Over the past couple of days, I have been doing the factory work of genealogy. Since I committed to do a lot of that in my resolutions earlier this year, it is about time I got to it!
A few years ago, I went through my shelves, and read through every notebook filled with copies, notes and information. I entered all data into my computer, added sources, scanned everything, and breathed a sigh of relief, which I am sure was heard in Siberia.
Then Evidence Explained was published, and my genealogy program was updated to help me cite properly. All of this lead to my realization that a citation is not a citation, or at least every citation is not created equal. Luckily, I can print a report showing my sources and where they are used in citations. Thank you RootsMagic!
Well maybe not. The report is 339 pages long. No, I did not print it, I saved it as a pdf. If there is any good news here, it is that I have actually sourced my facts, and the information I need is present. Additionally, my newer citations are entered more correctly, and will not need revision. The bad news is that many of my sources need to be re-entered, changed around, or somehow corrected.
On to the Winter Games progress for on Task 1, “Go back and cite your sources!” I have thus far added 64 correctly formatted citations to my database, qualifying Granny’s Genealogy for a platinum medal in Task One. The work will continue!
For Task 3A , I filed 32 new items properly in their notebooks these hard copies are not original documents and can be replaced, so they are organized by Surname, First Name and added into my huge ring-binder collection.
I moved on to Task 3B, and can report that I renamed, organized, tagged, and separated into computer folders, 282 digital files containing transcriptions of various events, including deeds, obituaries and so on. These are now filed in folders by surname, the same way my hard copies in notebooks are. I am happy to have this done, and it will make adding new transcriptions and locating the material already transcribed much easier.
So, I am in the running for at least a Silver medal in Category 3, and there is time left before the closing ceremonies!
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Holy cow, you are a genealogical dynamo, Ms. Warren!
.-= TK´s last blog ..A Key to the Tree =-.
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Not really, I just have no life. I really think the games are a good excuse for me to buckle down and do some things I have let slide.
wow is this impressive – I am excited that I just found “MyHeritage”.com and filled in the free part and have been on it for about three nights – to early morning – exciting seeing some of it come together – and go further than any documentation that I had. I only have the Family Bible that I had filled in years ago when we got it – and now so appreciate the little bit of knowledge that I did glean from parents that are now gone. I’m trying to piece together our past for our grandchildren and it is exciting seeing that we can trace back to Pres. Garfield, and I even think I can trace back to Winston Churchill…then today I got involved with a link to five people on the Mayflower and want to document this further…I sure wish you were closer since I really do need a mentor – all this said, am I wasting my time where I am – and do you feel some other program is richer and wiser and easier – etc etc – AND I love your documentation – wow and double wow….very impressive – you get a GOLD from my vote
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Why, thank you Lana . I am really just an average gal, who enjoys genealogy. I caught that bug many years ago, as a child. It has been fun, but not often easy, to watch information come together about our families! Since your family was in Colfax Township at the same time as some of the families I have researched for my husband’s family, I have noticed their names on census records and so on. You can probably get census records since 1850 by searching on Heritage Quest through the Michigan Electronic Library MEL. There is no charge, but you do need to enter your Michigan drivers license number. Use the free forms from Ancestry to collect the information on your family. There are here: http://xrl.in/4kpo I am coming up that way later this spring to spend some time with my M-in-L, she knew some of the Culvers, since she is from that same area. I am staying long enough to spend some time with my cousin going through old photos and information so we can compare notes. Perhaps you will be home when I am in town and we can get together for a while!