry. I understand your reasonings but don't know if I have the computer skills/knowledge to do it. Are you able to advise me how to organize a "cloud" backup system for starters, do you have a video covering that. I have boxes of notes for different branches of my tree, much sent to me by cousins and family relatives which I know will all slot into place but I do need to get organized because at the moment i am just adding to the pile. I must confess I like having paper references in my hand, I have difficulty reading from a screen. When you suggest picking one ancestor, do you aim for perhaps a grandparent or should I go a generation back from that.
I do have a bit of an excuse as I promised my mother and an aunt I would never research their or my generation ,otherwise I would never had got any assistance from either, they were both dead against a family tree being done. My mother passed away last year a month short of her 94th birthday, my aunt three years ago so I feel free to start pursing the family skeletons, with the loose interpretation that the promise was only for the duration of their lifetime.
Connie ,can you pick me one starting point, paternal or maternal and I will give it a go, otherwise I will just be double handling these boxes of paper Wish I had found your site sooner, but better late than never.
Personally, if it were me, I would start with those who appear to have been keeping secrets. I think their deaths end you having to keep to the agreement and whatever was being hidden might be something important for you and any children to know. If it was something that would be embarrassing to them, it isn't a concern for them now. I am so very sorry for the loss of your mother and aunt. My mother passed away last year, too. Have a blessed weekend.
Hi Alison, Sorry for your loss. Here's what I suggest. Group your papers by surname. As you scan them, add them to the same filing system on your computer as you do in the cloud. Surname folder, then Surname First Name folders within the Surname folders. Don't feel like you have to organize the entire closet of boxes (unless the rain never stops in NZ :)). Just kidding. Pick that one ancestor you want to know more about and get that one ancestor organized. One person at a time... before you know it in a couple of months, things will start to look more organized.
Here is a video I did a few years ago that explains it. Good Filing From the Start th-cam.com/video/7whvacUyLHM/w-d-xo.html
On the topic of cloud backup ... all you need is a service like Google Drive (or DropBox or Microsoft OneDrive, etc). All of them are compatible with Windows and Mac computers.
When you sign up for the service, you'll have a small program or other similar function that runs on your computer, in the background. You'll also have a special file area that's created on your local computer. Whatever gets put in that file area will by synchronized to the cloud by the small program. You won't need to be particularly computer-skilled ... just make sure you put all the files you want backed up in that one special area. (Of course, you're Internet connection needs to be available too.)
So, for example, if you create a folder in the area called 'genealogy' and then start filing all your digital scans, research notes, etc into that folder, it will automatically get synchronized for you. Within that folder you'll, of course, want to be organized with subfolders, etc.
Personally, I use Google Drive since I've already got a Google login because of my TH-cam account, etc. It's free, has lots of storage available and you can have it synchronize among all your devices (multiple computers & phones). You can also access everything from a web interface if you're on a computer that isn't sync'ed, such as at the library. To give you an idea of what it can hold ... I have about 2Gb of genealogy documents there, spanning 8 generations, with copies of all census pages, birth certs, digital books, photos and all kinds of other things. I've only used 10% of my available Google Drive space.
The basic Microsoft OneDrive account is free too, but you only get about 1/3rd of the storage that Google gives. DropBox is not free but the basic monthly plan gives you about 5 times what Google gives.
If you want to get started, just do a web search for the service name and go to the top result. For example, if you use Google Search to search for Google Drive, it will take you right there.
@Kimberly G. Thank you so much for explaining how to go about this and offering the options.
@@arlindanelson7928 You're welcome. I'm happy to help. 😊
I became a member on TH-cam but can not find the handouts on the community tab. Help?
Make sure you are at the Info Access level.
I have never been able to find the way to access the research notes hand out. Cannot see anything to click. Are the hand outs only available for a certain time I wonder?
how do you seperate families in your digital files who have the same surname but are different families? because three of my greatgrandparents surnames is Janzen 😅
Watch this video for the answer to your question. th-cam.com/video/7whvacUyLHM/w-d-xo.html
may I ask about how many people are in your family tree?
3721. The way I look at it, it's not a race. It's a careful methodical process.
@@GenealogyTV amazing!
@@GenealogyTV and what is the furthest you've gotten? like the "earliest" direct ancestor :)
You talk and give verbalize instructions excellently but some people including me need to see it done so if possible -- please do a simple example of the process of organizing just one ancestor -- if you need to, fake it but show not talk - please
Yes I understand. We'll be demonstrating it in the GTV Academy next week.
Unfortunately, if your ancestors come from a country where patronymic naming was predominant (e.g. Nordic countries such as Sweden), organizing by surname is NOT very useful, as the surname changed at least every generation (and often more frequently).
Good point
Agree! Most of my ancestors are from Sweden. I'm trying to include the name of the location on the files, but still find some confusion with so many Anderssons.
Who keeps paper files anymore? Old documents, yes; but paper files take up way too much room. And they deteriorate.
Agreed. Some still do.