Are you keeping your genealogy systems updated and functional? You might have spent a considerable amount of time organizing your records and prioritizing projects, but then you took a research trip, attended a conference, or watched a webinar, and now have a stack of papers and a flash drive full of digital records. If you're feeling weighed down again, the step you might be missing is reflection. Regularly capturing the new items that have risen to the surface, reviewing your calendar and project lists, and processing new materials can keep your mind free to do its best work. This is...
Are you ready to get your family history and genealogy papers and processes organized? Those stacks of file folders, documents, and lists of to-do items aren't going to help you make progress in your research until you have an organizational method that works for you. If you don't know where to start, I have some ideas to help you! This article is part three in my series on applying concepts from David Allen's book Getting Things done: the art of stress-free productivity to my personal family history projects. Previously I wrote about capturing all of our projects in my article: Family...
Have you ever tried to explain your pursuit of DNA matches, and found it hard put into words? Have you ever wanted to see an image of your DNA and how it connects you to your ancestors? Chromosome mapping will help you come up with an answer! The goal in using DNA in our genealogy research is to learn which segments of our DNA we inherited from specific ancestors and use them to learn more about our parents, grandparents, and so on, back in time. Autosomal DNA is an extremely powerful tool that can help us confirm known ancestors and...
What is holding you back from making progress on your family history projects? Too many to count? Not knowing where to start? If just thinking about your projects sends you into panic mode, it's time for an intervention. I previously wrote about Family History & Getting Things Done, using David Allen's book, Getting Things done: the art of stress-free productivity, as a model. The ideas in the book have been a game changer for me. Sometimes a simple mind shift is all we need to move forward. What did I discover? I have a multitude of personal family history projects...
Are you drowning in a mountain of inherited genealogy? Do you have photos to scan and organize? Would you like to write histories of all your ancestors? Are there brick walls to break down? Do you have a life outside of family history and genealogy? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then you might be feeling overwhelmed with all you need to do. I recently discovered David Allen's book, Getting Things done: the art of stress-free productivity and for the next few months am going to share with you applications from the book for how to get...
A great way to get the most out of the list of your DNA matches is to separate the people into groups that cluster around one of your ancestral lines. If you can divide your match list into groups, you can focus on finding the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) that you share with that cluster of people. Once that common ancestor or ancestral couple is identified, you can focus your research on one familial line, and identify the DNA that you inherited from the common ancestor(s). The groups of related people are sometimes called “Clusters” or “Genetic Networks.” Goals...
I taught Organize Your Research with Google Drive at RootsTech this year and I enjoyed preparing for it immensely. I already loved Google Drive and used it with my usual genealogy workflow; but my preparation helped me find even more ways to use it to become a more productive and organized researcher. In this post, I'm sharing an overview of what I covered in the class, as well as links to my syllabus and presentation slides. I love sharing and I hope you will benefit from viewing the course materials. Organize Your Research with Google Drive Expanded Syllabus PDF -...
Diana and I gave the keynote at the Tucson Family History Fair Saturday. It was entitled Getting Organized One Paper at a Time. Afterward, we taught seven additional classes between the two of us. It was a delightful conference! What we loved most was the enthusiasm and interest of the attendees. They were very engaged with ideas, questions, and comments. There were over 300 people in attendance this year, the biggest crowd the fair has had yet! Handouts We want to share the handouts we created for the conference as well as the slides from our keynote address. To get...
Have you made New Year's resolutions in the past and come February 1st, they are discarded and forgotten? Maybe you know there's a better way to research your family but you're stuck in the same routine. Is your pile of paper getting deeper and deeper? Don't worry - I've been there and I'm going to give you some ideas on how you can start now to make some changes that will make a difference in your genealogy life. Set Reasonable Goals The key word here is reasonable. I regularly teach about organizing research and I hear stories of people with...
Where are you storing your valuable genealogical data? Is it safely under your control and backed up or is it on a third party website like Ancestry or FamilySearch? Have you considered using genealogical software to store your database but are unsure what would be best for you? Today I'll be sharing my top three reasons to keep your own genealogical information safe in a personal software database and give you some ideas for choosing one from the many options available. Reason #1 Store Information for Living Family Members The collaborative online tree on FamilySearch lets you add living family members,...
