Organization is your friend!

[fudge stripe cookays]

I've been struggling by the last few years with a jam-packed lightweight wooden file cabinet, and overcrowded desk, and oodles and oodles of papers everywhere.

Last night, I finally saw the fruition of my new organizational strategy!

We finally got me a new desk and hutch with more room, and heavyweight 2 drawer metal file cabinet with Pendaflex folders and TONS of file folders for specifying contents better.

In the meantime, before my research trip to the Midwest, I began printing off all my family data sheets for my Smith family, and placing them in 2 large looseleaf notebooks.

I have 2 notebooks right now for the Smith family. I'm searching for descendants of the 10 original Smith kids (my great grandfather was the 10th).

So for each Smith, and each successive generation from that person, I have a set of colored dividers.
1st generation; 1st kid: Blue divider with blue tab.
2nd generation; 1st kid: Green dividers with blue tabs
3rd generation; 1st kid: Yellow dividers with blue tabs
4th generation; 1st kid: Black dividers with blue tabs
5th generation; 1st kid: Purple dividers with blue tabs.

And for each successive child, it works the same way:
Kid #2: blue colored divider with clear tab, green colored divider with clear tab, yellow colored divider with clear tab, etc.

Kid #3: blue colored divider with yellow tab, green colored divider with yellow tab, etc.

Kid #3: Blue colored divder with orange tab, green colored divider with orange tab, etc.

This system is really working well for me, when I head to the LDS center, library, or other research center.

The last time I went to Madison to look for information, I really didn't know as much about what I was doing; I was still a newbie. This time, I have created a thorough research journal in Family Tree Maker with locations and dates to look for. I'm going PREPARED!

Maybe these hints might work for someone else... :-)
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[woodsprite]

1. Thanks for the hints

I'm just starting researching my family history. My daughter has a genealogy project due as a final project in her Humanities class next week. In helping her, I stumbled on a connection which documents one branch of my family back to 1593 from England. Of course, I have tons of others that I can't find diddly-squat on, but this one great find has boosted my courage to continue searching.

I'm using Family Treemaker for the data input and am just starting to collect enough papers etc, that I sometimes look at the pile and don't know where to start. I know your ideas will help. Thanks!!!

[hfojvt]

2. that sounds complicated

almost all of my data is on computer and I take a laptop with me when I goto research. I am not sure how Familytreemaker compares, but I use PAF 4.4 which I got for free from the LDS website familysearch.org.
Of course, I have tons of notebooks and loose papers which are only partly computerized, so more organization there would not hurt, but I sure love the software.

[woodsprite]

3. My FIL and I share files

all the time between FamilyTreemaker and PAF. Family Treemaker is sold thru Ancestry.com, so it may be a more commercial, prettified version of PAF. I *REALLY* liked Reunion for the Mac, but inorder to be more compatible with other relatives, and to be able to answer their questions when they called for help with the computers, I decided to go the PC route.

Last night I spent the major part of my evening footnoting the items I new to be true and where the info came from, etc. I'm only about 1/4 of the way done.

I ran my daughter to Border's to spend her birthday gift certificates last night and ended up getting a copy of "Your Guide to Cemetery Research" by Sharon Debartolo Carmack. It looked like a good read.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. That's a great book.

I have it myself, and it helped me find one of my guys, who died in 1854, in Rockford, Illinois.

Good pick! :thumbsup:
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[fudge stripe cookays]

6. Sourcing is your friend!

I started a completely new file several years ago, and wouldn't enter ANY fact in it until I had a source for it. It hs been SUCH a helpful thing for me. Now, if anybody asks me, "where did you get that?" I can point them right to it-- census record, obituary, death cert, birth cert, whatever.

You'll find it's the smartest decision you've ever made. Above all, don't assume anything. Even if you're POSITIVE someone died in a certain spot, put in "probably wherever" until you've proved it conclusively.

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[fudge stripe cookays]

5. It's really not.

I took my laptop with me on my trip, but I don't like using it at the facility. I move around too much grabbing films etc. I used it in my room adding all my new information or I took it to a nearby Wi-Fi spot at the coffeehouse so I could check the SSDI files for new people I'd just found, etc.

I've recently been diagnosed with MS, so a heavy computer might cause me with other problems. I take lightweight pocket folders with me wherever I go, with a printed "genealogy report" from my program in it.

But every few months, I update my "family data sheets in my notebooks so I can make notes in them just in case I need to refer to something.

I'm also dealing with cognitive and memory problems, so anything that helps me to remember, with a full page of info where I can take notes on a person helps me.

We all have to do what works for us. :D
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