Today, I’m beginning my binder. My first step is to begin printing the various “organization” files I have and to begin putting them in the binder. For example, I have an Excel spreadsheet in which I had created a timeline of census records for each of my Andrews. Imagine my surprise when I opened the file to print and discovered that I have not 3 but FIVE Andrew Stephens to follow! Based on my current memory (which is very likely wrong) I have no parents for any of these men except for the father/son combo. Four of the 5 men have Russell County census records. The 5th Andrew is from a neighboring county (Pulaski Co) but he is the man who’s pension file is mixed up with “my” Andrew’s file.
So I have my binder and 5 dividers and I will label the sections by wives’ names I suppose. I would love to be able to take each man back one generation so that I can see if these men are related. I will have one section of my “comparison” stuff like the Excel file mentioned and then each man will have his own section with documents that apply only to him. I will try to include all military documents, tax listings, land records, court records, vital records and pictures.
I have many, many things to print and organize and as I do so, I’m hoping that my memory is able to recall steps I’ve already taken so that I’m not duplicating effort, but the real objective of this project is to get re-motivated and to get back into my research in small steps. I love the feeling of creating something tangible – thus all the paper! – and the silly part of me even wants to create a colorful cover for the binder. But that may be a little bit of “spring fever” coming through. Not a bad thing to have! I also feel like I have a better ability to “connect the dots” when I can read from paper as opposed to a computer screen and to physically write on the pages that I have.
This blog post obviously doesn’t have much in the way of genealogy information to share, just my ramblings as I try to get back into a “normal” schedule of blogging. Hopefully, I’ll soon have some more interesting things to write about!
On another note, I’d like to thank everyone for the kind comments and prayers that you’ve been sending my way. They give me strength when I am weary and words cannot express how thankful I am for that!
Nice progress. Do it. Create a colorful cover for your binder. One of my daughters teachers used to tell the kids “thr brain loves color. ” It’ll give you a nice pick me up.