Genealogy Do-Over: The Go-Over 3.4

Even though this year's Do-Over is monthly rather than weekly, I still feel like I'm scattered in too many directions sometimes. It's very hard to ignore some of the BSO's that pop up. Irish parish records free for a week, a month of FindMyPast for $1.

I HAVE to look a them! I just have to!

But I am making some headway. Every day I see a little less chaos and a little more organization.

Those files that went missing last week? Found 'em.

In my OCD organizing frenzy I moved the files to a new folder on my computer, thus confusing FTM. All is good now. Things have been restored to some semblance of sanity.

My binder project is humming right along, things that have not seen the light of day for a decade or more are being housed out in the open where I can access them. Even found some death certs I didn't know I had!

My new family group sheets are offering some great research opportunities.

I am working on my own 'story', it will be ongoing I feel.

My mother does not want to play along at the moment, and she is the only one left, so the family interviews will have to wait until I can be more stealth about it. I have been in contact with a few second cousins who have some interesting tidbits farther up the tree. It all adds to the crazy quilt of my family history. And makes for some additional research topics being added to the list of research goals.

There is still so much to do, I fear I will never see the actual light at the end of the tunnel. (Or outside the Cave)

But, let's get real. This is genealogy! It's never done!

Genealogy Do-Over: The Go-Over 3.3

Month Three. Week Three. Like the time change, I feel like I'm leaping forward. In a good way. Things are starting to come together. I am getting a clearer picture, things are coming into focus.

Of course, I could be eating my words a little farther down the line. It's been known to happen.

So far I have started to sort through my "stuff". I purchased binders and have started to file things appropriately. I started to sort and label all my downloads, docs and photos - that is an ongoing process. I really liked Debra Monsive's Organizing Your Genealogical Records pdf in the File section of the FB group. I got some good ideas and spun my own version so it made sense to me. In the future I'd LOVE to get one of those big honkin' file folders, but alas I currently have no room for it. Binders will have to do.

I am still working on locating some of my "essential" documents. That goes along with my organization. It's a bit of a rat's nest in the computer - the paper stuff I'm better at keeping reasonably sorted (reasonably .... still can't always locate something immediately, I'm working on that).

I've created a nice little Personal Fact List that I can print or fill out on the computer. It will help me determine what I have and what I am missing.

Still can't embrace the spreadsheet. I try at least once a week. But, my distaste for it has led me to create other things that I WILL use.

I have decided to redo/update my family group sheets. I can get OCD when I start to organize.

I feel like I am still preparing to research and setting research goals. And some days I find myself hyperventilating at the ginormity of the task at hand. Hopefully I will look back and laugh when it all falls smoothly into place.

Today threw me a curveball. I was sitting down to do some more organizing and all my family trees have disappeared from FTM!! All of them!! I had to just walk away. They are gone from Legacy too. The FTM trees were half linked to Ancestry (so I can easily restore them) and half non-online trees (not so easily restored). I'm not crying yet, but perhaps the computer gnomes who took my files decided I really did need to do a complete Do-Over!

Made me realize I still need paper "back ups" as much as computer "back ups".

The work continues ........

Genealogy Do-Over 2016: The Go-Over 3.2

As we enter Week Two of Month Three of the Great Genealogy Do-Over, 2016 edition, I must make a confession ..... or three.

I thought I was humming right along. Keeping up. Following in spirit, if not in letter.

But then I started to really look at things.

On the side, I am doing a 30 x 30 challenge to organize my more immediate ancestors. I had gotten as far as my maternal grandmother when the wheels came off.

I thought I had a lot more on her (physically) than I apparently did. I rummaged through the box of stuff I had inherited when my dad passed.

Found zip.

On her.

Found a bunch of great stuff on other ancestors that I had not organized or classified yet. (How did I miss this box?)

Went to the files on my computer. The {apparently} very unorganized files on my computer. Sure the file says GENEALOGY and there are rudimentary subfolders. There's a lot of good stuff in that file, by the looks of it. But for the most part it's really just a big cyber genealogy junk drawer. Everything jumbled together, torn, folded, crumpled - bits of string, a stray paperclip ... oh, there's that old resume, how'd that get here?

How can you get any real research done with this sort of chaos?

Adding to the chaos, it dawned on me that there were files on at least three other computers around the house ..... three!!!

I've been bad.

But today I am making amends.
And a new plan.

I am stocking up on binders, plastic sleeves and a My Passport external hard drive that I will use exclusively for my genealogy files, photos, etc.

Yes, I do have an external HD now (two, actually). Yes, I do back up daily to the 'cloud' and monthly to the HD's. BUT the hard drives are not exclusive, and that is what I think I need.

I am still a lover of paper, and would prefer to print all my docs and put them in binders, but I am working to embrace the new. Perhaps this is why my computer files and folders are so neglected.

Don't even get me started on bookmarks.......

..... to be continued

Genealogy Do-Over 2016: The Go-Over - Month Three

Month Three.

Giving myself permission to do this challenge as a Go-Over this time around has really helped ease the pressure I was imposing upon myself to "get it right" last year.

Obviously, my stuff was pretty messed up or I would not have attempted the Do-Over to begin with. I needed help, and all I had been doing was avoiding the icky bits, stepping around the sink hole of "oh my gosh, what have I done", and basically just shutting my eyes to the whole situation. In the race to win genealogy one does make quite the mess!

But there were whole areas of research I was eager to tackle, if not for the mountain of confusion I had created all on my own. (With a little help from some confusing ancestors, I will confess .... Tidewater Virginia Families anyone?)

Anywho, where was I?

Oh, right - Month Three.

Last night I pulled out all the old family group sheets I had and compared them with my tree. The tree, as I suspected, was in much better shape and had more detail than the group sheets. Phew.

BUT, I am missing quite a bit of 'basic' information that may still be available to me through speaking with family. I say may as my mother is the only family still living and she has a bit of a memory problem. The missing information is mostly on my dad's side of the family and, lucky me, he was an only child! No aunts, uncles or cousins there. In a cruel twist of irony, my dad's uncle was an avid family historian and sent my dad bits of family lore that were kept tucked away. He left a good summary on earlier generations that I was able to add to, and a brilliant write-up on himself, but nothing, nothing, on his sister, my grandmother. The one who is missing serious amounts of information! Guess he figured my dad already knew everything .......

My mom's mom, the Genealogy Queen, has left a good collection of family stories that I started to go through last year. I'll relook at those and ask my mom if she has anything to add. At Christmas I did get a little more information out of her than I knew before.

As they say, the genealogy bug tends to skip a generation and that is certainly the case with my mom. She likes to hear about what I discover, but she has no real interest in it herself.

I'm still working on organizing and labeling my digital media. I have a huge dump folder labeled "GENEALOGY" and then sub folders to sort to. The sub folders are a work in progress as I go and contain their own sub folders. It works for me. At least for now.

I am also still tweaking my paper folders, and truth be told, still have a bunch of scanning to do - just came across my grandmother's stenography diploma (I knew I had it .... somewhere) Now it is in the "to scan" pile.

But I have a plan and I am making progress!! Little by little, bit by bit.

This go-round I feel like I can breathe.