Day 1
"Decide what you want to find."
From various webinars, discussions groups, as well as the Genealogy Do-Over, one should sit down and write out a Research Log for each individual they are researching and each fact to be checked. While I can, somewhat, understand and appreciate the organized methodology of this practice, I just can't get myself to do this for each individual and fact - at least not on paper or computer. I do it mentally as I have a individual or family records displayed on my computer screen.
I want to immediately start my research. And for now, I'm concentrating on using my World Subscription for Ancestry. This allows me to search the full extent of Ancestry's database - primarily Canada, United States and United Kingdom records.
I want all possible information on the individuals (direct and collateral) in my database.
I am currently concentrating on direct ancestors. However in doing research on that individual, information on other family member appear on the same record and are entered into the database (citing sourcing is a given).
In other words, I display the record of a family member. What do I want to find?
1) confirm birth date, place, parents (if birth suspected to be during timeframe covered by Ancestry).
2) confirm marriage (if marriage suspected to have taken place during timeframe covered by Ancesty).
3) check censuses during lifetime of individual
4) check cemetery databases (links in Genealogy Toolbox) for burial information and possibly photo of headstone
5) repeat #1-3 in FamilySearch for records not found in Ancestry
6) google individual (using and altering keywords searched)
7) search newspapers for death notices
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Beyond Week 13
The intent of participating in the popular "Genealogy Do-Over" is to retrain (or maybe train) one's research skills so that on-going research is done in a more efficient manner and properly cited. Is this working?
I started lurking the Facebook group of Genealogy Do-Over part way through Cycle 1 and was a participant of Cycle 2. I resumed lurking through Cycle 3 and now Cycle 4. Each week, I read through the assignment and make a mental evaluation of whether I have been continuing to follow the practices.
For the most part, yes, I am continuing to follow the practices layed out in the Do-Over. In the new database I created for the Do-Over, I have continued to concentrated on direct lines, one generation at a time. When dealing with censuses, siblings of ancestors are entered, but am trying to refrain from pursuing those lines - for now. Instead of colour coding these individuals green (purple for spouses and blue for direct ancestors) as I did in the old databases, I am using aqua instead of green and purple and navy for the blue. Once I feel I have dones sufficient primary research (vital stats, census and cemetery records available online), I change the colour to the appropriate colour. That way, as time goes on, I can check the People Index and search aqua coloured people, one at a time.
I continue to try to refrain from following BSOs (Bright Shiny Objects) and sticking to concentrating on one family of direct lineage at a time. However, I have been guilty of gettign distracted for several days as I enter information from Public Member Trees on Ancestry. I justify the distraction as I search in the trees when trying to fill in missing information and hope that a tree is sourced, or at least give me sufficient hints re name variations, dates, spouses, children so that I can do my own verification.
Sucesses with the Do-Over
By revisiting censuses previously researched, I have been able to resolve a question/mystery I have had for several years. The 1901 household of my maternal great-grandparents, John and Mary (nee Deadman) Schell listed 15 year old sister Maud Deadman as well as sister-in-law as well and just below her a Charles N, with a birthdate of 2 May 1900, age 11/12. No surname or relationship to Head of Household.
Due to the order of entries in the census, I had assumed that Mary's 15 year old sister Maud was living with the Schell family after having had an illegitimate child the previous year. Another possibility was that the infant was a brother of both Maud and Mary. I had been told by my mother a number of years ago that her father George had two uncles younger than him. His mother, Mary was the eldest child and her parents, George Deadman and Rebecca Gauley, were still having children after she had married and started her own family. My earlier research did find two sons for George and Rebecca born after Mary's son George. Charles N would have been a third son.
As part of my Do-Over practices, I compared the family in my old database. The only source I had for Charles N Deadman existing was that 1901 census. So I set out to prove/disprove the relationship of Charles N
I searched the Ontario Births database in the hopes that Charles N's birth record would reveal the name of the father. No record found for Charles N Deadman BUT the date matched the birth for a Charles Norman Rawn, son of Abijah Rawn and Charlotte Ann Smith. That couple have connetions to my Schell branches as well as Allen branches. In checking my entries for that family in my other databases, I discovered that there was a son Charles Norman listed with that couple in the 1911 census with a May 1900 birthdate.
Why was infant Charles Norman Rawn listed with the John Schell family in the 1901 census instead of his parents? Charles N was entered on the last line of the page. When I located the entry for the Abijah Rawn household, I discovered that they were also the last family on the page - with no empty lines at the bottom. In other words, no room for the enumerator to add the youngest member of the family and instead of starting a new sheet to record the infant, the enumerator must have flipped back a few pages and found a blank line to use. But neglected to enter a surname for Charles N.
If I had not taken the time to re-do and re-evaluate my research, I would have continued listing Charles N Deadman as either an illegitimate son of Maud or a third sibling of Mary younger than Mary's son George. Now I can proceed with Charles Norman Rawn being the son of Abijah Rawn and an explanation why the infant was not listed with his parents in the 1901 census.
Future
The 13 week Genealogy Do-Over cycles will be altered in 2016. The exercise will take the entire year with a new assignment each month. Participants found that it was difficult to keep up with the weekly assignments and needed more time for each assignment.
Will I participate? It will depend on how it is presented. If done in a format similar to the 13 week model with each new assignment being emailed and posted on Facebook, more than likely I will participate. And definitely lurk if I don't actually participate. But if it offered as a course, than probably not as I won't want to spend the money. I will continue doing what I've been since I started the Do-Over several months ago.
31 Days to Better Genealogy
With a similar purpose as Thomas McIntee's 13 week Genealogy Do-Over, another professional researcher, Amy Johnson Crow, has developed a programme that involves an email being sent to participants each day with a tip on how to improve one's genealogy research.
Just as the 13 week timeframe was not rigid, I'm sure the 31 day programme will have the flexibility. Assigments may be emailed as per the programme's schedule, but that does not mean that participants have to adhere to a deadline.
It will be interesting to see how many of the daily tips I am already doing. Or at least doing to some extent and can tweek to improve my research skills.
I started lurking the Facebook group of Genealogy Do-Over part way through Cycle 1 and was a participant of Cycle 2. I resumed lurking through Cycle 3 and now Cycle 4. Each week, I read through the assignment and make a mental evaluation of whether I have been continuing to follow the practices.
For the most part, yes, I am continuing to follow the practices layed out in the Do-Over. In the new database I created for the Do-Over, I have continued to concentrated on direct lines, one generation at a time. When dealing with censuses, siblings of ancestors are entered, but am trying to refrain from pursuing those lines - for now. Instead of colour coding these individuals green (purple for spouses and blue for direct ancestors) as I did in the old databases, I am using aqua instead of green and purple and navy for the blue. Once I feel I have dones sufficient primary research (vital stats, census and cemetery records available online), I change the colour to the appropriate colour. That way, as time goes on, I can check the People Index and search aqua coloured people, one at a time.
I continue to try to refrain from following BSOs (Bright Shiny Objects) and sticking to concentrating on one family of direct lineage at a time. However, I have been guilty of gettign distracted for several days as I enter information from Public Member Trees on Ancestry. I justify the distraction as I search in the trees when trying to fill in missing information and hope that a tree is sourced, or at least give me sufficient hints re name variations, dates, spouses, children so that I can do my own verification.
Sucesses with the Do-Over
By revisiting censuses previously researched, I have been able to resolve a question/mystery I have had for several years. The 1901 household of my maternal great-grandparents, John and Mary (nee Deadman) Schell listed 15 year old sister Maud Deadman as well as sister-in-law as well and just below her a Charles N, with a birthdate of 2 May 1900, age 11/12. No surname or relationship to Head of Household.
Due to the order of entries in the census, I had assumed that Mary's 15 year old sister Maud was living with the Schell family after having had an illegitimate child the previous year. Another possibility was that the infant was a brother of both Maud and Mary. I had been told by my mother a number of years ago that her father George had two uncles younger than him. His mother, Mary was the eldest child and her parents, George Deadman and Rebecca Gauley, were still having children after she had married and started her own family. My earlier research did find two sons for George and Rebecca born after Mary's son George. Charles N would have been a third son.
As part of my Do-Over practices, I compared the family in my old database. The only source I had for Charles N Deadman existing was that 1901 census. So I set out to prove/disprove the relationship of Charles N
I searched the Ontario Births database in the hopes that Charles N's birth record would reveal the name of the father. No record found for Charles N Deadman BUT the date matched the birth for a Charles Norman Rawn, son of Abijah Rawn and Charlotte Ann Smith. That couple have connetions to my Schell branches as well as Allen branches. In checking my entries for that family in my other databases, I discovered that there was a son Charles Norman listed with that couple in the 1911 census with a May 1900 birthdate.
Why was infant Charles Norman Rawn listed with the John Schell family in the 1901 census instead of his parents? Charles N was entered on the last line of the page. When I located the entry for the Abijah Rawn household, I discovered that they were also the last family on the page - with no empty lines at the bottom. In other words, no room for the enumerator to add the youngest member of the family and instead of starting a new sheet to record the infant, the enumerator must have flipped back a few pages and found a blank line to use. But neglected to enter a surname for Charles N.
If I had not taken the time to re-do and re-evaluate my research, I would have continued listing Charles N Deadman as either an illegitimate son of Maud or a third sibling of Mary younger than Mary's son George. Now I can proceed with Charles Norman Rawn being the son of Abijah Rawn and an explanation why the infant was not listed with his parents in the 1901 census.
Future
The 13 week Genealogy Do-Over cycles will be altered in 2016. The exercise will take the entire year with a new assignment each month. Participants found that it was difficult to keep up with the weekly assignments and needed more time for each assignment.
Will I participate? It will depend on how it is presented. If done in a format similar to the 13 week model with each new assignment being emailed and posted on Facebook, more than likely I will participate. And definitely lurk if I don't actually participate. But if it offered as a course, than probably not as I won't want to spend the money. I will continue doing what I've been since I started the Do-Over several months ago.
31 Days to Better Genealogy
With a similar purpose as Thomas McIntee's 13 week Genealogy Do-Over, another professional researcher, Amy Johnson Crow, has developed a programme that involves an email being sent to participants each day with a tip on how to improve one's genealogy research.
Just as the 13 week timeframe was not rigid, I'm sure the 31 day programme will have the flexibility. Assigments may be emailed as per the programme's schedule, but that does not mean that participants have to adhere to a deadline.
It will be interesting to see how many of the daily tips I am already doing. Or at least doing to some extent and can tweek to improve my research skills.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Week 13 (June 26 - July 2 2015)
The end is near. This is the last week of Cycle 2 of the Genealogy Do-Over.
Topics:
1) Securing research data
2) Reviewing the journey
1) Security Research Data
Preservation
Thomas MacEntee asks participants the question: What have you done to preserve and "future proof" all your hard work? He continues on to pose the scenerio that if you were to loose all of your data, would you be able to recreate it - if you even knew where to begin. He also asked if people were aware of what his/her family would do with the research and have plans been made to preserve the research for future generations.
I have always been interested in family history and when I started to get serious with my research, I have never given much thought to what happens to my research once I am dead and gone. In the same manner of my crafts and associated supplies, I view my genealogy research as a hobby. I love the thrill of discovering new information of someone related to me and wouldn't want to deprive others of that thrill. Yes, I have appreciated discovering trees that others have worked on, but I have always viewed them only as clues to do my own verifications.
In the case of my family, no one really shows any interest in it. Having no biological children, I don't have any direct descendants and neither to either of my brothers.
When my in-laws died suddenly (result of an automobile accident), I willing took on the role of curator for their genealogy research. No one, including my husband, really showed any interest in any of the information, barring the narrative report compiled and printed at the time of my brother-in-law's wedding in 1994. If I hadn't taken the boxes of photo albums, etc they would have been left in the house to be disposed of with the rest of the estate - most of which likely ended up in a dumpster.
When I need a break from my research on my own family, I have dabbled with my husband's. My intent is that I will provide my step-children with the research and leave it up to them to do with as they wish. At this point in time, neither of them have partners or off-spring, so it remains to be seen if there will be future generations from them.
Would a local genealogical society be interested in the research on either my family or my husband's? I doubt it. Both of us are from working class families. If there is anyone notable in our trees, it is distant and a collateral branch, not direct, and more than likely already sufficient covered by research done by others.
Having worked for several decades in a library, I am fully aware of an institution having to deal with being viewed as a "dumping ground" for people thinking they are generously donating a gold mine to the library. They are unaware that the library may already have multiple copies of that book, as well as several new editions. If I haven't bothered submitting a pedigree chart to a relevant genealogical society during my lifetime, what right do I have of "dumping" all of my research on them to deal with after my death?
Most of my information has been obtained from internet searches and shouldn't be difficult for someone to re-create. As I've been participating in the Genealogy Do-Over, I have been re-doing my research and discovering more information on individuals than I had found when I had worked on that individual at some point in the past. I would expect someone in the future would have similar results.
Backing up Your Genealogy Data
The adage in the computer world is that it is not a matter of if, but when, a hard drive will fail. And the mantra of "back up, back up, back up." I have to confess that I continue to play dangerous and do not religiously back up my data. When I was working I did have somewhat of a backup plan of my Rootsmagic database by using a thumbdrive and Rootsmagic To Go for use at work during lunch and breaks. I did loose a thumbdrive once and have yet to miss whatever data was on the thumbdrive. At the time, I was fairly confident that anything on the drive was a backup, working copy, of what was on my laptop. Using a new thumbdrive, I recreated whatever I believed to have been on the lost drive.
In the past, I have tried to set up an automatic back-up schedule on the home computer network, but never got things to work properly. I have done so manually, but as mentioned earlier, have not done it religiously. Besides the cost, I'm leery of subscribing to an online service as they seem to come and go and have heard stories of people needing to access their backup to discover that the data they thought was being backed up had not been done.
MacEntee recommends creating a backup plan by identifying what data needs to be backed up and to identify a method that will work on an ongoing basis. He also advises to test the backup to ensure that it will work properly come the time you would need it. MacEntee also warns people to future-proof one's technology and to not rely on outdated technology of CDs and DVDs as their coating is known to degrade after several years.
MacEntee informed participants that he is comfortable with his 3-2-1 backup plan: 3 copies of data, 2 different backup media and 1 offsite copy (cloud).
Earlier in the Do-Over process, I once again tried to set up an automatic backup of my laptop, but still encountered problems as it requires an external source to be attached to the laptop. The external harddrive, set up to an older laptop, won't allow other backup via the home network. As I continue to get the home office setup, I will try to set up another external harddrive to my current laptop and hopefully, will be able to get automatic backups working successfully. And I need to get back into the routine of synching my Rootsmagic databases with at least one thumbdrive, if not multiple drives.
I do have a cloud backup as I save Rootsmagic databases to Dropbox so that I can view my trees on my iPad with the RM app. I just need to get into the habit of doing this on a regular basis.
Reviewing the Journey
The 13 weeks of the Cycle 2 of the Genealogy Do-Over has passed quickly.
Am I in a better place with my research? Probably. I may not have really changed my habits, but it made me more aware of what research skills I have that are second nature to me. As I've commented in earlier posts, the years spent working in academic libraries have served me well for doing my genealogy research. But I attribute my awareness of evaluating sources and those sources goes back to my high school history classes. Because these practices have been so ingrained in me for decades, comments people have posted on the FaceBook groups concerning their past practices has been an eye-opener to me.
My original purpose of participating in the Do-Over was the desire to start fresh with a new database. When I had switched from FamilyTreeMaker to RootsMagic, I had imported as much data as I could from a corrupted FTM database. Thinking that the size of the database contributed to the problem, I created separate trees in RM for various branches. Over time, I found that I was having to do a lot of cross referencing. I was hesitant to merge the trees together as it would require alot of maintenance in merging or deleting duplicate records.
Another reason for my reluctance in merging the existing files into one is that the same source was not necessarily cited identical in each tree. So I would also have to spend time merging and tweaking sources in the new database. I also had concerns about sources that had orginally been created in FTM before software provided templates compliant with Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained, the "holy bible" of citations. Back in the day, FTM sources were done free form style and I was unsure how to cite internet sources as my essay writing experiences predated the internet.
I also found that, although I may have originally recorded where I found information, I didn't always record exactly what information had been found in that source. Over the years, I may have obtain 10 different sources for the birthdate of an individual. But I know that not all of the 10 sources provided all of the information. Some may have only given the date and no location, some may have been given year and location; or in the case of census, an approximate year calculated from the age recorded on the census. In acknowledging the poorly written citations, I knew I needed to revisit the sources. Better to start fresh than revise.
Have I taken the time to reorganize my data? No. At the same time of participating in the Do-Over, I have finally been able to start setting up my home office. Papers that have been boxes for the past several years (due to 2 moves within 2 years) and pending setup of the office, are finally been unboxed. Packers hired by the moving companies didn't care about the papers when the emptied the filing cabinet and shelves in the original office space. As a result, financial papers are mixed in with genealogy material. However, binders are now organzied and properly displayed on shelving.
I am trying to refrain from paper and try to leave as much electronic as possible. I know when I start organizing the backlog of paper, much of it will be tossed as it will be WorldConnect trees printed to use for searching in other locations and to input into my database. As computers were updated with bigger monitors and faster connections, I trained myself to use split screens so that I could have the internet record on the screen at the same as my database. This practice has also enabled me to better record exactly what information the source provides as I can cut/paste from one screen to another rather than transcribing.
I feel that my electronic filing method already in place before the Do-Over is acceptable as it works for me. Again, my past work experience instilled in me to file things in a certain manner. My computer experience dates back to DOS and file names were limited to 8 characters. It became routine to me to use subfolders to create file hierarchy. I do the same with email. I can't help but cringe whenever I hear people speak of having everything in one folder. I would rather click through multiple levels of files than scroll through multiple screens looking for a certain file.
I admit that I did not spend a lot of time on each week's assignments. I would review and evaluated what Thomas MacEntee was asking/suggesting participants do and I would revise it to my needs or wants. With doing a blog update each week, I reflected on why I did or didn't do what was being suggested. Many weeks, I found I was patting myself on the back as what was being suggested was soemthing I was already doing in some manner. In some cases, if I wasn't already doing the assigned task (ie organizing files), I was aware that it needs to be done, but on my schedule. And when I do get around to sorting through the three boxes of papers still to be done, I will be re-evaluating the material as I enter the data into my database.
Will I participate in Cycle 3? Not likely. However, I have not requested to be removed from the mailing list, or Facebook group, so I will likely lurke as I did for most of Cycle 1 when I had first joined the Facebook group. By lurking, it will provide me with reminders of what to do and I will evaluate what I'm currently doing to ensure that I stay on the straight and narrow of my research.
Summary
I am glad that I signed up to be a participant of the Genealogy Do-Over. As I have mentioned numerous times, I had been debating starting over with my research rather than trying to revise and edit my existing records. I was relieved, and have to admit excited, that I was not alone in the realization that it can be a good thing to set existing things aside and start fresh. It was also good to be aware that well known people in the genealogy world are able to admit that they were not perfect from the get-go and their level of expertise in genealogy research was achieved over the years but still subject for re-evaluation and revision.
Topics:
1) Securing research data
2) Reviewing the journey
1) Security Research Data
Preservation
Thomas MacEntee asks participants the question: What have you done to preserve and "future proof" all your hard work? He continues on to pose the scenerio that if you were to loose all of your data, would you be able to recreate it - if you even knew where to begin. He also asked if people were aware of what his/her family would do with the research and have plans been made to preserve the research for future generations.
I have always been interested in family history and when I started to get serious with my research, I have never given much thought to what happens to my research once I am dead and gone. In the same manner of my crafts and associated supplies, I view my genealogy research as a hobby. I love the thrill of discovering new information of someone related to me and wouldn't want to deprive others of that thrill. Yes, I have appreciated discovering trees that others have worked on, but I have always viewed them only as clues to do my own verifications.
In the case of my family, no one really shows any interest in it. Having no biological children, I don't have any direct descendants and neither to either of my brothers.
When my in-laws died suddenly (result of an automobile accident), I willing took on the role of curator for their genealogy research. No one, including my husband, really showed any interest in any of the information, barring the narrative report compiled and printed at the time of my brother-in-law's wedding in 1994. If I hadn't taken the boxes of photo albums, etc they would have been left in the house to be disposed of with the rest of the estate - most of which likely ended up in a dumpster.
When I need a break from my research on my own family, I have dabbled with my husband's. My intent is that I will provide my step-children with the research and leave it up to them to do with as they wish. At this point in time, neither of them have partners or off-spring, so it remains to be seen if there will be future generations from them.
Would a local genealogical society be interested in the research on either my family or my husband's? I doubt it. Both of us are from working class families. If there is anyone notable in our trees, it is distant and a collateral branch, not direct, and more than likely already sufficient covered by research done by others.
Having worked for several decades in a library, I am fully aware of an institution having to deal with being viewed as a "dumping ground" for people thinking they are generously donating a gold mine to the library. They are unaware that the library may already have multiple copies of that book, as well as several new editions. If I haven't bothered submitting a pedigree chart to a relevant genealogical society during my lifetime, what right do I have of "dumping" all of my research on them to deal with after my death?
Most of my information has been obtained from internet searches and shouldn't be difficult for someone to re-create. As I've been participating in the Genealogy Do-Over, I have been re-doing my research and discovering more information on individuals than I had found when I had worked on that individual at some point in the past. I would expect someone in the future would have similar results.
Backing up Your Genealogy Data
The adage in the computer world is that it is not a matter of if, but when, a hard drive will fail. And the mantra of "back up, back up, back up." I have to confess that I continue to play dangerous and do not religiously back up my data. When I was working I did have somewhat of a backup plan of my Rootsmagic database by using a thumbdrive and Rootsmagic To Go for use at work during lunch and breaks. I did loose a thumbdrive once and have yet to miss whatever data was on the thumbdrive. At the time, I was fairly confident that anything on the drive was a backup, working copy, of what was on my laptop. Using a new thumbdrive, I recreated whatever I believed to have been on the lost drive.
In the past, I have tried to set up an automatic back-up schedule on the home computer network, but never got things to work properly. I have done so manually, but as mentioned earlier, have not done it religiously. Besides the cost, I'm leery of subscribing to an online service as they seem to come and go and have heard stories of people needing to access their backup to discover that the data they thought was being backed up had not been done.
MacEntee recommends creating a backup plan by identifying what data needs to be backed up and to identify a method that will work on an ongoing basis. He also advises to test the backup to ensure that it will work properly come the time you would need it. MacEntee also warns people to future-proof one's technology and to not rely on outdated technology of CDs and DVDs as their coating is known to degrade after several years.
MacEntee informed participants that he is comfortable with his 3-2-1 backup plan: 3 copies of data, 2 different backup media and 1 offsite copy (cloud).
Earlier in the Do-Over process, I once again tried to set up an automatic backup of my laptop, but still encountered problems as it requires an external source to be attached to the laptop. The external harddrive, set up to an older laptop, won't allow other backup via the home network. As I continue to get the home office setup, I will try to set up another external harddrive to my current laptop and hopefully, will be able to get automatic backups working successfully. And I need to get back into the routine of synching my Rootsmagic databases with at least one thumbdrive, if not multiple drives.
I do have a cloud backup as I save Rootsmagic databases to Dropbox so that I can view my trees on my iPad with the RM app. I just need to get into the habit of doing this on a regular basis.
Reviewing the Journey
The 13 weeks of the Cycle 2 of the Genealogy Do-Over has passed quickly.
Am I in a better place with my research? Probably. I may not have really changed my habits, but it made me more aware of what research skills I have that are second nature to me. As I've commented in earlier posts, the years spent working in academic libraries have served me well for doing my genealogy research. But I attribute my awareness of evaluating sources and those sources goes back to my high school history classes. Because these practices have been so ingrained in me for decades, comments people have posted on the FaceBook groups concerning their past practices has been an eye-opener to me.
My original purpose of participating in the Do-Over was the desire to start fresh with a new database. When I had switched from FamilyTreeMaker to RootsMagic, I had imported as much data as I could from a corrupted FTM database. Thinking that the size of the database contributed to the problem, I created separate trees in RM for various branches. Over time, I found that I was having to do a lot of cross referencing. I was hesitant to merge the trees together as it would require alot of maintenance in merging or deleting duplicate records.
Another reason for my reluctance in merging the existing files into one is that the same source was not necessarily cited identical in each tree. So I would also have to spend time merging and tweaking sources in the new database. I also had concerns about sources that had orginally been created in FTM before software provided templates compliant with Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained, the "holy bible" of citations. Back in the day, FTM sources were done free form style and I was unsure how to cite internet sources as my essay writing experiences predated the internet.
I also found that, although I may have originally recorded where I found information, I didn't always record exactly what information had been found in that source. Over the years, I may have obtain 10 different sources for the birthdate of an individual. But I know that not all of the 10 sources provided all of the information. Some may have only given the date and no location, some may have been given year and location; or in the case of census, an approximate year calculated from the age recorded on the census. In acknowledging the poorly written citations, I knew I needed to revisit the sources. Better to start fresh than revise.
Have I taken the time to reorganize my data? No. At the same time of participating in the Do-Over, I have finally been able to start setting up my home office. Papers that have been boxes for the past several years (due to 2 moves within 2 years) and pending setup of the office, are finally been unboxed. Packers hired by the moving companies didn't care about the papers when the emptied the filing cabinet and shelves in the original office space. As a result, financial papers are mixed in with genealogy material. However, binders are now organzied and properly displayed on shelving.
I am trying to refrain from paper and try to leave as much electronic as possible. I know when I start organizing the backlog of paper, much of it will be tossed as it will be WorldConnect trees printed to use for searching in other locations and to input into my database. As computers were updated with bigger monitors and faster connections, I trained myself to use split screens so that I could have the internet record on the screen at the same as my database. This practice has also enabled me to better record exactly what information the source provides as I can cut/paste from one screen to another rather than transcribing.
I feel that my electronic filing method already in place before the Do-Over is acceptable as it works for me. Again, my past work experience instilled in me to file things in a certain manner. My computer experience dates back to DOS and file names were limited to 8 characters. It became routine to me to use subfolders to create file hierarchy. I do the same with email. I can't help but cringe whenever I hear people speak of having everything in one folder. I would rather click through multiple levels of files than scroll through multiple screens looking for a certain file.
I admit that I did not spend a lot of time on each week's assignments. I would review and evaluated what Thomas MacEntee was asking/suggesting participants do and I would revise it to my needs or wants. With doing a blog update each week, I reflected on why I did or didn't do what was being suggested. Many weeks, I found I was patting myself on the back as what was being suggested was soemthing I was already doing in some manner. In some cases, if I wasn't already doing the assigned task (ie organizing files), I was aware that it needs to be done, but on my schedule. And when I do get around to sorting through the three boxes of papers still to be done, I will be re-evaluating the material as I enter the data into my database.
Will I participate in Cycle 3? Not likely. However, I have not requested to be removed from the mailing list, or Facebook group, so I will likely lurke as I did for most of Cycle 1 when I had first joined the Facebook group. By lurking, it will provide me with reminders of what to do and I will evaluate what I'm currently doing to ensure that I stay on the straight and narrow of my research.
Summary
I am glad that I signed up to be a participant of the Genealogy Do-Over. As I have mentioned numerous times, I had been debating starting over with my research rather than trying to revise and edit my existing records. I was relieved, and have to admit excited, that I was not alone in the realization that it can be a good thing to set existing things aside and start fresh. It was also good to be aware that well known people in the genealogy world are able to admit that they were not perfect from the get-go and their level of expertise in genealogy research was achieved over the years but still subject for re-evaluation and revision.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Week 12 (June 19-25 2015)
Topics:
1) Sharing research
2) Reviewing research travel options
1) Sharing Research
Thomas MacEntee provides a list of Do's and Don'ts of collaborating and sharing. He advises people to treat others as one wants to be treated. If you expect others to give you credit for your research, you must be prepared to do the same for the research you receive from others. As well as walking the fine line between oversharing, risking being taken advantage of but not falling into the "tit for tat" game.
In my sources, I cite where and who I obtained the information from. In the case of images and photos, I try to routinely note where I obtained the image. It may not be up to GPS standards, but I try to acknowledge the source of the item.
I do have a public tree on Ancestry, but it is certainly not my prime tree. Although it does serve as "cousin bait", my prime reason to maitain the tree is to have Ancestry provide the hints for me to save me time from doing manual searches. As a result, almost all of the information (at least the sourced information) is from Ancestry.
I have only been contacted by people a few times wanting additional information and/or share information. Unfortunately, the person(s) they were interested in was either an in-law in my tree, or individuals that need pruning from my tree as they are family members of an in-law and have no other connection to my lines. They appear on the Ancestry tree because I haven't always taken time to evaluate a hint to determine relationship to me. So I have allowed Ancestry to flesh out individuals that I would not normally spend time researching beyond making note if they were in the same household at the time of a census of someone who eventually married into my family.
On the rare times that the person who has contacted me is reseaching someone who does belong in my tree, I have shared what additional information I may have. Unfortunately, I usually don't have too much more in my database. I share the information without expectation of payback. And as most of that information is from Ancestry or FamilySearch databases, I haven't been concerned whether I get proper credit for the information or not.
2) Reviewing Research Travel Options
Although there are various repositories I would love to visit, at some point, I currently do not have the time or financial means to do so. I do not feel that I'm at the point in my research that I need to do such trips. I will surf the internet from the comfort of my home searching for official documents on Ancestry, FamilySearch, as well as online newspaper, funeral home and cemetery sites.
Several years ago, I did have the opportunity of spending a day at the Historical Society of Herkimer County. I spent the day scanning documents in one of two vertical files on the Schell family. I had started out trying to enter information into my database as I handled each document, but I quickly realized it was too time consuming and I started scanning the documents.
Have a ever evaluated and entered the relevant information into my database once I was back home? I had to admit that I only did some. I guess as part of this Do-Over, I will need to locate the data and record the information. It has been a low priority as the information would pertain to the Schell lines prior to emigrating to Ontario, or the lines that stayed in the Herkimer area. I have been focusing on the Ontario lines and haven't tried to revisit the more distant lines.
Over the years, I have made stops at cemeteries pertinent to my ancestors and have taken photos of the headstones. I have not shared them to any of the websites for headstones as I leery that the quality of my photos are good enough. In some cases, others have already provided photos of those headstones anyway.
Summary
I have no objection to sharing my research. I have benefitted over the years from others and am always willing to assist others.
At this point in time, I have no plans on doing research trips as I'm still finding more than enough relevant information via the internet. With my subscription to Ancestry, I have access to vital records from Ontario - which covers a good portion of my ancestors. And I have access to online newspapers covering many of the areas where my ancestors lived. I try to maintain Research Logs to have lists of obituaries, etc to search at the Barrie Public Library for dates not yet avaiable digitally. OurOntario continues to digitize more and more of the Barrie Examiner, so it remains to be seen whether I'll have a need to search the microfilm at the library or if the pertinent issues will be digitized.
1) Sharing research
2) Reviewing research travel options
1) Sharing Research
Thomas MacEntee provides a list of Do's and Don'ts of collaborating and sharing. He advises people to treat others as one wants to be treated. If you expect others to give you credit for your research, you must be prepared to do the same for the research you receive from others. As well as walking the fine line between oversharing, risking being taken advantage of but not falling into the "tit for tat" game.
In my sources, I cite where and who I obtained the information from. In the case of images and photos, I try to routinely note where I obtained the image. It may not be up to GPS standards, but I try to acknowledge the source of the item.
I do have a public tree on Ancestry, but it is certainly not my prime tree. Although it does serve as "cousin bait", my prime reason to maitain the tree is to have Ancestry provide the hints for me to save me time from doing manual searches. As a result, almost all of the information (at least the sourced information) is from Ancestry.
I have only been contacted by people a few times wanting additional information and/or share information. Unfortunately, the person(s) they were interested in was either an in-law in my tree, or individuals that need pruning from my tree as they are family members of an in-law and have no other connection to my lines. They appear on the Ancestry tree because I haven't always taken time to evaluate a hint to determine relationship to me. So I have allowed Ancestry to flesh out individuals that I would not normally spend time researching beyond making note if they were in the same household at the time of a census of someone who eventually married into my family.
On the rare times that the person who has contacted me is reseaching someone who does belong in my tree, I have shared what additional information I may have. Unfortunately, I usually don't have too much more in my database. I share the information without expectation of payback. And as most of that information is from Ancestry or FamilySearch databases, I haven't been concerned whether I get proper credit for the information or not.
2) Reviewing Research Travel Options
Although there are various repositories I would love to visit, at some point, I currently do not have the time or financial means to do so. I do not feel that I'm at the point in my research that I need to do such trips. I will surf the internet from the comfort of my home searching for official documents on Ancestry, FamilySearch, as well as online newspaper, funeral home and cemetery sites.
Several years ago, I did have the opportunity of spending a day at the Historical Society of Herkimer County. I spent the day scanning documents in one of two vertical files on the Schell family. I had started out trying to enter information into my database as I handled each document, but I quickly realized it was too time consuming and I started scanning the documents.
Have a ever evaluated and entered the relevant information into my database once I was back home? I had to admit that I only did some. I guess as part of this Do-Over, I will need to locate the data and record the information. It has been a low priority as the information would pertain to the Schell lines prior to emigrating to Ontario, or the lines that stayed in the Herkimer area. I have been focusing on the Ontario lines and haven't tried to revisit the more distant lines.
Over the years, I have made stops at cemeteries pertinent to my ancestors and have taken photos of the headstones. I have not shared them to any of the websites for headstones as I leery that the quality of my photos are good enough. In some cases, others have already provided photos of those headstones anyway.
Summary
I have no objection to sharing my research. I have benefitted over the years from others and am always willing to assist others.
At this point in time, I have no plans on doing research trips as I'm still finding more than enough relevant information via the internet. With my subscription to Ancestry, I have access to vital records from Ontario - which covers a good portion of my ancestors. And I have access to online newspapers covering many of the areas where my ancestors lived. I try to maintain Research Logs to have lists of obituaries, etc to search at the Barrie Public Library for dates not yet avaiable digitally. OurOntario continues to digitize more and more of the Barrie Examiner, so it remains to be seen whether I'll have a need to search the microfilm at the library or if the pertinent issues will be digitized.
Week 11 (June 12-18 2015)
Topics:
1) Reviewing Social Media Options
2) Building a Research Network
Due to family commitments, time was limited during this week to spend on the Do-Over tasks. But an evaluation of the topics, even minimally, is warranted. Neither topic are one time events; both warrant the need for evaluation on an ongoing basis.
1) Review Social Media Options
Thomas MacEntee quotes someone he met recently "You really can't succeed with your genealogy research these days without some use of social media." One probably could as genealogists did so long before the invention of the internet. But why not use all resources available to you? It could save you from needlessly reinventing the wheel.
Facebook
MacEntee's notes list several genealogy related groups on Facebook - which I had already discovered on Facebook. Join one group and people's postings will reference other groups. Some postings may not be relevant to you, but it's just a quick scroll to the next posting, just as a do with the postings from friends and advertising Facebook forces upon its subscribers. You never know when there might be something interesting or useful.
The Rootsmagic group has provided me with tips that I had not been aware because I often don't RTFM. By the same token, I have been able to provide suggestions and assistance to others. "Pay it Forward."
Postings encouraged me to revist using Evernote as well as OneNote for genealogy purposes. I have started using OneNote to save webpages for future use.
Pinterest
MacEntee also cites Pinterest. I do use Pinterest, but more for my other hobbies: cooking and crafts. But I can see makign use of Pinterest for genealogy purposes for items I want to publicize.
Twitter
Although I already have a twitter account, I use it more to follow celebrities and websites rather than posting myself. My circle of friends use email or Facebook messages rather than twitter.
Other social media resources
To keep up on celebrity gossip and news, as well as craft and genealogy related information, I use RSS readers (Feederly) as well as FlipBoard.
2) Building a Research Network
MacEntee quotes "No genealogist is an island." and points out that by participating in the Do-Over, one is part of a research network. He also stresses that it is a two way street and one needs to give knowledge freely and others will be able to help you in the future.
The previously referenced Facebook groups are examples of research networks. And as I mentioned above, I have experienced the give and take benefits. Similar experiences when I have attended workshops and conferences. Although I have been a member of genealogy socities, I was never able to attend their meetings.
Summary
As I have found with topics covered in earlier weeks, I have already been doing what is being suggested. But as usual, it is good to revisit and re-evaluate what I am doing with the assurance that I am "doing the right thing". It's just a matter of being aware of what, and why, I am spending my time on.
1) Reviewing Social Media Options
2) Building a Research Network
Due to family commitments, time was limited during this week to spend on the Do-Over tasks. But an evaluation of the topics, even minimally, is warranted. Neither topic are one time events; both warrant the need for evaluation on an ongoing basis.
1) Review Social Media Options
Thomas MacEntee quotes someone he met recently "You really can't succeed with your genealogy research these days without some use of social media." One probably could as genealogists did so long before the invention of the internet. But why not use all resources available to you? It could save you from needlessly reinventing the wheel.
MacEntee's notes list several genealogy related groups on Facebook - which I had already discovered on Facebook. Join one group and people's postings will reference other groups. Some postings may not be relevant to you, but it's just a quick scroll to the next posting, just as a do with the postings from friends and advertising Facebook forces upon its subscribers. You never know when there might be something interesting or useful.
The Rootsmagic group has provided me with tips that I had not been aware because I often don't RTFM. By the same token, I have been able to provide suggestions and assistance to others. "Pay it Forward."
Postings encouraged me to revist using Evernote as well as OneNote for genealogy purposes. I have started using OneNote to save webpages for future use.
MacEntee also cites Pinterest. I do use Pinterest, but more for my other hobbies: cooking and crafts. But I can see makign use of Pinterest for genealogy purposes for items I want to publicize.
Although I already have a twitter account, I use it more to follow celebrities and websites rather than posting myself. My circle of friends use email or Facebook messages rather than twitter.
Other social media resources
To keep up on celebrity gossip and news, as well as craft and genealogy related information, I use RSS readers (Feederly) as well as FlipBoard.
2) Building a Research Network
MacEntee quotes "No genealogist is an island." and points out that by participating in the Do-Over, one is part of a research network. He also stresses that it is a two way street and one needs to give knowledge freely and others will be able to help you in the future.
The previously referenced Facebook groups are examples of research networks. And as I mentioned above, I have experienced the give and take benefits. Similar experiences when I have attended workshops and conferences. Although I have been a member of genealogy socities, I was never able to attend their meetings.
Summary
As I have found with topics covered in earlier weeks, I have already been doing what is being suggested. But as usual, it is good to revisit and re-evaluate what I am doing with the assurance that I am "doing the right thing". It's just a matter of being aware of what, and why, I am spending my time on.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Week 10 (June 5-11 2015)
This week's topics are:
1) Reviewing DNA Testing Options
2) Organizing Reserch Materials - Digital
I must confess that I haven't spent much time on the Do Over this week due as I'm fairly satistified with my status of both topics.
1) Reviewing DNA Testing Options
At this point in time, I still have no interest in pursuing DNA testing, the latest "craze" in the genealogy world. Maybe it's the cost or maybe it's the fear that I will discover my blood lines are not what I think they are.
I've been aware for a number of years about the existence of DNA testing and how people are often surprised as to their ethnicity. I'm not concerned as to what percentage of each ethnic groups following through my veins. On the other hand, maybe that would answer the question I had last year from my cousin Doug as to whether we have any Aboriginal blood in our Allen line. As far as I've ever known, no. However, I have been questioned various times if I am Native, so maybe there is something in that speculation. I just don't know where it come in as my research accounts for mother and fathers descending from the British Isles. If there is Aboriginal blood, then a legal spouse was not the blood parent of a baby somewhere in the tree.
Thomas MacEntee indicates he hopes that his DNA testing will be able to connect his branch of MacEntees to a more famous one in the same New York state county. He wants to be able to prove one of his long-held theories and hopes DNA testing will accomplish that goal. I don't have that same need. I feel comfortable accepting family lore of parents, and I've been fairly successful in documenting this assumptions. The benefits of close, large families keeping in touch over the generations.
Just this week, Ancestry Canada has announced they will are now offering DNA testing. But I'm still not interested. My trees are large enough now and I'm enjoying the hunt through official documents to verify and add branches. I'm reluctant to graft branches to my tree as a result of DNA testing. Even if I make contact with a cousin verified through DNA, I would still be reluctant to accept his/her research without checking documentation. I would only use the matches in the same way I do now to the Public Member Trees I find on Ancestry.
2) Organizing Research Materials - Digital
As stated in previous posts, I have always tried to keep my computer records organized. The benefits (or woes) of the old dos computer days. File structure was very important, especially as one was limited to 8 characters for file names. I feel that I have already developed a file naming convention that works for me, with can be easily tweaked if the need arises. I will continue with that methodology.
If I experience a computer failure, I'll just have to do another Do Over and start fresh. I have lost a thumb drive somewhere in my travels, as well as one getting damaged (while still plugged into the laptop), but most of the information on those drives were technically back ups. If there was anything unique, I've yet to realize what it would be.
MacEntee also talks about metadata and suggests using the comment field as a way of linking relevant information, including the citation, to the file. I guess I should get into the routine of doing that. I have been trying to provide that information within Rootsmagic as I add media files to individuals and tag relevant people to that media item.
Summary
I continue to be pleased that I decided to participate in the Genealogy Do Over. I may not be fully participating in the topics each week, but I do feel that I am continuing to learn things or reinforce that I have, instinctively, been doing things in a proper manner.
With making the commitment with the Do-Over, I started a fresh database and have proceeded to fill in the 'leaves' even though one is not to be doing that yet in the Do-Over. But I have my brain trained to update my database as soon as new information is found. If I set documents aside (either physically or digitally), it will be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. As I procede with each family, I compare to my old file and it is amazing what additional information I have found in 2015. Granted some of the families I've worked on the past 10 weeks were ones that I had not revisited for several years and more information is now available online.
1) Reviewing DNA Testing Options
2) Organizing Reserch Materials - Digital
I must confess that I haven't spent much time on the Do Over this week due as I'm fairly satistified with my status of both topics.
1) Reviewing DNA Testing Options
At this point in time, I still have no interest in pursuing DNA testing, the latest "craze" in the genealogy world. Maybe it's the cost or maybe it's the fear that I will discover my blood lines are not what I think they are.
I've been aware for a number of years about the existence of DNA testing and how people are often surprised as to their ethnicity. I'm not concerned as to what percentage of each ethnic groups following through my veins. On the other hand, maybe that would answer the question I had last year from my cousin Doug as to whether we have any Aboriginal blood in our Allen line. As far as I've ever known, no. However, I have been questioned various times if I am Native, so maybe there is something in that speculation. I just don't know where it come in as my research accounts for mother and fathers descending from the British Isles. If there is Aboriginal blood, then a legal spouse was not the blood parent of a baby somewhere in the tree.
Thomas MacEntee indicates he hopes that his DNA testing will be able to connect his branch of MacEntees to a more famous one in the same New York state county. He wants to be able to prove one of his long-held theories and hopes DNA testing will accomplish that goal. I don't have that same need. I feel comfortable accepting family lore of parents, and I've been fairly successful in documenting this assumptions. The benefits of close, large families keeping in touch over the generations.
Just this week, Ancestry Canada has announced they will are now offering DNA testing. But I'm still not interested. My trees are large enough now and I'm enjoying the hunt through official documents to verify and add branches. I'm reluctant to graft branches to my tree as a result of DNA testing. Even if I make contact with a cousin verified through DNA, I would still be reluctant to accept his/her research without checking documentation. I would only use the matches in the same way I do now to the Public Member Trees I find on Ancestry.
2) Organizing Research Materials - Digital
As stated in previous posts, I have always tried to keep my computer records organized. The benefits (or woes) of the old dos computer days. File structure was very important, especially as one was limited to 8 characters for file names. I feel that I have already developed a file naming convention that works for me, with can be easily tweaked if the need arises. I will continue with that methodology.
If I experience a computer failure, I'll just have to do another Do Over and start fresh. I have lost a thumb drive somewhere in my travels, as well as one getting damaged (while still plugged into the laptop), but most of the information on those drives were technically back ups. If there was anything unique, I've yet to realize what it would be.
MacEntee also talks about metadata and suggests using the comment field as a way of linking relevant information, including the citation, to the file. I guess I should get into the routine of doing that. I have been trying to provide that information within Rootsmagic as I add media files to individuals and tag relevant people to that media item.
Summary
I continue to be pleased that I decided to participate in the Genealogy Do Over. I may not be fully participating in the topics each week, but I do feel that I am continuing to learn things or reinforce that I have, instinctively, been doing things in a proper manner.
With making the commitment with the Do-Over, I started a fresh database and have proceeded to fill in the 'leaves' even though one is not to be doing that yet in the Do-Over. But I have my brain trained to update my database as soon as new information is found. If I set documents aside (either physically or digitally), it will be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'. As I procede with each family, I compare to my old file and it is amazing what additional information I have found in 2015. Granted some of the families I've worked on the past 10 weeks were ones that I had not revisited for several years and more information is now available online.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Week 9 (May 29 - June 4 2015)
Topics:
1) Conducting Cluster Research
2) Organizing Research Materials - Documents and Photos
Conducting Cluster Research
Thomas MacEntee defines Cluster Research as Friends, Associates and Neighbors (aka F.A.N. Club) concept put forth by Elizabeth Shown Mills. The FAN Club is part of the community of one's direct line ancestors. Sometimes to locate an ancestor, one needs to focus on the geographical area where the ancestor lived as well as the locales from and to which they migrated.
Once again, this research practice is one that I have been using to locate those illusive ancestors. Can't find someone in the index for a census? Did they move, or was the name mangled by the transcriber? Sometimes the mangled name is easily found by "playing" with the spelling but sometimes the name has been really distorted for one reason or another. On the assumption that my ancestor had not moved (farmers tended to stay in the same place), I would take note of a neighbour in the previous or later census and then search for that individual in the census I'm trying to work on. I have had a good success rate with this method.
In the rural communities, families tend to intermarry. I learned years ago to always scan the the names on the page of not just the census but also birth, marriages and deaths. Quite often, I will recognize names of other families in the census or individuals in the case of the BMDs. Sometimes I do have to reign myself in from following those BSOs. In the case of census, there have been times that the illusive daughter married the boy next door - I just hadn't found the marriage record to search for that surname.
Organizing Research Materials - Documents and Photos
I have to confess that I have yet to make the time to properly organize some of my genealogy material. I had things fairly organized at one time, but then with two moves within two years, much of my research has been in boxes. I've tried to kept them in the boxes until we have been able to set up an office in our current home. The moves were company moves, done quickly so I was unable to properly box things up. The hired packers mixed stuff up from the filing cabinet drawers, so boxes needed to be opened to access supplies and research material set aside for later evaluation. Four years later, we have finally got the office set up to my likely with lots of shelving. So I will be slowly going through the stacks of papers that have gotten mixed in with financial records.
Fortunately, after the first move, I had started putting some things into binders and they are now housed on shelving in the brand new office. I know much of the loose paper are outdated printouts, so they will likely be tossed when I start sorting. With that knowledge, their sorting is a low priority as I prefer to spend my genealogy time searching current databases. Especially with participating in this Genealogy Do-Over.
On a positive note, for several years now I try to do digital rather than paper. As I save records on my computer, I save them in a systematic way and able to readily find specific documents. Similar with photos (at least genealogy related ones).
As I start to go through the backlog of paper, I will be "curating" as MacEntee suggests and I suspect I will be disposing of most of the paper. In the case of material to be kept, I will be filling - either in a file folder or binder, depending on the item. I have not yet got to the point in my research of ordering documents, so there is little that I need to ensure is stored in archival quality material.
1) Conducting Cluster Research
2) Organizing Research Materials - Documents and Photos
Conducting Cluster Research
Thomas MacEntee defines Cluster Research as Friends, Associates and Neighbors (aka F.A.N. Club) concept put forth by Elizabeth Shown Mills. The FAN Club is part of the community of one's direct line ancestors. Sometimes to locate an ancestor, one needs to focus on the geographical area where the ancestor lived as well as the locales from and to which they migrated.
Once again, this research practice is one that I have been using to locate those illusive ancestors. Can't find someone in the index for a census? Did they move, or was the name mangled by the transcriber? Sometimes the mangled name is easily found by "playing" with the spelling but sometimes the name has been really distorted for one reason or another. On the assumption that my ancestor had not moved (farmers tended to stay in the same place), I would take note of a neighbour in the previous or later census and then search for that individual in the census I'm trying to work on. I have had a good success rate with this method.
In the rural communities, families tend to intermarry. I learned years ago to always scan the the names on the page of not just the census but also birth, marriages and deaths. Quite often, I will recognize names of other families in the census or individuals in the case of the BMDs. Sometimes I do have to reign myself in from following those BSOs. In the case of census, there have been times that the illusive daughter married the boy next door - I just hadn't found the marriage record to search for that surname.
Organizing Research Materials - Documents and Photos
I have to confess that I have yet to make the time to properly organize some of my genealogy material. I had things fairly organized at one time, but then with two moves within two years, much of my research has been in boxes. I've tried to kept them in the boxes until we have been able to set up an office in our current home. The moves were company moves, done quickly so I was unable to properly box things up. The hired packers mixed stuff up from the filing cabinet drawers, so boxes needed to be opened to access supplies and research material set aside for later evaluation. Four years later, we have finally got the office set up to my likely with lots of shelving. So I will be slowly going through the stacks of papers that have gotten mixed in with financial records.
Fortunately, after the first move, I had started putting some things into binders and they are now housed on shelving in the brand new office. I know much of the loose paper are outdated printouts, so they will likely be tossed when I start sorting. With that knowledge, their sorting is a low priority as I prefer to spend my genealogy time searching current databases. Especially with participating in this Genealogy Do-Over.
On a positive note, for several years now I try to do digital rather than paper. As I save records on my computer, I save them in a systematic way and able to readily find specific documents. Similar with photos (at least genealogy related ones).
As I start to go through the backlog of paper, I will be "curating" as MacEntee suggests and I suspect I will be disposing of most of the paper. In the case of material to be kept, I will be filling - either in a file folder or binder, depending on the item. I have not yet got to the point in my research of ordering documents, so there is little that I need to ensure is stored in archival quality material.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Week 8 (May 22-28 2015)
This week's assignments:
1) Conducting Collateral Research
2) Reviewing Offline Education Options
Conducting Collateral Research
Thomas MacEntee defines 'Collateral Research' as the collateral lines connected to one's direct line ancestors. In other words, relatives of someone who married into the family, distant cousins along your direct line as well as individuals connected to your family through second or third marriages.
As a step-mother, I have already included my step-children into my database. I also grew up viewing the step-children of one of my uncles as much as a first cousin as their half-sister who was the blood descendant of my uncle. My father's ancestors frequently raised the off-spring of a deceased sibling or child, so there was often confusion as to the true relationship of children in a household.
I know some people doing genealogy research just enter direct lines into their database. When they enter the spouse of someone, they refuse to enter the parents of that individual as there is no blood connection. I welcome recording the names of the in-law's parents as it helps identify that individual. In the case of my tree, both my mother and father's lines, siblings of an in-law also married into the family. If I didn't record the parents' names I would not be able to confirm the blood relationship between in-laws.
Granted, quite often when I am entering data from a census record, I do not record each child in the household; I will simply enter "2 additional children" and in the note field record the names and ages of the individuals. I have had to go back and alter the record if I find one of the siblings has served as a witness to the marriage or married into the family as well.
Having a record of the siblings has helped confirm whether an obituary is the individual in my database or not. (Again, I make the evaluation 'on the fly' rather than spending time entering the information into a Research Log or Evidentia to eventually make the decision.) I find this particularly useful in determining a maiden name or parents' names.
An obituary for an in-law may list surviving or deceased siblings, but not the parents. Searching records for the siblings often provide the name of the parents.
A marriage or death record may not list the maiden name of the in-law's mother. But similar records for a sibling may have recorded the maiden name. Or locating the marriage record of the parents (determining that it is indeed the marriage record for said parents), will provide the maiden name. Knowing the maiden name often explains a first or middle name of a child.
When I'm doing my research, I've always worked on the family unit, not just my direct ancestor. I view my genealogy as 'The Descendants of ______' not 'The Ancestors of Linda Patricia Allen'. I guess that view comes from both my parents being from the same small community surrounded by their large extended families. I have grown up not only knowing both sets of grandparents, but aunts, uncles and cousins as well as my parents' aunts, uncles and cousins and the children of those cousins.
It's all family.
Reviewing Offline Education Options
Once again, the assignment is for something that I have been doing as second nature. Although I often don't make the time to watch webinars, I am aware that there are videos available on YouTube as well as the websites for the genealogy software. I don't, or can't, commit to be available when a webinar is aired but I have watched the videos when they are uploaded somewhere on the internet.
Similar situation for conferences. The timing of conferences frequently have not been compatible to my schedule, as well as the expense. When the Ontario Genealogy Society's annual conference was in my home town, Kington Ontario, I did make the time in my schedule - especially after I saw that Lisa Louise Cooke would be doing several presentations.
Over the years, I have attended sessions with a genealogy theme when at library conferences. While living in Kingston, I was never aware of the local branch of the OGS having workshops, courses, or seminars. During the two years I was in Regina, I attended a conference organized by the local Family History Centre as well as a series of workshops organized by the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society in conjuction with the Regina Public Library who had a fantastic genealogy room and a librarian focusing on Prairie History. As many of the settlers in the Canadian Prairies were from Ontario, or had passed through that province before heading west, both the public library and SGS library had a significant amount of Ontario-centric records. The series of workshops focused on basic research and organization as well as searching homesteader records and other records pertinent to the prairies. It gave me an understanding of the Rural Municipality and Meridan system used in the prairies rather than the county system I was accustomed to in Ontario.
I frequently receive emails from FamilyTree University and other organizations advertising their webinars and courses. Although some have sounded interesting, I have refrained from spending the money and making the commitment to time. I did do a short, at your own pace, course a few years ago. It was offered free as a way to encourage people to sign up for longer, more indepth, courses. I did find the course to be a positive experience, but it was all I could do to make the time committment to doing the course. Although I joking say that I am a Genealogy Addict, I do want, and need, to spend time on other things. And I would prefer to spend my 'genealogy time' searching and entering data into my database.
Another source of offline education is podcasts. As long as I've had an iPod I have subscribed to genealogy related podcasts and listen to them as time permits.
Summary
I continue to be amazed each week that the assignments cover things that I have already been doing instinctively and without thought. As I've stated in previous posts, I attribute that to the training I had in my high school history classes. At the time, the teacher told us that we might find it time consuming and question the need, but we would appreciate it once we got to university and had to do essays and theses. Little did I know at the time that it would also serve me well for myaddiction hobby of genealogy.
I may not be doing the evaluation of records to GPS standards of a professional genealogist, but I am confident that what I've been doing continues to serve me well for my genealogy needs.
1) Conducting Collateral Research
2) Reviewing Offline Education Options
Conducting Collateral Research
Thomas MacEntee defines 'Collateral Research' as the collateral lines connected to one's direct line ancestors. In other words, relatives of someone who married into the family, distant cousins along your direct line as well as individuals connected to your family through second or third marriages.
As a step-mother, I have already included my step-children into my database. I also grew up viewing the step-children of one of my uncles as much as a first cousin as their half-sister who was the blood descendant of my uncle. My father's ancestors frequently raised the off-spring of a deceased sibling or child, so there was often confusion as to the true relationship of children in a household.
I know some people doing genealogy research just enter direct lines into their database. When they enter the spouse of someone, they refuse to enter the parents of that individual as there is no blood connection. I welcome recording the names of the in-law's parents as it helps identify that individual. In the case of my tree, both my mother and father's lines, siblings of an in-law also married into the family. If I didn't record the parents' names I would not be able to confirm the blood relationship between in-laws.
Granted, quite often when I am entering data from a census record, I do not record each child in the household; I will simply enter "2 additional children" and in the note field record the names and ages of the individuals. I have had to go back and alter the record if I find one of the siblings has served as a witness to the marriage or married into the family as well.
Having a record of the siblings has helped confirm whether an obituary is the individual in my database or not. (Again, I make the evaluation 'on the fly' rather than spending time entering the information into a Research Log or Evidentia to eventually make the decision.) I find this particularly useful in determining a maiden name or parents' names.
An obituary for an in-law may list surviving or deceased siblings, but not the parents. Searching records for the siblings often provide the name of the parents.
A marriage or death record may not list the maiden name of the in-law's mother. But similar records for a sibling may have recorded the maiden name. Or locating the marriage record of the parents (determining that it is indeed the marriage record for said parents), will provide the maiden name. Knowing the maiden name often explains a first or middle name of a child.
When I'm doing my research, I've always worked on the family unit, not just my direct ancestor. I view my genealogy as 'The Descendants of ______' not 'The Ancestors of Linda Patricia Allen'. I guess that view comes from both my parents being from the same small community surrounded by their large extended families. I have grown up not only knowing both sets of grandparents, but aunts, uncles and cousins as well as my parents' aunts, uncles and cousins and the children of those cousins.
It's all family.
Reviewing Offline Education Options
Once again, the assignment is for something that I have been doing as second nature. Although I often don't make the time to watch webinars, I am aware that there are videos available on YouTube as well as the websites for the genealogy software. I don't, or can't, commit to be available when a webinar is aired but I have watched the videos when they are uploaded somewhere on the internet.
Similar situation for conferences. The timing of conferences frequently have not been compatible to my schedule, as well as the expense. When the Ontario Genealogy Society's annual conference was in my home town, Kington Ontario, I did make the time in my schedule - especially after I saw that Lisa Louise Cooke would be doing several presentations.
Over the years, I have attended sessions with a genealogy theme when at library conferences. While living in Kingston, I was never aware of the local branch of the OGS having workshops, courses, or seminars. During the two years I was in Regina, I attended a conference organized by the local Family History Centre as well as a series of workshops organized by the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society in conjuction with the Regina Public Library who had a fantastic genealogy room and a librarian focusing on Prairie History. As many of the settlers in the Canadian Prairies were from Ontario, or had passed through that province before heading west, both the public library and SGS library had a significant amount of Ontario-centric records. The series of workshops focused on basic research and organization as well as searching homesteader records and other records pertinent to the prairies. It gave me an understanding of the Rural Municipality and Meridan system used in the prairies rather than the county system I was accustomed to in Ontario.
I frequently receive emails from FamilyTree University and other organizations advertising their webinars and courses. Although some have sounded interesting, I have refrained from spending the money and making the commitment to time. I did do a short, at your own pace, course a few years ago. It was offered free as a way to encourage people to sign up for longer, more indepth, courses. I did find the course to be a positive experience, but it was all I could do to make the time committment to doing the course. Although I joking say that I am a Genealogy Addict, I do want, and need, to spend time on other things. And I would prefer to spend my 'genealogy time' searching and entering data into my database.
Another source of offline education is podcasts. As long as I've had an iPod I have subscribed to genealogy related podcasts and listen to them as time permits.
Summary
I continue to be amazed each week that the assignments cover things that I have already been doing instinctively and without thought. As I've stated in previous posts, I attribute that to the training I had in my high school history classes. At the time, the teacher told us that we might find it time consuming and question the need, but we would appreciate it once we got to university and had to do essays and theses. Little did I know at the time that it would also serve me well for my
I may not be doing the evaluation of records to GPS standards of a professional genealogist, but I am confident that what I've been doing continues to serve me well for my genealogy needs.
Week 7 (May 15-21 2015)
Topics:
1) Reviewing Genealogy Database Software
2) Digitizing Photos and Documents
Once again this week's topics are things that I have done and/or do on an on-going basis. I don't believe I'm an expert on things, but I do find it reassuring that I continue to be going about my genealogy research in the right way.
Reviewing Genealogy Database Software
In early days of my computer use, I had purchased a genealogy programme - I believe it was called Roots. This was pre-internet, so access to information was limited. Although I worked in the library system at Queen's University and their Special Collections Unit was a repository for the Canadian federal government, and therefore housed microfilm copies of the Canadian Census, I never took the time to investigate the resources. I simply recorded the information I knew into that simplistic database. I borrowed some family information from Aunt Dora and recorded that information as well.
I eventually purchased FamilyTreeMaker (version 7, or possibly earlier) and embraced the internet in its early stages. (Another benefit of working at an academic library.) I discovered eBay and people selling various dataCDs compiled by FTM. As time went on, I found numerous trees on WorldCat and other sites with names that I recognized from both my father and mother's lines.
I upgraded to each new version of FTM, even sticking with them when there was a major change to its layout. But I eventually grew tired of a new version released each fall, with very few changes - at least for my use. The kicker was the year when Ancestry.com, by then the owner of FTM, was not offering a reduced rate for existing users of their product.
I was in a dilemma at the time as my FTM database had gotten corrupt and before I realized it, any backups I had were from the corrupted data. As I tried to reconstruct my database, it was too large to back up to a CD (this was before recordable DVD were available), so the only option was to backup to the harddrive. As I was making multiple backups as I never knew when I would hit corrupted data, my harddrive kept maxing out.
At the same time, a new version of RootsMagic was released - and the purchase price for a new user was cheaper than the "upgrade" for FTM! I had read some good reviews for RootsMagic and one of the new features with the newly released version was the ability to save to a thumb drive for mobility purposes when it wasn't feasible to lug one's laptop. So I decided to spend the $20US and start fresh, entering my data. Strangely enough, the corrupted FTM datasbase allowed me to export gedcom without too much trouble, although some fields didn't import properly due to how FTM recorded data in some fields.
I really really loved the fact that I could save my data to a thumbdrive to carry in my purse to access at work during my breaks and lunchtime. I had often done research at work but would have to make notes or printouts and then enter the data on my computer at home. Now I could enter the new information into the database and then synch the thumbdrive on the home computer. More efficient in my opinion.
Before the discovery of my corrupted FTM database, I had started attaching media to individuals. Which is why my database had quickly ballooned to over 1 gig in size. I wondered if the size of the database was what corrupted the file as there wasn't always a consistency in what records were corrupted. When I started fresh with RM, I decided to split my massive tree into multiple branches. [Now with the Do-Over, I'm merging the branches back into one massive tree.]
Before switching to RootMagic, I had looked at some other databases, including Legacy. I can't remember just what it was about Legacy, but I didn't care for the way records were presented. But I've always been comfortable with RootsMagic.
For the purpose of this week's Do-Over assignment, I have not taken the time to review genealogy database software. I am happy with RootsMagic and the changes they make with the new versions released since I started using the programme. Unlike FTM, RM hasn't released new versions on an annual bases. They do provide updates throughout the duration of a version and when I new version is released, they continue to offer a reduced rate for an upgrade.
The last couple of years, as I spend more and more time on genealogy research, I wondered whether I should change to Master Genealogist, but I knew it was expensive. And it has now been discontinued, so that is no longer an option.
I know I definitely do not to only have my data in a cloud based database. I do have a tree on Ancestry, but I purposely only entered some basic records to make use of the waving leaves. If Ancestry will do the searching for me, it would save me time inputing search strategies. And, as many other have done, use the published tree as 'cousin bait'.
I still really like RootsMagic for the To Go feature previously mentioned as well as the fact that the database is not bloated with media. The programme saves a link to the media file. Granted, the media is not available to me when I use the thumbdrive (I could take the time to copy all the media files, but I don't want to run the risk of running out of room on the thumbdrive). Having access to the media isn't crucial to me "out in the field". Any digital records I save "out in the field" do have to be transferred to my home computer, so it is easy to know what to transfer if those are the only media on the thumbdrive. And usually, the database will display an image of the record with an 'x' in the corner. So, I do have an idea what the attached file should look like.
Another feature of RootsMagic that I like is the fact that the database only stores a link to the media file. As part of my on-going organization (long before Do-Over encouragement), I set up a file organization for the media records that mirror the databases. RootsMagic data is stored in a folder 'RM Data', the media in 'RM Images' with subfolders associated with each database.
With postings I've read on FaceBook, there really only seems to be two major Windows based genealogy programmes: RootsMagic and Legacy. Users of both really love features of the programme they use. I'm Team RootsMagic, so I'll continue using it until something else comes along that I feel better fits my needs.
Digitizing Photos and Documents
Once again, I've been digitizing photos for some time. Granted, there is more I could be doing, but for genealogy purposes, I don't need or want every photo in my collection digitized. Several years ago, we gave my mother a digital photo frame as a Christmas gift. I had scanned a number of photos from my collection, as well as hers, for the frame and I have made use of those for my genealogy needs.
I have not collected many print documents, so I don't have many to be digitzed. I have had an Ancestry subscription for a number of years now and I always save a copy of any image I find on Ancestry, as well as any others on the internet. With my connection to Queen's University, I have access to their databases of historical newspapers and again, I save digital copies of any stories or death notices I find.
The routine I established long ago was to enter information from an image as soon as I had found the image. So I don't have a backlog of relevant documents waiting to be digitized in preparation for entry into my database.
Summary
Although I continue to not actively do the weekly assignments, I am satistified that, for the most part, have already been doing the steps in some fashion.
If I had been following the Do-Over in proper fashion I would not have been entering any information into my database for the past 7 weeks! I am too antsy and eager to enter data into my database. I've continued entering documented data into my database, evaluating data on the fly and making notes of what to pursue or investigate further.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Week 2 (April 10-16 2015)
This week's assignment:
1) Setting Research Goals
2) Self interview
3) Conducting Family Interviews
1) Setting Research Goals
The purpose of participating in the Do-Over is to better focus on my genealogy research to ensure that the data entered in my Rootsmagic database is accurate. But how to go about doing that?
I feel that I have been doing that from the beginning of my genealogy research. I've always been suspicious of data posted by others online, but I'm willing to read and use as starting points for me to research and verify to my satisfaction that the information is correct - or not. On a lark one evening, I did an internet research (can't remember which search engine, but it was pre-Google...yes it was that long ago!). Low and behold, one of the hits was for someone's tree on Rootsweb that listed my grandfather's parents (John Schell and Mary Deadman) and going back several generations to the ancestor that had emigrated from "Germany". Boy was I surprised that several generations had apparently spent time in the Herkimer New York area. I have travelled through that area enroute to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York. Little did I know I was travelling through areas that my ancestors had walked. Maybe that's why I often felt a strange sensation? I just thought it was the steep hills and altitute change.
BUT wait! How accurate would this tree be? This tree did list John and Mary having a son George (my grandfather). But the spouse listed for this George was not my grandmother. I was a teenager when my grandfather died and an adult when my grandmother died. I never ever heard that George had a wife prior to my grandmother. And the dates listed in this online tree for their marriage and life spans wouldn't have corresponded to my grandmother being Wife 2.
So obviously something was wrong in the posted tree. Trying to be polite, I sent off an email to the woman who posted the tree asking where she had got the information for George and explained my connection. Her tree also had a middle name (Agnes) for Mary Deadman. My family information never had a middle name for her, but that didn't mean that she had one. I don't remember ever getting a response from her, but I monitored her online postings. She did modify her tree to reflect the information I provided, so at least I was able to correct an error from being copied by many others down the road.
As I began my genealogy research, there were few records available online, so I continued to name gather and tried to prove as best as possible. Working at a university library, which is a depository for the Canadian government, I did have access to documents like transcriptions of early Canadian marriage records as well as microfilm of the Canadian census. At least the marriage records had indexes, but one needed to know which District or county to look in (checked them all to be on the safe side). The microfilm was more challenging. It took me awhile before I discovered that reels for parts of Simcoe County were not missing,the were enumerated as Cardwell (the historical district pre-Confederation continued to be used for decades). But it was still time consuming loading, scrolling and trying to read the images as each page need to be checked as there was no index. The eyes could only take so much at a time.
LDS sold disks of the 1881 census, which I bought and used extensively. They never did expand to other years, but it would have gotten quite expensive and it was still only a transcription. I found it hard to believe that my Allen great-grandparents were both born in Quebec. When I saw an image of that census, the location had been entered as 'O' for Ontario. But the style of handwriting had a curl on the 'O' which the transcriber misread as a 'Q'.
I was overjoyed when Ancestry created a Canadian site. But even then not all of the Canadian census had been digitized, but it did speed up the research. When I had time, I would check census records for the years not yet available on Ancestry or Library and Archives Canada, but as time past, Ancestry has all of the Canadian census images available, and even better, indexed. Granted one needs to be very creative with names to find the ancestor in the index, but that just gives me more purpose to focus. I continue to prefer to use Ancestry, but if I have trouble locating someone on Ancestry, I'll search the FamilySearch.org records to see if their transcribers did a better job. Then 'Cluster Researching' will kick in and I'll search for neighbours on Ancestry to locate the image with my mistranscribed ancestry. In some cases it has been mystifying how the transriber came up with the spelling used in the index. Of course, that requires me to post a correction for the name.
There have been times that the search on FamilySearch hasn't unearthed the ancestor. If the year in question was a year transcribed by Automated Genealogy, I will search there for their transcription. Most of the transcriptions were done by individuals, involved in genealogy research, knowledgeable in the community covered by the records as opposed to the outsourcing done by Ancestry. Still not 100% accurate, but very helpful.
With the Do-Over, I haven't really had to "set my research goals" as I continue with the same goal: accurate, verified, data. It is now easier as images for all of the Canadian censuses are now online at Ancestry. Ancestry does continue to update the Ontario birth, marriage and death records each year when the Ontario Archives releases another year. Given the number of twigs in my trees were in Ontario during the years covered by Ancestry records, searching from the comfort of my home has kept me busy enough. So I have yet had to make the time for a research trip to a physical repository. Some day.
For the purposes of the Do-Over, my Research goal: Search anew all twigs on Ancestry, etc to check 'official' records (birth, marrige, death, census, directories, voter lists, cemetery photo) available online. Check all available for an individual before moving on to the next individual. In the Do-Over database, colour individual once all possible online records have been checked.
2) Self interview
Wrote a biography and included childhood memories.
Did not create a new Family Group Sheet. Accepted the one generated by Rootsmagic from data recorded in my database.
3) Conducting Family Interviews
Only a few aunts still living, as well as my mother and at least two of my aunts are suffering from dementia. Over the years, I have had many discussions of life with my mother, so I wrote a biography of my mother based on information she has provided throughout my life.
Did not create a new Family Group Sheet. Accepted the one generated by Rootsmagic from data recorded in my database.
Conclusion
Seeing some posts from people on the various genealogy related Facebook groups, I've been doing many things "right" from the beginning.
There are some individuals who refuse to enter anything into their database until they have researched the hell out of the individual, using extensive Research Logs, etc to focus on the individual. I feel comfortable entering the individual into my database and with that individual's record open in Rootsmagic, search Ancestry, etc for all the pertinent information before moving on to the next individual. I try to avoid following the BSOs, unless it involves someone connected to the person I'm currently focusing on (ie a google search for an individual references the death of a daughter-in-law). As information comes up regarding children, enter them and check all pertinent information, etc. As I feel all sources have been checked, I colour code that individual and move on to a sibling and eventually up a generation. If important information cannot be located at this point in time, I will make an entry in the To-Do List of Rootsmagic.
Eventually, these individuals will be revisited, either by Reports or GenSmarts (or any other software I may obtain)to see what pertinent information is missing and check new sources, or previous source which may have been updated since my original search.
2) Self interview
3) Conducting Family Interviews
1) Setting Research Goals
The purpose of participating in the Do-Over is to better focus on my genealogy research to ensure that the data entered in my Rootsmagic database is accurate. But how to go about doing that?
I feel that I have been doing that from the beginning of my genealogy research. I've always been suspicious of data posted by others online, but I'm willing to read and use as starting points for me to research and verify to my satisfaction that the information is correct - or not. On a lark one evening, I did an internet research (can't remember which search engine, but it was pre-Google...yes it was that long ago!). Low and behold, one of the hits was for someone's tree on Rootsweb that listed my grandfather's parents (John Schell and Mary Deadman) and going back several generations to the ancestor that had emigrated from "Germany". Boy was I surprised that several generations had apparently spent time in the Herkimer New York area. I have travelled through that area enroute to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown New York. Little did I know I was travelling through areas that my ancestors had walked. Maybe that's why I often felt a strange sensation? I just thought it was the steep hills and altitute change.
BUT wait! How accurate would this tree be? This tree did list John and Mary having a son George (my grandfather). But the spouse listed for this George was not my grandmother. I was a teenager when my grandfather died and an adult when my grandmother died. I never ever heard that George had a wife prior to my grandmother. And the dates listed in this online tree for their marriage and life spans wouldn't have corresponded to my grandmother being Wife 2.
So obviously something was wrong in the posted tree. Trying to be polite, I sent off an email to the woman who posted the tree asking where she had got the information for George and explained my connection. Her tree also had a middle name (Agnes) for Mary Deadman. My family information never had a middle name for her, but that didn't mean that she had one. I don't remember ever getting a response from her, but I monitored her online postings. She did modify her tree to reflect the information I provided, so at least I was able to correct an error from being copied by many others down the road.
As I began my genealogy research, there were few records available online, so I continued to name gather and tried to prove as best as possible. Working at a university library, which is a depository for the Canadian government, I did have access to documents like transcriptions of early Canadian marriage records as well as microfilm of the Canadian census. At least the marriage records had indexes, but one needed to know which District or county to look in (checked them all to be on the safe side). The microfilm was more challenging. It took me awhile before I discovered that reels for parts of Simcoe County were not missing,the were enumerated as Cardwell (the historical district pre-Confederation continued to be used for decades). But it was still time consuming loading, scrolling and trying to read the images as each page need to be checked as there was no index. The eyes could only take so much at a time.
LDS sold disks of the 1881 census, which I bought and used extensively. They never did expand to other years, but it would have gotten quite expensive and it was still only a transcription. I found it hard to believe that my Allen great-grandparents were both born in Quebec. When I saw an image of that census, the location had been entered as 'O' for Ontario. But the style of handwriting had a curl on the 'O' which the transcriber misread as a 'Q'.
I was overjoyed when Ancestry created a Canadian site. But even then not all of the Canadian census had been digitized, but it did speed up the research. When I had time, I would check census records for the years not yet available on Ancestry or Library and Archives Canada, but as time past, Ancestry has all of the Canadian census images available, and even better, indexed. Granted one needs to be very creative with names to find the ancestor in the index, but that just gives me more purpose to focus. I continue to prefer to use Ancestry, but if I have trouble locating someone on Ancestry, I'll search the FamilySearch.org records to see if their transcribers did a better job. Then 'Cluster Researching' will kick in and I'll search for neighbours on Ancestry to locate the image with my mistranscribed ancestry. In some cases it has been mystifying how the transriber came up with the spelling used in the index. Of course, that requires me to post a correction for the name.
There have been times that the search on FamilySearch hasn't unearthed the ancestor. If the year in question was a year transcribed by Automated Genealogy, I will search there for their transcription. Most of the transcriptions were done by individuals, involved in genealogy research, knowledgeable in the community covered by the records as opposed to the outsourcing done by Ancestry. Still not 100% accurate, but very helpful.
With the Do-Over, I haven't really had to "set my research goals" as I continue with the same goal: accurate, verified, data. It is now easier as images for all of the Canadian censuses are now online at Ancestry. Ancestry does continue to update the Ontario birth, marriage and death records each year when the Ontario Archives releases another year. Given the number of twigs in my trees were in Ontario during the years covered by Ancestry records, searching from the comfort of my home has kept me busy enough. So I have yet had to make the time for a research trip to a physical repository. Some day.
For the purposes of the Do-Over, my Research goal: Search anew all twigs on Ancestry, etc to check 'official' records (birth, marrige, death, census, directories, voter lists, cemetery photo) available online. Check all available for an individual before moving on to the next individual. In the Do-Over database, colour individual once all possible online records have been checked.
2) Self interview
Wrote a biography and included childhood memories.
Did not create a new Family Group Sheet. Accepted the one generated by Rootsmagic from data recorded in my database.
3) Conducting Family Interviews
Only a few aunts still living, as well as my mother and at least two of my aunts are suffering from dementia. Over the years, I have had many discussions of life with my mother, so I wrote a biography of my mother based on information she has provided throughout my life.
Did not create a new Family Group Sheet. Accepted the one generated by Rootsmagic from data recorded in my database.
Conclusion
Seeing some posts from people on the various genealogy related Facebook groups, I've been doing many things "right" from the beginning.
There are some individuals who refuse to enter anything into their database until they have researched the hell out of the individual, using extensive Research Logs, etc to focus on the individual. I feel comfortable entering the individual into my database and with that individual's record open in Rootsmagic, search Ancestry, etc for all the pertinent information before moving on to the next individual. I try to avoid following the BSOs, unless it involves someone connected to the person I'm currently focusing on (ie a google search for an individual references the death of a daughter-in-law). As information comes up regarding children, enter them and check all pertinent information, etc. As I feel all sources have been checked, I colour code that individual and move on to a sibling and eventually up a generation. If important information cannot be located at this point in time, I will make an entry in the To-Do List of Rootsmagic.
Eventually, these individuals will be revisited, either by Reports or GenSmarts (or any other software I may obtain)to see what pertinent information is missing and check new sources, or previous source which may have been updated since my original search.
Week 6 (May 8-14 2015)
This week's topics:
1) Evaluating evidence
2) Reviewing online education options
1) Evaluating Evidence
In his explanation, Thomas MacEntee gives a summary of his method of evaluating evidence to determine a proof point and entering them in his research log and then evaluating the found evidence to determine if the facts found can be proven or not. He admits that in the past he would accept facts in a book on the assumption that if it is in a published book, it must be true.
Once again my high school history classes have proven to be invaluable for my genealogy research. One of my teachers taught us to evaluate the origins of a book. To illustrate his point, he pointed to one of our textbooks. The British author described the origins of the Boston Tea Party as being a the colonists getting into a snit. I can't remember the exact wording, or the specific author, but the point has alway stuck with me...always take note of who is giving the information and be wary of any potential bias by that individual. With that philosophy having been ingrained in my mind, I believe I instictively avoid what MacEntee admits to doing in the past. And that is why I have always cited my sources, so that I am aware of potential skewing of information.
MacEntee goes on to explain in detail the process he uses to evaluate his birth certificate to determine the source type, clarity of the document, information provided and the evidence type. His conclusion is that the birth certificate, a copy of an original record housed in a repository, would be ranked higher as a reliable record that a birth announcement published in a newspaper or a Delayed Birth Certificate filed years later which would be based on sworn affidavits by the individual or others.
I am sorry, but I feel that this it is a waste of time to go through all this process. Or maybe it's just that I feel that I can do an acceptable (at least for me) evaluation on the fly. In search online images of Ontario Birth records on Ancestry, if the record that comes up is a Delayed Statement of Birth, I will use the information (better than nothing in my opinion) BUT I take the information with many grains of salt - especially if it is signed by the individual in question or a sibling of similar age. Even if signed by a parent, I acknowledge that the intervening years could lead to inaccurate information being given.
If I was a professional genealogist doing research for a client, I can see needing to spend the time backing up the information I would be putting into the report. But for my own family history, I would rather spend the time locating more details to either continue reinforcing the facts already found, or finding another facts on that individual or others in my family tree.
I feel comfortable in doing evaluations "on the fly" and accepting the facts found on the government documents (especially when it is digital images as opposed to transcriptions), as well as newspaper announcements, funeral home obituaries and headstone photos. I am well aware that the information provided in the later sources can be questionable, but it would be provided by a family member and be the information the family member believes to be true.
I go ahead and enter the information, even if questionable, in my database. RootsMagic allows one to mark facts as proven, disproven or disputed. I use that method to highlight what I question. Even when disproven, I tend to leave the fact in the database so that I know I have already discounted the fact if I happen to come across another source using the incorrect fact. Especially if the incorrect information is what was entered on a census form.
2) Reviewing Online Education Options
Again, I'm not going to spend time evaluating this. I have always been doing that with the emails I receive from various genealogy organizations and bloggers. As well as being aware of videos available on YouTube or websites. As the need and time permit, I do watch the videos. As well as podcasts.
I frequently get emails advertising various online courses and webinars being run by various organizations, but when I see the cost, I decide not to spend the time and money.
MacEntee does provide a document listing some free online genealogy education resources and asks for submissions of other sources. The list does include some that I was not aware of, so I will check them out.
Summary
I am still glad that I signed up for the Genealogy Do-Over. My main reason to start over with my family tree was to go back to one big tree (too many crossovers, resulting in "see" references) and to fix the improper citations done in a free-form style carried over from FamilyTreeMaker. I figured it would be easier to start fresh than trying to fix up existing records - especially if I merged all the trees into one.
As always, when I have taken genealogy courses and workshops, I come away with something new. And it reinforces in my mind that I have been on the right track.
1) Evaluating evidence
2) Reviewing online education options
1) Evaluating Evidence
In his explanation, Thomas MacEntee gives a summary of his method of evaluating evidence to determine a proof point and entering them in his research log and then evaluating the found evidence to determine if the facts found can be proven or not. He admits that in the past he would accept facts in a book on the assumption that if it is in a published book, it must be true.
Once again my high school history classes have proven to be invaluable for my genealogy research. One of my teachers taught us to evaluate the origins of a book. To illustrate his point, he pointed to one of our textbooks. The British author described the origins of the Boston Tea Party as being a the colonists getting into a snit. I can't remember the exact wording, or the specific author, but the point has alway stuck with me...always take note of who is giving the information and be wary of any potential bias by that individual. With that philosophy having been ingrained in my mind, I believe I instictively avoid what MacEntee admits to doing in the past. And that is why I have always cited my sources, so that I am aware of potential skewing of information.
MacEntee goes on to explain in detail the process he uses to evaluate his birth certificate to determine the source type, clarity of the document, information provided and the evidence type. His conclusion is that the birth certificate, a copy of an original record housed in a repository, would be ranked higher as a reliable record that a birth announcement published in a newspaper or a Delayed Birth Certificate filed years later which would be based on sworn affidavits by the individual or others.
I am sorry, but I feel that this it is a waste of time to go through all this process. Or maybe it's just that I feel that I can do an acceptable (at least for me) evaluation on the fly. In search online images of Ontario Birth records on Ancestry, if the record that comes up is a Delayed Statement of Birth, I will use the information (better than nothing in my opinion) BUT I take the information with many grains of salt - especially if it is signed by the individual in question or a sibling of similar age. Even if signed by a parent, I acknowledge that the intervening years could lead to inaccurate information being given.
If I was a professional genealogist doing research for a client, I can see needing to spend the time backing up the information I would be putting into the report. But for my own family history, I would rather spend the time locating more details to either continue reinforcing the facts already found, or finding another facts on that individual or others in my family tree.
I feel comfortable in doing evaluations "on the fly" and accepting the facts found on the government documents (especially when it is digital images as opposed to transcriptions), as well as newspaper announcements, funeral home obituaries and headstone photos. I am well aware that the information provided in the later sources can be questionable, but it would be provided by a family member and be the information the family member believes to be true.
I go ahead and enter the information, even if questionable, in my database. RootsMagic allows one to mark facts as proven, disproven or disputed. I use that method to highlight what I question. Even when disproven, I tend to leave the fact in the database so that I know I have already discounted the fact if I happen to come across another source using the incorrect fact. Especially if the incorrect information is what was entered on a census form.
2) Reviewing Online Education Options
Again, I'm not going to spend time evaluating this. I have always been doing that with the emails I receive from various genealogy organizations and bloggers. As well as being aware of videos available on YouTube or websites. As the need and time permit, I do watch the videos. As well as podcasts.
I frequently get emails advertising various online courses and webinars being run by various organizations, but when I see the cost, I decide not to spend the time and money.
MacEntee does provide a document listing some free online genealogy education resources and asks for submissions of other sources. The list does include some that I was not aware of, so I will check them out.
Summary
I am still glad that I signed up for the Genealogy Do-Over. My main reason to start over with my family tree was to go back to one big tree (too many crossovers, resulting in "see" references) and to fix the improper citations done in a free-form style carried over from FamilyTreeMaker. I figured it would be easier to start fresh than trying to fix up existing records - especially if I merged all the trees into one.
As always, when I have taken genealogy courses and workshops, I come away with something new. And it reinforces in my mind that I have been on the right track.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Week 5 (May 1-7 2015)
This week's topics:
1) Building a Research Toolbox
2) Citing Sources
Didn't need to spend much time on getting the basics down for the topics of this week as citing sources just seems to have been second nature to me from the beginning of my genealogy habit and I've always tried to bookmark frequently vistied sites.
1) Building a Research Toolbox
Since I love to love to point and click with my mouse, over the years I have bookmarked my "go-to" websites - or in the case of Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc, my fingers automatically type in the urls.
Thomas MacEntee provided Do-Over participants with a link to his RootsTech 2015 presentation on 'Building a Research Toolbox' as well as a version of his own toolbox. He gave links to some real gems.
I like the fact that Thomas presents an idea, explaining the rationale as well as a variety of methods and the pros and cons of each method. He not only acknowledges that a method or format that might work for one person may not work for someone else, but he also encourages people to keep trying and modifying as one continues.
The main purpose is to become, and stay, focused while one goes about one's genealogy research. Working more efficiently results in more time to hunt down those illusive ancestors.
Have installed OneNote on my ipad, but encountering problems getting in on my laptop without upgrading from Office Starter 2010 to the full fledged Office package. I'll usually have my ipad with me, leaving my laptop at home but as I do my genealogy work on the laptop, it would be easier to cut/paste sites into OneNote on the laptop, letting it synch for ipad access.
I've used Evernote over the years on a hit & miss basis and had already added the app to my ipad and iphone. As I try to become more focused and organized, I'm trying to clean up what I have already put onto Evernote. I have also created a folder in Evernote for my Toolbox.
But as I go about working on my genealogy on the laptop, I find I'm instinctly using the bookmarks rather than the toolbox. However, I do feel that I have completed this week's Topic 1.
2) Citing Sources
I believe that I have alway cited my sources from the beginning of my genealogy addiction - even if it was only to record that it was verbal information from a relative, my own personal knowledge or family folklore. But I accept that many of the citations were likely not done in proper format or providing all the necessary information.
Some because of laziness on my part or eagerness to enter the next piece of information, but I can also blame my software. As the years have past, the commercial software programmes have included citation templates, corresponding to Evidence Explained requirements.
One of the reasons I had been tossing around the idea of a Do-Over of my genealogy, even before MacEntee's proposal came to light was that much of my data that had been imported from FamilyTreeMaker into RootsMagic had badly created citations. Facts were cited and I could more than likely locate the data again, the citations were done in a free-form format and somewhat inconsistant as well as not quoting the exact information. And too generic. Originally I used 'WorldConnect Project' as the source for all of the trees I was accessing. I had started creating separate citations for each tree, but have never taken the time to go back and separate out all of the citations.
When I started using RootsMagic (version 4), it provided templates to streamline things better. Over time, I have changed some of the old free-form citations but the time takes away from my new research. I just accepted that the badly composed citations were there and use as guideline to locate better sources, which would be properly cited.
Reading comments from other participants on Facebook, I have come to realize that my instinct to have been citing my sources, albeit maybe not well, is not necessarily from my years of working in an academic library, but goes back to high school.
My Grade 11 history teacher was right when he told students that we would appreciate his requirement of properly citing facts in our essays with footnotes and bibliographies. The first essay I did for that class, I had to return to the public library to locate books I had already returned to get full bibliographic information and page numbers. That library had outgrown its existing location and books were stacked on floors and any nook or cranny to be found as the shelves were overflowing. Needless to say, it was quite a task to relocate the specific books I had used. Fortunately, I had at least recorded the titles. Anyway, lesson learned and any essay I wrote after that, I recorded full bibligraphic information and page numbers when I used data.
So when I started doing genealogy research, it was just instinctive to record the bibliographic information. Which has worked great for books. But my school days were long before the internet and its ever changing information and websites.
The templates included in software has helped me to properly fill in the blanks. I will admit that I may not always select the correct format, but in many cases I am unable an exact match. I end up using 'Website (with multiple databases)' and avoid using 'Free form'.
I still refuse to use a unique citation for each and every census sheet used. My database would bulge with the number of sources. Instead, I will continue using one citation for each year and country, using the note fields to record the unique information and facts.
The purpose of citations is that anyone could locate the data at some point in the future and I feel that my format will fulfill that requirement. Topic 2 fulfilled.
1) Building a Research Toolbox
2) Citing Sources
Didn't need to spend much time on getting the basics down for the topics of this week as citing sources just seems to have been second nature to me from the beginning of my genealogy habit and I've always tried to bookmark frequently vistied sites.
1) Building a Research Toolbox
Since I love to love to point and click with my mouse, over the years I have bookmarked my "go-to" websites - or in the case of Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc, my fingers automatically type in the urls.
Thomas MacEntee provided Do-Over participants with a link to his RootsTech 2015 presentation on 'Building a Research Toolbox' as well as a version of his own toolbox. He gave links to some real gems.
I like the fact that Thomas presents an idea, explaining the rationale as well as a variety of methods and the pros and cons of each method. He not only acknowledges that a method or format that might work for one person may not work for someone else, but he also encourages people to keep trying and modifying as one continues.
The main purpose is to become, and stay, focused while one goes about one's genealogy research. Working more efficiently results in more time to hunt down those illusive ancestors.
Have installed OneNote on my ipad, but encountering problems getting in on my laptop without upgrading from Office Starter 2010 to the full fledged Office package. I'll usually have my ipad with me, leaving my laptop at home but as I do my genealogy work on the laptop, it would be easier to cut/paste sites into OneNote on the laptop, letting it synch for ipad access.
I've used Evernote over the years on a hit & miss basis and had already added the app to my ipad and iphone. As I try to become more focused and organized, I'm trying to clean up what I have already put onto Evernote. I have also created a folder in Evernote for my Toolbox.
But as I go about working on my genealogy on the laptop, I find I'm instinctly using the bookmarks rather than the toolbox. However, I do feel that I have completed this week's Topic 1.
2) Citing Sources
I believe that I have alway cited my sources from the beginning of my genealogy addiction - even if it was only to record that it was verbal information from a relative, my own personal knowledge or family folklore. But I accept that many of the citations were likely not done in proper format or providing all the necessary information.
Some because of laziness on my part or eagerness to enter the next piece of information, but I can also blame my software. As the years have past, the commercial software programmes have included citation templates, corresponding to Evidence Explained requirements.
One of the reasons I had been tossing around the idea of a Do-Over of my genealogy, even before MacEntee's proposal came to light was that much of my data that had been imported from FamilyTreeMaker into RootsMagic had badly created citations. Facts were cited and I could more than likely locate the data again, the citations were done in a free-form format and somewhat inconsistant as well as not quoting the exact information. And too generic. Originally I used 'WorldConnect Project' as the source for all of the trees I was accessing. I had started creating separate citations for each tree, but have never taken the time to go back and separate out all of the citations.
When I started using RootsMagic (version 4), it provided templates to streamline things better. Over time, I have changed some of the old free-form citations but the time takes away from my new research. I just accepted that the badly composed citations were there and use as guideline to locate better sources, which would be properly cited.
Reading comments from other participants on Facebook, I have come to realize that my instinct to have been citing my sources, albeit maybe not well, is not necessarily from my years of working in an academic library, but goes back to high school.
My Grade 11 history teacher was right when he told students that we would appreciate his requirement of properly citing facts in our essays with footnotes and bibliographies. The first essay I did for that class, I had to return to the public library to locate books I had already returned to get full bibliographic information and page numbers. That library had outgrown its existing location and books were stacked on floors and any nook or cranny to be found as the shelves were overflowing. Needless to say, it was quite a task to relocate the specific books I had used. Fortunately, I had at least recorded the titles. Anyway, lesson learned and any essay I wrote after that, I recorded full bibligraphic information and page numbers when I used data.
So when I started doing genealogy research, it was just instinctive to record the bibliographic information. Which has worked great for books. But my school days were long before the internet and its ever changing information and websites.
The templates included in software has helped me to properly fill in the blanks. I will admit that I may not always select the correct format, but in many cases I am unable an exact match. I end up using 'Website (with multiple databases)' and avoid using 'Free form'.
I still refuse to use a unique citation for each and every census sheet used. My database would bulge with the number of sources. Instead, I will continue using one citation for each year and country, using the note fields to record the unique information and facts.
The purpose of citations is that anyone could locate the data at some point in the future and I feel that my format will fulfill that requirement. Topic 2 fulfilled.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Week 4 (April 24-30 2015)
This weeks topics:
1) Managing Projects and Tasks
2) Tracking Searches
1) Managing Projects and Tasks
Thomas MacEntee suggests that using a project management system is optional. He personally applies a system he developed for his work to his genealogy research. He finds it beneficial to be aware of the time he spends doing certain tasks with the intent to improve efficiency and productivity.
I don't plan on monitoring my time. Reminds me too much of the time evaluations done at work for job evaluations - usually leading to redundancies. I do my genealogy during spare time, so efficiency probably isn't essential - although that does go against my nature. I have always tried to streamline repetitative tasks and will continue applying that to my genealogy research. But I do that only fly, not a formalized record keeping. Why spend time updating a spreadsheet or chart when I could be searching more records? :)
2) Tracking Searches
MacEntee suggests tracking each and every search criteria entered in an online search form such as Google or Ancestry. Rationale being to repeat the criteria on another site and compare results. Or repeat the process at some point in the future to see if new records are found.
Summary
Maybe it's my academic library background, or maybe it's the way my brain works, but I don't understand the need to spend the time recording what you are doing. I automatically search for an individual name. If not found, I try spelling variations and add more search criteria to narrow results, or remove some wordings or broaden dates if hits are few and not successful. If I find a relevant record, with image, on Ancestry I don't see the same to redo the search on another site to find the same record.
1) Managing Projects and Tasks
2) Tracking Searches
1) Managing Projects and Tasks
Thomas MacEntee suggests that using a project management system is optional. He personally applies a system he developed for his work to his genealogy research. He finds it beneficial to be aware of the time he spends doing certain tasks with the intent to improve efficiency and productivity.
I don't plan on monitoring my time. Reminds me too much of the time evaluations done at work for job evaluations - usually leading to redundancies. I do my genealogy during spare time, so efficiency probably isn't essential - although that does go against my nature. I have always tried to streamline repetitative tasks and will continue applying that to my genealogy research. But I do that only fly, not a formalized record keeping. Why spend time updating a spreadsheet or chart when I could be searching more records? :)
2) Tracking Searches
MacEntee suggests tracking each and every search criteria entered in an online search form such as Google or Ancestry. Rationale being to repeat the criteria on another site and compare results. Or repeat the process at some point in the future to see if new records are found.
Summary
Maybe it's my academic library background, or maybe it's the way my brain works, but I don't understand the need to spend the time recording what you are doing. I automatically search for an individual name. If not found, I try spelling variations and add more search criteria to narrow results, or remove some wordings or broaden dates if hits are few and not successful. If I find a relevant record, with image, on Ancestry I don't see the same to redo the search on another site to find the same record.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Week 3 (April 17-23 2015)
ASSIGNMENT:
1) Tracking Research
2) Conducting Research
1) Tracking Research
Thomas MacEntee generously uploaded a template of the excel spreadsheet he developed to use for his own genealogy research. I had looked at it as I lurked during the Cycle 1 of the Do-Over. Many of the other participants have also uploaded spread and word documents that they personally use, or links to other downloadable files.
I have to admit that I still cannot get my head out using Thomas' or any of the others. From what I can see of the files made available one would need to cut down a forest of real trees to produce the paper required to build one's family tree. Isn't the emphasis now a days to go paperless? [Strangely enough I'm typing this on Earth Day.]
I use Rootsmagic (RM) and there is a built in To-Do List and Research Log. I'm sure most other genealogy database programmes have similar. I am trying to get into the routine of making use of RM's To-Do List and Research Log as I encounter something that needs further investigation or validation.
I guess I approach my research in a different manner that others. Yes, I do the whole point of the Do-Over is to retrain one's self to do future research in a better, more efficient manner. But from postings I've seen from other participants, I have been doing things in a way that they are now trying to train themselves to do. ie Prove facts from official sources, not accept someone's tree uploaded on the internet.
I guess I've been fortunate that most of my twigs were located in Ontario and the BMD records from Archives of Ontario available through Ancestry cover a large portion of their lifespan. Why print out a Research Log for a trip to the Archives of Ontario when I can find the same information from the comfort of my own home?
The cost of my annual subscription pays off day after day as I can do my research, find the image of an official document and then enter it immediately into my database. Why do I need to make an entry into a Research Log to tell me to search Ancestry, search Ancestry, find the record, update my Research Log and then enter it into my database?
Yes, the badly mangled transcriptions of names can make the searching difficult and not readily found. But before giving up and adding it to my To-Do List or Research Log, I try as many other methods of searching. I will also check FamilySearch to see how they transcribed the name. In many cases, they do not have an image of the actual record, only a transcription. But with additional information gleamed from that record, I've often been able to go back to Ancestry and find the record.
For the of individuals difficult to find in censuses, I've done the FamilySearch search or if it is a year transcribed on AutomatedGenealogy, I'll check for neighbours and return to Ancestry, search for the neighbour and lo and behold I find my ancestor on the page and am usually mystified as to how the transcriber came up with the mangled name. For consistency purposes, I prefer to use Ancestry as the citation source.
I am training myself to make use of the To-do List and Research Log at the point that I have given up trying to find the individual in some variation or mangled name. And someday I will venture out to physical repositories to do additional research for the few individuals and facts that need to be found and/or verified.
I realize that the Do-Over exercises have not yet reached the point of actually entering information into one's database. But I don't work that way. I feel I can better evaluate the information, or lack thereof, by looking at my database. In the timeline created for the individual, I can tell at a glance if I have copies of the BMD and censuses for that person. And then search for the missing information. Of course during that search, I will also discover "official" information for the others that appear on the document. Some may view that as a BSO, but I'd be searching that individual eventually, so when I'm checking that individual I will already have the information entered in the database. I just need to ensure that I return to the main person I've been focusing on once I'm finished that the document on the screen.
The BSOs do also crop up when I do a google search as part of my research for the individual of my focus. I could enter details of an in-laws obituary on the To-Do List, but it only takes a short time to evaluate that record to get details as to maiden names and children and possibly their spouses and children. With the maiden names known, a new google search to be done. Again, with immediately entering the details pertinent to my tree into my database, I am able to round out an individual's record before moving on to another branch.
Granted, with this method, I can spend days expanding a twig into a branch before moving on to the twig's sibling and repeating the process. Benefits in just this past week, I have discovered that two siblings in my tree married a man and his niece. I had wondered about the common surname but it wasn't until I was doing the birth, marriage and census searches of the in-laws that I discovered that the woman was the niece of the man and had lived with him and his parents for several years after her father had died at a young age. Their farm? Next door to my ancestor branch that they married into.
So...for the purpose of the Do-Over, the Research Log I choose to use is my genealogy database programme. As time goes on, I will need to prepare logs for trips to repositories, but as long as I continue to readily find massive amounts of legitimate documentation online, I'll refrain from generating paper.
2) Conducting Research
I plan to continue the method I have been gradually developing over time. With participating in the Do Over, I've made a conscious decision try to keep my focus on one individual at a time before moving on to a sibling and then back up the tree to the next branch.
With having started over with a new database, merging my numerous databases into one as I had had with FamilyTreeMaker until it got corrupted. But I'm not dragging and dropping the old branches into the new. I hadn't been happy with my citations (ones transferred from FTM appeared in RM as 'free-hold' with little information. To properly redo the citations, I thought it best to redo everything.
Now that Ancestry has all Canadian census available, indexed and images, I can check all census pertinent to the ancestor I'm working on. The same with BMD.
Establishing routine for each individual I focus on:
1) on Ancestry: BMD, census, Canada Voters' List and any other database on Ancestry pertinent to that specific individual. Census records may lead to unknown siblings which would need BMDs, etc to be checked. Marriage records may lead to a previously unknown spouse which would need checking.
purpose: document and verify facts already on hand ; fill-in missing facts with verified documentation
2) As previously stated, if individual should be covered by a database on Ancesty and cannot be found, check FamilySearch, AutomatedGenealogy, LAC, etc to see if other transcribers did a better job at decipher handwriting on the documents.
purpose: continue to document/verify facts, returning to Ancestry for consistency in citations. If Ancestry doesn't duplicate the record, use the alternative source
3) Check relevant newspaper archives, if available, for obituaries (bookmarked in Firefox)
purpose: information regarding birth, death, burial, offspring, spouses, parents
4) Check relevant cemetery sites (booked in Firefox)
purpose: information regarding birth, death, burial, possible offspring, hints for geographic area to search for obituary
5) Google relevant search terms (combination of names of individual, spouse, children, location, etc)
purpose: unearth all sorts of information on individual in question
6) Check Public Member Trees on Ancestry (or posted on sites discovered with Google search)
purpose: to use as hints of where or what to search for to be verified (ie middle name, BMD, spouse, in-laws, children)
7) Repeat process for any new individuals unearthed, or maiden names found
Once every relevant fact/event has been unearthed and verified to be the best of sources available, colour code individual as indication that all relevant internet searches have been done. Move on to the next sibling and repeat above processes. Once all siblings have been covered, recheck parents information is "complete" before colour coding and moving on to next sibling of the ancestor.
Summary
Since starting this routine a few weeks ago, these process seems to be working for me. I have unearthed a lot of information I did not already have for that individual in my old database. More and more documents are becoming available on the internet and is much easier to search from home. I know eventually I will need to travel and visit repositories for other information that will never be available online. But for now, the internet will keep me busy enough finding the basic information.
1) Tracking Research
2) Conducting Research
1) Tracking Research
Thomas MacEntee generously uploaded a template of the excel spreadsheet he developed to use for his own genealogy research. I had looked at it as I lurked during the Cycle 1 of the Do-Over. Many of the other participants have also uploaded spread and word documents that they personally use, or links to other downloadable files.
I have to admit that I still cannot get my head out using Thomas' or any of the others. From what I can see of the files made available one would need to cut down a forest of real trees to produce the paper required to build one's family tree. Isn't the emphasis now a days to go paperless? [Strangely enough I'm typing this on Earth Day.]
I use Rootsmagic (RM) and there is a built in To-Do List and Research Log. I'm sure most other genealogy database programmes have similar. I am trying to get into the routine of making use of RM's To-Do List and Research Log as I encounter something that needs further investigation or validation.
I guess I approach my research in a different manner that others. Yes, I do the whole point of the Do-Over is to retrain one's self to do future research in a better, more efficient manner. But from postings I've seen from other participants, I have been doing things in a way that they are now trying to train themselves to do. ie Prove facts from official sources, not accept someone's tree uploaded on the internet.
I guess I've been fortunate that most of my twigs were located in Ontario and the BMD records from Archives of Ontario available through Ancestry cover a large portion of their lifespan. Why print out a Research Log for a trip to the Archives of Ontario when I can find the same information from the comfort of my own home?
The cost of my annual subscription pays off day after day as I can do my research, find the image of an official document and then enter it immediately into my database. Why do I need to make an entry into a Research Log to tell me to search Ancestry, search Ancestry, find the record, update my Research Log and then enter it into my database?
Yes, the badly mangled transcriptions of names can make the searching difficult and not readily found. But before giving up and adding it to my To-Do List or Research Log, I try as many other methods of searching. I will also check FamilySearch to see how they transcribed the name. In many cases, they do not have an image of the actual record, only a transcription. But with additional information gleamed from that record, I've often been able to go back to Ancestry and find the record.
For the of individuals difficult to find in censuses, I've done the FamilySearch search or if it is a year transcribed on AutomatedGenealogy, I'll check for neighbours and return to Ancestry, search for the neighbour and lo and behold I find my ancestor on the page and am usually mystified as to how the transcriber came up with the mangled name. For consistency purposes, I prefer to use Ancestry as the citation source.
I am training myself to make use of the To-do List and Research Log at the point that I have given up trying to find the individual in some variation or mangled name. And someday I will venture out to physical repositories to do additional research for the few individuals and facts that need to be found and/or verified.
I realize that the Do-Over exercises have not yet reached the point of actually entering information into one's database. But I don't work that way. I feel I can better evaluate the information, or lack thereof, by looking at my database. In the timeline created for the individual, I can tell at a glance if I have copies of the BMD and censuses for that person. And then search for the missing information. Of course during that search, I will also discover "official" information for the others that appear on the document. Some may view that as a BSO, but I'd be searching that individual eventually, so when I'm checking that individual I will already have the information entered in the database. I just need to ensure that I return to the main person I've been focusing on once I'm finished that the document on the screen.
The BSOs do also crop up when I do a google search as part of my research for the individual of my focus. I could enter details of an in-laws obituary on the To-Do List, but it only takes a short time to evaluate that record to get details as to maiden names and children and possibly their spouses and children. With the maiden names known, a new google search to be done. Again, with immediately entering the details pertinent to my tree into my database, I am able to round out an individual's record before moving on to another branch.
Granted, with this method, I can spend days expanding a twig into a branch before moving on to the twig's sibling and repeating the process. Benefits in just this past week, I have discovered that two siblings in my tree married a man and his niece. I had wondered about the common surname but it wasn't until I was doing the birth, marriage and census searches of the in-laws that I discovered that the woman was the niece of the man and had lived with him and his parents for several years after her father had died at a young age. Their farm? Next door to my ancestor branch that they married into.
So...for the purpose of the Do-Over, the Research Log I choose to use is my genealogy database programme. As time goes on, I will need to prepare logs for trips to repositories, but as long as I continue to readily find massive amounts of legitimate documentation online, I'll refrain from generating paper.
2) Conducting Research
I plan to continue the method I have been gradually developing over time. With participating in the Do Over, I've made a conscious decision try to keep my focus on one individual at a time before moving on to a sibling and then back up the tree to the next branch.
With having started over with a new database, merging my numerous databases into one as I had had with FamilyTreeMaker until it got corrupted. But I'm not dragging and dropping the old branches into the new. I hadn't been happy with my citations (ones transferred from FTM appeared in RM as 'free-hold' with little information. To properly redo the citations, I thought it best to redo everything.
Now that Ancestry has all Canadian census available, indexed and images, I can check all census pertinent to the ancestor I'm working on. The same with BMD.
Establishing routine for each individual I focus on:
1) on Ancestry: BMD, census, Canada Voters' List and any other database on Ancestry pertinent to that specific individual. Census records may lead to unknown siblings which would need BMDs, etc to be checked. Marriage records may lead to a previously unknown spouse which would need checking.
purpose: document and verify facts already on hand ; fill-in missing facts with verified documentation
2) As previously stated, if individual should be covered by a database on Ancesty and cannot be found, check FamilySearch, AutomatedGenealogy, LAC, etc to see if other transcribers did a better job at decipher handwriting on the documents.
purpose: continue to document/verify facts, returning to Ancestry for consistency in citations. If Ancestry doesn't duplicate the record, use the alternative source
3) Check relevant newspaper archives, if available, for obituaries (bookmarked in Firefox)
purpose: information regarding birth, death, burial, offspring, spouses, parents
4) Check relevant cemetery sites (booked in Firefox)
purpose: information regarding birth, death, burial, possible offspring, hints for geographic area to search for obituary
5) Google relevant search terms (combination of names of individual, spouse, children, location, etc)
purpose: unearth all sorts of information on individual in question
6) Check Public Member Trees on Ancestry (or posted on sites discovered with Google search)
purpose: to use as hints of where or what to search for to be verified (ie middle name, BMD, spouse, in-laws, children)
7) Repeat process for any new individuals unearthed, or maiden names found
Once every relevant fact/event has been unearthed and verified to be the best of sources available, colour code individual as indication that all relevant internet searches have been done. Move on to the next sibling and repeat above processes. Once all siblings have been covered, recheck parents information is "complete" before colour coding and moving on to next sibling of the ancestor.
Summary
Since starting this routine a few weeks ago, these process seems to be working for me. I have unearthed a lot of information I did not already have for that individual in my old database. More and more documents are becoming available on the internet and is much easier to search from home. I know eventually I will need to travel and visit repositories for other information that will never be available online. But for now, the internet will keep me busy enough finding the basic information.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Week 1 (April 3-9 2015)
I will likely only use the weekly asssignments as guidelines and probably not follow everything to the letter. I have to confess that the main goal is to stay focus and not get sidetracked with all the BSO that keep coming to light. I am happy to see that many of the suggestions for organizing material, both digital and physical, I already do in some manner.
The timing of the restart of the Genealogy Do-Over is perfect as I am also in the process of reorganizing my office space after the installation of upper shelving.
WEEK 1 ASSISGNMENT:
1)Setting Previous Research Aside DONE!
That was easy as I've been tossing around the idea of combining my multiple Rootsmagic databases into one as it's becoming more and more cumbersome doing cross references between the databases. That's the problem of many branches living in the same geographic area - branches will intermingle.
I've been resisting doing it as I didn't just want to merge all the databases as it would duplicate records of the direct lines and would also require alot of editing to remove the see references. Let alone the inconsistencies of source citations among the different databases. When I first started, years ago, with Family TreeMaker, there were no citation templates (or at least I was unaware of them) and when transferring to RootsMagic, the citations were all imported as 'free-form' and lacks many pertinent details.
When I came across the references to Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over I decided to take the plunge and start with a new tree. With the goal of, ultimately, having only one database to check and consist citations.
Entering the names I know (myself, parents, grandparents, great grandparents) I will then research and enter what I find from legitmate sources. Fortunately for me, most of my ancestors were in Ontario during the time frame that BMD records are covered by Ancestry.
2) Preparing to Research
MacEntee suggests to no longer do research at 2:00am when tired or in short spurts of available time.
Don't think I'll be able to follow that advice. If I'm on a roll with research late at night, I won't be able to sleep with all the details running through my mind. I've always maintained that genealogy research is do-able during one's 15 minute work break. Granted it may be a case of documenting sources in some manner to be consulted and worked on later. But hey! That saves time for later when I can spend time evaluating the records already found.
As mentioned above, birth, marriage and death records of many of my ancestors are covered by databases available on Ancestry. And all of the Canadian censuses are now available on that site as well. So when I'm researching a specific individual, I will be able research major events during his/her life span. In the past, only some of the census images were available online so some information in the past was obtain via microfilm (very time consuming) or transcriptions on society's webpages or publications. Transcriptions do not usually include all the information from the actual census record.
I already have my digital files organized on my laptop in a logical (at least to me) manner and am able to locate files.
3) Establishing Base Practices and Guideline
- Start new database [I know, I know...that's not until several weeks into process...but I can't wait]
- create citations using appropiate template
- stay focused on one individual before moving on to another (Birth, marriage, death, relevant censuses, obit, headstone photo)
- recording pertinent info on an individual will necessitate recording info in other individual's records, but always return to the main person once I'm done with the record
- save image of the record and attach to appropriate people
- colour individual in database as indication I've gathered as much online information to me at this point in time
- plan on revisiting necessary individuals when I use specific print resources from my personal collection
- not sure if I'll be able to do Research logs. Have tried in the past but have yet to find a format that suits me. Every so often I revisit an individual to see what is missing. I have also used the Research Log feature of Rootsmagic when I'm unable to find a pertinent piece of information. But I don't mind revisiting a source at a later time as records are constantly being updated online. GenSmarts also helps with pointers.
- BACK UP on a regular schedule
The timing of the restart of the Genealogy Do-Over is perfect as I am also in the process of reorganizing my office space after the installation of upper shelving.
WEEK 1 ASSISGNMENT:
1)Setting Previous Research Aside DONE!
That was easy as I've been tossing around the idea of combining my multiple Rootsmagic databases into one as it's becoming more and more cumbersome doing cross references between the databases. That's the problem of many branches living in the same geographic area - branches will intermingle.
I've been resisting doing it as I didn't just want to merge all the databases as it would duplicate records of the direct lines and would also require alot of editing to remove the see references. Let alone the inconsistencies of source citations among the different databases. When I first started, years ago, with Family TreeMaker, there were no citation templates (or at least I was unaware of them) and when transferring to RootsMagic, the citations were all imported as 'free-form' and lacks many pertinent details.
When I came across the references to Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over I decided to take the plunge and start with a new tree. With the goal of, ultimately, having only one database to check and consist citations.
Entering the names I know (myself, parents, grandparents, great grandparents) I will then research and enter what I find from legitmate sources. Fortunately for me, most of my ancestors were in Ontario during the time frame that BMD records are covered by Ancestry.
2) Preparing to Research
MacEntee suggests to no longer do research at 2:00am when tired or in short spurts of available time.
Don't think I'll be able to follow that advice. If I'm on a roll with research late at night, I won't be able to sleep with all the details running through my mind. I've always maintained that genealogy research is do-able during one's 15 minute work break. Granted it may be a case of documenting sources in some manner to be consulted and worked on later. But hey! That saves time for later when I can spend time evaluating the records already found.
As mentioned above, birth, marriage and death records of many of my ancestors are covered by databases available on Ancestry. And all of the Canadian censuses are now available on that site as well. So when I'm researching a specific individual, I will be able research major events during his/her life span. In the past, only some of the census images were available online so some information in the past was obtain via microfilm (very time consuming) or transcriptions on society's webpages or publications. Transcriptions do not usually include all the information from the actual census record.
I already have my digital files organized on my laptop in a logical (at least to me) manner and am able to locate files.
3) Establishing Base Practices and Guideline
- Start new database [I know, I know...that's not until several weeks into process...but I can't wait]
- create citations using appropiate template
- stay focused on one individual before moving on to another (Birth, marriage, death, relevant censuses, obit, headstone photo)
- recording pertinent info on an individual will necessitate recording info in other individual's records, but always return to the main person once I'm done with the record
- save image of the record and attach to appropriate people
- colour individual in database as indication I've gathered as much online information to me at this point in time
- plan on revisiting necessary individuals when I use specific print resources from my personal collection
- not sure if I'll be able to do Research logs. Have tried in the past but have yet to find a format that suits me. Every so often I revisit an individual to see what is missing. I have also used the Research Log feature of Rootsmagic when I'm unable to find a pertinent piece of information. But I don't mind revisiting a source at a later time as records are constantly being updated online. GenSmarts also helps with pointers.
- BACK UP on a regular schedule
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