All's Quiet On the Blogging Front; or, How Much Can One Genealogist Actually Accumulate? Don't Ask.

I haven't been posting much lately, but happily not for lack of genealogy. I've been in overdrive on several projects, and want to share a few with you.

Gravestone of my 5th great-grandmother Elizabeth Hill Grinter; part of my ongoing digital organization project

The Great Software Changeover

It was announced late last year that the Family Tree Maker software that I have used in some form or another for 20 years was no longer going to be supported. Like many others, I was at first unhappy with this sea change that was being forced upon me. I decided, upon the recommendation of many bloggers and podcasters, to switch to RootsMagic. Rootsmagic had the business savvy to offer a good deal to new users when Ancestry made their announcement.

My software stayed in the box for several months until I decided how I was going to handle things. I'll admit, I had been entering stuff in Family Tree Maker (FTM) willy-nilly for years. Sourceless, unsubstantiated stuff. I'll even admit to having just a few "Ancestry Family Tree" sources in there. Just a few though! With over 17,000 people in my database, I needed to make some changes.

I finally decided that I was going to do my own form of the Genealogy Do-Over begun two years ago by Thomas MacEntee, creator of the excellent Geneabloggers community.  Rather than throw everything out the window as he suggests, I decided to start with a clean slate. Not import data over from FTM, even though RootsMagic made that incredibly easy for us converts, but rather start with me. Type in my name. And source EVERYTHING.

Do you have ANY idea how tedious this was at first?

I was bogged down in the beginning with the learning curve of the new software. Once I grew accustomed to it, things sped up considerably. But now the task of proving every. Single. Thing. How did I know my own birthday? My parents' wedding day? Could I prove my grandparents were really my grandparents? For someone working mainly in the 1700s, these seemed so...almost trivial? Of course I know when my parents got married. I am fortunate enough to still be able to ask them. But that is not exactly proof.

So, I have been gathering birth certificates, death certificates, marriage records. Censuses. Probate. One eye-opener for me was realizing that all the documents I had linked to in Ancestry needed to be downloaded. I had not actually saved the documents themselves, only links to them.

RootsMagic promises that by the end of 2016, I will be able to sync my data in their program with my Ancestry family tree. When that happens, I will add a second RootsMagic database where I import it ALL. Until then, I am quietly chipping away at what I am calling my Fact Tree.

Which brings me to my second big project of late:

Digital Organization

There has been much talk of this lately in genealogy blogs. I purchased Drew Smith's excellent book, "Organize Your Genealogy" which came out this summer. This isn't strictly about digital organization but goes into it and was the catalyst for much discussion.

I had already followed the framework for my digital files suggested by Lisa Louise Cook in her free genealogy podcast, Family History: Genealogy Made Easy. It makes sense to me, and I have been able to find any file I need without racking my brain.

My digital organization project has included setting up a consistent naming system for my files. To maintain this consistency, I had to write myself an Evernote note with templates on how I name everything. I have used this so many times!

Now I have (most) of my existing digital files organized, I have to attack the files and binders full of 26 years or more of my old-school paper research.  I love having the ability to pull up documents from anywhere on any device via Google drive and Evernote. I want to be able to do that with all my papers. Oh, and don't forget the photos. Sigh.

Ongoing Research

Finally, I have been continuing to do some onsite research for my Hilyard line. Most recently my cousin and I visited the Allen County Public Library. The last time I was there was 1997. I honestly didn't recognize the place. One librarian said they had a complete makeover about 10 years ago. We were there all day (and part of the evening as they had Midnight Madness going on) and I doubt if we even scratched the surface of what they have.

My 15 minutes of fame: a book I donated in 1997!

Dipping Into Evernote; or Should It Stay or Should It Go?

I decided it was time to try out Evernote for keeping track of my research notes. I currently have about one and a half file cabinet drawers and six or seven linear feet of three-ring binders full of stuff.

To try it out, I selected a slim folder from my Farmer family research. My mission: to digitize the file and deal with the paper.

First, I took a look over each piece of paper in the file and decided if any of it was trash. Surprisingly, there were four things I could throw away. One was a printed email of someone researching the name from who knows how long ago, not related to me. One was a cryptic sheet of notebook paper with a few names, no indication of where it came from, useless.

Second, I determined what I absolutely could not throw out. These included photos and certified copies of death certificates. After scanning, these went right back into the file. The .pdfs got uploaded to Evernote.

Third, what could I scan and dispose of? I decided that handwritten notes containing abstracts of censuses and books fell into this category. I'd already put that information into my genealogy database (good old Family Tree Maker) ages ago. I scanned it to my desktop, where the .pdfs will remain. These also got sent to Evernote, but where I had 12 sheets of paper containing census abstracts, I now have two neat digital "notes".

(Confession: I technically haven't really thrown any of this out yet. I'm going to have to let it sit on the table today while I'm at work and carry out the disposal tonight. Consider it a wake, if you will.)

Lastly, there are some photocopies I made of original records. These are the toughest call for me. I will of course scan them and upload to Evernote. I don't think I can let go of this paper just yet. I'm going to let time tell me what to do on this one.

George Thomas Farmer (1861-possibly 1924)

brother of my great-great grandfather J.P. Farmer

SQUIRREL! Or, How I Discovered Fold3

With a few hours to myself, I decided I would like to learn more about Evernote. From what I have gathered, Evernote is da bomb for keeping track of EVERYTHING in my research, from old research notes that I can scan in, photos, anything I find on the web can be "clipped" and filed. All of this stuff is OCR'd (the computer reads it and indexes all the words) and can be searched. Plus, all of this information is "synced" or copied across all of my devices. This is great because I scan stuff at my desktop, but take my laptop, tablet, and phone elsewhere.

So, while looking for information on that topic, I just happened across a link to Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestor and thought, "Oh, why not?" That took me to an Ancestry blog post, written just a week ago. This, in turn, mentioned a website called Fold3 that has free military records. Click.

Well, there was another rabbit hole. I typed in one of my 1812 ancestors, Smith Cremean. I'd already gotten his records the OLD-FASHIONED way, i.e. I drove to Washington D.C., donned the white gloves, and photocopied them myself. That was in 2004, by the way.  Well, if I'd only been patient, here they are in all their scanned and beautifully readable glory.

Then I noticed a banner, "Free Access to WWII Records", available through November 30th. Yesterday being Veteran's Day, my grandfather was on my mind, so I typed in his name. Voila, there he was. I am fortunate enough to have his records and medals passed down to me, so there was nothing new here, but what a wonderful site! I took time to add his service photo to his memorial page.

So, I still don't know any more about Evernote, though I am desperate to learn how to save those War of 1812 images But what a great find in Fold3! And why is the site called Fold3? According to their blurb, " Traditionally, the third fold in a flag-folding ceremony honors and remembers veterans for their sacrifice in defending their country and promoting peace in the world." Great name for a great site.

William Lee Moore, 1911-1978

My grandfather