Welcome back, me!

What happened there?

Well, I'm not sure.  I kept learning, but I dropped the ball on actually making any progress, it seems.  I think it's called "phaffing about".

Where I'm at

I recently discovered AI for Genealogy in the name of a podcast by Steve Little and Mark Thompson (The Family History AI Show).  What fun! I am chomping at the bit to get my feet wet and learn how these tools could influence my research and workflow. So stepping back in...

I inherited a new batch of family docs from my sister, who passed away in April.  These documents needed sorting, scanning, tagging, renaming, filing (digitally and in print) before I could dig back in to tree building. I think I'm ready to start connecting some dots.

I spent quite a bit of time back in the fall trying to figure out the 'Venn diagram' where the online repositories, the desktop software and citation managers come together.  In my case, I'm talking specifically of how something like Family Search (with tree tools, personal repositories, shared folders and masses of content) informs my use of RootsMagic (tree and task management, mapping, reporting, etc) and a capture tool like Zotero (creates custom libraries of links to materials found on my people all over the internet, also with reporting features, citation management, notes, relationships). 

And I'm not even thinking about photo management at the moment... or DNA!

Where to?

I think I've got to work through a workflow.  

From adding someone to a tree, adding their facts and sources, choosing a linking method that won't break and the content is reliably backed up, copying my tree up to FamilySearch when I'm sure I have not created duplicates in error.  Once my facts and sources are in, create a Family Group and look for the gaps, create a Tasklist (or a Research Plan...) for moving forward.

I think then I can go searching for and adding new sources to my ancestor, storing those sources (or links to those sources?) as I go. I think the idea of having a focus or objective in the research is smart.  There are just too many shiny objects to distract, and you end up not remembering anything you did.

Now, maybe the AI agents will help me keep track of where I've been, but I don't think I should go there quite yet!

In terms of the Venn diagram, perhaps all shall be revealed and the perfect workflow will emerge with trial and error.  Enough theory!

(Photo by Taylor Vick on Unsplash)

4. Let's attach some sources

 Look back at those folders for of records you sorted and scanned back in Step 2.  Those need to be "attached" to the right people on your tree, as 'evidence' of their vital facts.

1. Watch a few videos about sources and citations.  It’s a big deal in the genealogical world and nobody wants to inherit your sloppy work.  It’s somewhat time-consuming to cite, but it will keep you organised.  Without organisation, the entire project gets messy very fast.
2. Learn how to attach your media and files to your tree
3. When your evidence is attached to all the people it should be, and information about the source/record has been saved in your app, print a family group chart and note what you have for everyone.  This will highlight the gaps.  
4. Roots Magic can print Source Reports; a citation clipper like Zotero can clip webpages and catalogue entries of records which may have collected along the way, and Zotero Saved Searches can be turned into reports so that you get a list of all your records for a particular family (tip: use the “Extra” field in Zotero to tag a source as a family, eg. Comeau-Landon.  Search for that value in that field and “Save” the search)
5. Step back: what is missing? What events are not documented or proven.  Create “Tasks” on your genealogical app or whatever To do system you are using.  Ask a specific question that needs answering, and tackle these one at a time.  Some people like to group tasks by location (e.g. public library tasks; city of burial tasks, etc.)
6. Keep track of what you’ve used, what you found, what you didn’t.  In RootsMagic, each source can have notes.  So can Zotero.  You should add Sources to your app even if they yielded no results, and make a note of that.  Keep a running log for each "family" so you know what roads you've already gone down, and what came of it. 

This is as far as I'm at on my journey.  Looking forward to exploring more!

3. Create your tree

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1. Create your own tree, starting with your immediate family, on your app.  Living people are not visible on public trees such as FamilySearch so you will need to populate those details.
2. Search on Family Search or Ancestry to see if your ancestors are already in a public tree.  Make a note of the FamilySearch IDs (FSID) of your found ancestors.  “Follow” these relatives on FamilySearch so you have quick access to them when you go back.  This will also enable notifications if anything has been updated on those records.
3. Import Family Search trees into your sandbox tree and check that it looks ok before repeating the process on your family tree.  Decide if you want to limit the number of generations you import, and work gradually.  Use the same FSIDs in your tree if you are confident they are a match.
4. If there are duplicates and you can confirm one is correct with documentation, you can merge people on a public tree and note why.  Do so with care and evidence. Read more about this process on the website.
5. Don’t share your tree online until you are comfortable and experienced with managing it locally, and you have good sources fleshed out on your people.

2. Let's begin...the paperwork

1. You probably already have documents, photos, letters.  Get them organised by family couple.  
2. Scan the files and store the originals, organised, somewhere safe.  
3. Use a document feeder if the items are not fragile, flatbed if delicate, or use a mobile app scanner like AdobeScan 
4. If you are photographing photos to make copies, try to get a shadow-free setup (on and easel with lighting perhaps)
5. File naming: choose something and be consistent.  Some choose to lead with dates, some like names (e.g Smith-HaroldR-BC-1964.pdf)
6. File your scans in the right digital folders 

1. Before you start...

After setting up a few accounts on the big genealogy sites, I quickly realised I would be inundated with notifications, and I would be overwhelmed with material.  I needed a way to manage incoming. Here is what I think will work for me.  

Set up your systems

*I'm a PC user.  Some of the concepts would be the same for MAC.

On this journey, you will be saving many documents, research notes, citations, etc. along the way. It just makes sense to me to use cloud backup on the fly.  Do not rely solely on one piece of hardware to store all your work. I have mapped both Google Drive and OneDrive to my PC File Explorer, and I use those drives as if they were local Windows folders (look up "Google for Desktop" or "OneDrive for PC").  I've chosen one provider for my genealogy content, and I back it up on the other.  You could also use and an external hard drive for additional backup. Just have a backup, and not one that relies solely on you to remember to do it.

Decide what user profile you will work under

It helps to have one identity as you start your online research and create accounts on repositories and family history sites.  Consider creating one dedicated to your genealogy work.  You may want to create a name that reflects your family name or families name (eg smithfamilysearch@gmail.com, smithjones@yahoo.com).  Starting fresh means you have an empty cloud drive as well.

a. Use that account to map Google or OneDrive to your desktop.

b. Use that email to create user accounts on Ancestry, Family Search, etc.

c. Use that account to access your Notes app - OneNote, Google Drive, Evernote (you'll be taking notes).

Using your dedicated email, set up accounts of the genealogy sites.

a. FamilySearch

b. MyHeritage

c. Ancestry

d. Find My Past

Select a family tree/genealogy app.  Recommend you shell out for the paid version, but you could test drive the free versions first. You'll be using this a lot.  

a. You can usually install these apps on multiple devices, if you like to work remotely on a laptop and at home on a PC.  Set these apps to access and backup your genealogy files in a cloud folder, so you access and edit the same, most up-to-date version regardless of which device you are on.  These files will also be safe if your device dies.

b. A lot of thought and updates have gone into these apps, and they can do a lot.  They can keep track of your sources/documents, photos, reports, charts, etc.  

c. Some apps can talk to FamilySearch so you can copy sources and people from there to your tree (e.g. RootsMagic).  This is a big time saver.

d. Consider creating a sandbox tree on your app where you can download into and test adding people before you add to your own tree.  Adding the wrong person and their ancestors can result in 100s of new people being added to your tree.  Make sure you want them there.

e.  Back up your tree somewhere other than the cloud regularly.

Learn your software

Apps will simplify task tracking, tree building, source creation, map making, reporting and research organisation.  

Take the time to learn the features of online tools as well as your desktop apps early on to get the most time-savings. 

Create a folder structure for your ancestry files where you will store things as you research (e.g. Google Drive, OneNote).  

a.  Organise by couple (e.g. Smith-Jones).  You will put kid’s files (birth certificates, etc) with their parents; if the children marry, you'll file post-marriage documents in their couple folder (e.g. Johnson-Smith marriage certificate, baby Johnson's birth certificate)  

b.   Create subfolders in each couple/family folder for different record types (e.g. Births, Deaths, Marriages).  

*you can use a utility like ‘Text2Folders’ to quickly batch create the directory structure for each couple. 

Learn how to search

Take the time to watch videos and read about how to search, filter, save etc using the online tools (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, My Heritage).   Many will give you a folder to save things to in your account, but you will probably want to save your findings in your own org structure.  

Be aware of free access to resources

a.  Local libraries often provide access to major genealogy tools (e.g. Ancestry, My Heritage) for use onsite, free of charge.  Some can even be accessed remotely. 

b.  In addition, there are FamilySearch Centres (associated with the Church of Latter Day Saints) that can connect to resources not available online through FamilySearch.  

c.  Don’t pay for a subscription until you have exhausted all of the options available for free, and filled in as many gaps as you can with what you already have or can find.

It should be time to start digging, but you're not there yet.  See the next post for the dreaded 'paperwork' prep.