Timeline Tuesday – Nov. 3, 1897

I currently have a copy of a microfilm for the newspaper “Adair County News” beginning with Nov. 1897 and I’m scanning articles or newsbits that are from Russell County, Kentucky.  I’ve also come across some obituaries from Adair County that I just felt like someone would love to have – especially if it’s a woman since they seem to be so difficult to research.

I’m going to post one or two a week and call it “Timeline Tuesday”.  If you click on the image, it should pop up in an enlarged format so it will be easier to read.  I’m also going to try to include a list of the names mentioned so that they might be picked up in a search engine.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed looking for them!

Names:  Mrs. G.F. Jones, Mrs. A.C. Adams, Mr. Louis Parmley, S.A. Gann, Miss Lillian Phillips, E.O. Stone, S.A. Simpson, A.P. Simpson, Hon. L. Eastham, W.A. Eastham, Rev. Tabor (death), Miss Ethel Patterson, Rev. Bash (death) Mrs. M.M. Scholl, G. Self

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Beginning my Genealogy Planner

Every once in awhile, I discover that I have a few free minutes with nothing urgent to do.  (Obviously, I don’t consider laundry or dinner to be urgent…)  I usually click over to Ancestry.com. I guess that I’m hoping that some new “shaky leaf” will appear for one of my ancestors that will lead me to some great discovery for that family.  What I’d much rather have is a plan for times like this.

I obviously can’t carry all of my files with me everywhere unless I load everything onto some flashdrives.  But that doesn’t lend itself to quick researching in 15-20 minutes chunks.  And it wouldn’t help me at all if I’m sitting in the car waiting for my kids to finish a sports practice or meeting of some type.  I’d like to have a compact method of keeping essential notes along with a place for jotting down things I’ve discovered during smaller “chunks” of free time.

Things I could do in a 15 minute “chunk”:

• Read an article in a genealogy magazine.
• Read through family notes I’ve created and make a list of questions to research.
• Make a plan for blog posts for the week.
• Do a Google search for historical information on a county I am researching.
• Do a Google search to determine where various genealogy records are located.
• Make a list of microfilms available at my library or at Salt Lake City.
• Add the microfilm titles to a timeline showing what time period the records cover.
• Begin a new blog post.
• Take a look at a new web site I’ve read about in a blog or magazine.

So I’m developing my own genealogy planner that I can pick up at any moment and have something ready to do. The goal for the planner tasks will be to do everything I possibly can to find resources to examine and to prepare for “full day” researching on Saturdays.

The first portion of the planner is obviously the calendar section.  Each tabbed section has a 2 page calendar for the entire month and I plan to use those pages for keeping track of regular family events as well as to make a plan for future blog posts.  No more “Oh yeah, today is Tombstone Tuesday!  What do I have?”  I want to have a clear idea of what blog topics I’d like to post for the week so that I can be writing ahead.  I bought a refill of weekly planner pages as well – 2 pages per week with large, blank rectangles for each day.  I’d like to set aside 15 minutes each day to read through notes for a family I’m researching and then write down the questions I have, writing 1 or 2 only per rectangle. As I search for answers to these questions, I can add resources that I’ve checked or further ideas for places to look.  If I write these questions in my planner, I’ll be able to use unexpected, small “chunks” to research what resources are available to help me answer those questions.  Perhaps one of these ideas will be something I can check on during an unexpected “chunk” of time later that day or week.  At the end of the week, I can create a longer research list for my “big chunk” of week-end research time.  The goal for this section will be to break big research questions into manageable pieces that I can work on in spur of the moment, unexpected free time.

To be ready to do quick research, I need a compact method of keeping track of what I’ve already gathered.  It is not unusual for me to be doing a lunch time Ancestry.com “surf” and finding a record that might apply to an ancestor’s child’s spouse and wondering if I already have that in my file – or if it’s even the correct person.  Is this Charles Smith the husband of my Annie Jones?  For this, I’ll need someClassic Planner sized forms and a way to keep them organized.  I’ll start posting these forms on “Working It Wednesday”!

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  The holidays were rushed, but wonderful and it’s time for the traditional resolutions for the year before us!  I’d prefer to call them goals because that greatly reduces the amount of guilt I’ll feel next December 31 if I don’t reach the full potential of what I want to do.  I’ve decided that I want to keep the list short and focus on my most important ideas and try to be more realistic about what I’d like to accomplish this year.

2010 Geneagoals:

1)      Planner:  I’m going to create a system for my daily planner which will allow me to use those little chunks of time that I find during the day to work on my genealogy.  I tend to put things off until I have an entire day to work and that doesn’t come along very often.  I also get easily distracted when trying to research at home because there is always some other chore that needs to be worked on.  So I’d like to focus on a plan that will allow me to effectively use 15 minute chunks of time so that I’ll be prepared to really jump in when I do get those dedicated genealogy days.  Specifically, I’ll be thinking of my lunch time at school as well as the occasional 10-15 minutes that come along because the lesson I’m teaching is shorter than normal or even those 45 minute chunks when students are taking tests.  I also have a 25 minute period after school each day that I’m required to be in my classroom.  Some days, I actually have everything graded and prepared for the next day and I want to be ready for that.  And it seems that I regularly find myself waiting in the car for one of my kids to finish a practice of some sort or another and I’d like to be able to pick up my planner and dive right in.

I plan to create several genealogy forms that will fit in my newly purchased planner so that I can pick it up at any moment and know exactly what I’d like to look for. I had an older planner that I thought I could use, but it was a compact size and I didn’t think that would work well.  I only want to create this planner once so I decided to invest in a new planner and I chose the 8 ½ x 5 ½ size.  As I create these forms, I intend to put them on my blog so that anyone else who might be interested can have access to them.  I’m going to call this section of my blog “Working It Wednesday” and we’ll see how it goes!  The first form will be a group sheet and 4 gen chart.  Come back on Wednesday to check it out!

2)      Maps:  I would really like to focus on maps this year – what types of maps are available and how can I use them to find where my ancestors lived based on those INCREDIBLY long descriptions in the deeds I’ve been copying.  I’ve always been “directionally challenged” so this will be harder for me than it sounds.

3)      Timelines:  I got an AWESOME gift for Christmas this year from my mother and it didn’t cost her a thing.  She has been packing for weeks to move to a new home and instead of using newspaper to wrap her things in, she was getting end rolls of paper from the local newspaper so she didn’t get the black ink all over her hands.  I mentioned that I would have so much fun wallpapering my genealogy room with it and scribbling notes and timelines all over the walls – so guess what I found under my tree?  The roll is about 3 feet wide and is several inches thick and I can’t wait to see the uses I can come up with for it.  But my specific goal for this roll is to develop timelines for the counties I’m researching as well as for family groups that I’m researching. I like the idea of having these posted in my genealogy room while I’m researching and then rolling them up when I move on to another family.  I have bookmarked several web sites that will help me with these timelines and I will use some of my “chunks” of time at school to research new things to add to these timelines.  Perhaps I’ll add “Timeline Tuesday” to my blog as well because I seem to be lacking in the tombstone photo area.

So that’s my list!  I’m hoping to make great strides in my research this year – but then, who isn’t?

Wishing you great luck in your research in the year to come!

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