How to Start “The Book”

So I’ve been daydreaming about this “book” since I wrote my post yesterday. What would I like for it to look like?  What will be the hardest part? What types of details would I like to add?  It shouldn’t be about making it “book length” but rather about making it interesting and giving a picture of what life would have been like.  How do I feel about making up details to illustrate typical events of the time? How am I going to find those things out?

For me, the hardest part of writing is ALWAYS getting it started.  That whole “I’m looking at a blank page – now what?” panic.  So I thought I would start just by thinking what type of information I’d like to add to “Elias was born in 1845 in Russell County, Kentucky.”  I’d like to use this section to talk about his parents.  How long had they been married?  How many children did they already have?  What was George’s (Elias’ father) occupation?  Was that the most common profession of the area?  What was the area like?  How many people in the county?  Can I narrow the county down to a certain town?  How many people in that town or township?  Can I use tax records to compare this family with other families? Who was the closest neighbor?  Is it possible that the woman of that household helped Elias’ mother through childbirth?  Were there other family members in the area to help?

OK, so I’m still brainstorming.  Tomorrow is going to be my “nothing but genealogy” day – assuming I finish all my school lessons today (really only have 1 subject left to figure out, so should be doable).  I’m hoping that by football time this afternoon, I’ll be ready to start doing some “simple stuff” like analyzing census records – which I already have – to answer some of the questions I’ve listed above.  Then I can start thinking of other sources that might help me answer the remaining questions.  When I go to the library, I never leave the genealogy section.  Maybe it’s time to start looking outside of the genealogy department to see what other sources will help me find some historical info for the area.

I absolutely MUST have a first draft of this section finished by tomorrow afternoon.  Once it’s started, I’ll be more motivated to keep expanding it.  And by writing that goal on this blog, I’m holding myself accountable to get this done.

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Could I Write a Book?

Wonderful!  That’s how I feel this morning as I’m contemplating the 3 day week-end ahead of me.  Although I can’t spend all 3 days doing genealogy research, I do intend to spend 1 of the days doing nothing BUT genealogy work.  So how will I spend that day?  Trying to pick up research threads that I was working on last summer before school started?  That’s pretty tempting.  But it’s also frustrating because I know it could take me a significant amount of time to reacquaint myself with what I had found and what I was going to look for next – even though I try to do a good job of writing my notes in such a way as to be able to do that.  Do I want to spend a day getting back into the files only to put it away again before Tuesday morning?  Maybe.

But what if I decided that the best way to get “reacquainted” was to begin the outline for a book about my ancestor?  I’m not thinking of a published book or anything like that.  More like a book for my family where I take the information that I’ve found and put it into narrative form along with any pictures I have.  I have to say, I like the idea!

Now, I am not a writer by nature.  I am an Algebra teacher after all.  But my logical brain likes the idea of coming up with an outline and then filling in the pieces a little at a time.  After all, that outline could turn into a Table of Contents – right?  Creating an index of names mentioned in the book could help me to see new connections to follow up on.  And if I’m going to call it a “book”, then I’ll need details and background information too, right?  So instead of having a note that says “Elias J. Smith, served in the 8th Kentucky Cav, Co. C”, I could make that a “chapter” in my book with background information like a list of battles that company fought in.  That could expand into any information I can find on specific battles along with maps showing where the battle took place. How far is that from Elias’ home?  What might the conditions have been like at the camp?  I could make a timeline of the battles the company engaged in. Taking a look at the pension file, was Elias actually in the battle or in the infirmary with an illness?  Can I find pictures of camp life that might give a better feel of what it was like for Elias?  That’s the kind of information I’ve always wondered about, but never taken the time to find.  If I’m working on a “book” and not a “pamphlet”, then I’ll need plenty of information so I’ll need more than just what I’ve gathered specifically for Elias.

What about his children?  If each child gets a section of the book, that might give me new ideas of places to look for information.  Who were their spouses? Were they near each other in the census records?  Can I find land records that might show me how close?  Did they all stay in the area?  If not, why did they move?  Why did they go to that location?

Why not add a chapter on “the OTHER Elias Smith”?  One of my research challenges has been keeping these two men separated.  Why not include the information for the 2nd Elias.  Perhaps I’ve missed something along the way as I’ve cast aside information of the Other Elias that I need to reevaluate.  They share the same grandfather, so I really should focus a little more attention on this man as well.

And it won’t seem quite as overwhelming to be thinking of expanding a “chapter” as it would to write an entire book.  Plus, looking for background information is something I can be doing without pulling out my research files.  If I’m not focused specifically on one person, the number of resources to look at will be much greater.  And while I’m looking at these resources, new questions might come to mind about Elias’ life or I might find resources that I didn’t know existed before.

Maybe I could add side boxes with information telling my reasoning or areas I’ve searched with no results.  Maybe it could be part biography, part genealogy journal.

Me?  Write a book?  Just because it’s the beginning of a 3 day week-end? Interesting…….

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Working It Wednesday – Hyperlinking my notes

Last week, I showed how I use hyperlinking to help me quickly switch between the Group Sheets that I’ve created within Excel.  This week, I’ll show other uses for hyperlinking – this time in my notes that I write in Word.

In a nutshell, hyperlinking allows me to see any record, map or web site that I mention in my notes.  It helps me to find files that I’ve saved on my computer without having to go to my filing cabinet to find my paper copy – which means I have all of my files with me wherever I go.

Each of the hyperlinks in the page above will take me directly to the item mentioned with a single click.  Here are some examples: (Click on the image to see a larger version.)

Some things I can link to:

• Notes and Group Sheets of other individuals
• Full sized versions of thumbnail images I’ve included in my notes
• Maps
• Scanned documents
• Photographs
• Web sites where records were found
• Search screens for Ancestry, Footnote, World Vital Records, etc
• Search results for Worldcat.org or other library sites
• County Genealogy Sites
• Googlemaps
• Documents I’ve created to organize information on this surname

For me, this is extremely effective.  It’s a timesaver over locating a record that has been added to a paper stack on my desk and reminds me of documents that I have had for awhile that might not come to mind immediately.  It also cuts down on the “clutter” that I assemble on my desk while researching!

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Working It Wednesday – Tax Slips

I’m taking a bit of a turn this week.  I feel really good about the “regular” genealogy forms that I’ve created for my Genealogy Planner but this week, I’ve created something specifically to help my current research.  I don’t know if other researchers will find this as helpful, but I’m posting it anyway.

I’ve been working with a recently discovered cousin to find out all of the information we can on the various Stephens families in Russell County, Kentucky.  There is alot of information on the web about the Russell County Stephens, but very little of it contains sources, so we are collecting sources for everything that we can and using any other information as “hints” to help in our research.  Bottom line – no source means not confirmed.  We’ve collected tons of census records and we’re working on the vital records, but this family line goes back before census records included information forindividual family members.  So I’ve started looking at and analyzing tax records.  I’ve been working backward with the goal of determining when our Stephens family came to the Russell County area. We know they were in the area before Russell County was formed, so I’m also looking at Adair County – the parent for most of Russell County.

What I’ve discovered is that there are several Stephens families and they all seem to LOVE the name William!  In order to keep them separeated, I need to track them based on the information on the land that they were being taxed on.  Because I’m such a visual person, I’ve created slips that let me keep track of the year, the watercourse, number of acres and the names that the land was entered, surveyed and patented in.  I also have a box to help me group the names into families.  This should help me to be sure that I’m looking at the correct names as I work my way backward.  The Kentucky Secretary of State has an excellent web page on reading these early Kentucky tax records.  I learned a lot about these numbers that I’ve been giving myself a headache reading!

These pages will be kept in my planner, but not hole punched as I don’t plan to keep them in the planner for long.  Whenever I have a few free minutes, I’ll open the files that I keep on my flashdrive and fill out slips for the Stephens listings that I see.  Each page has 8 slips.  My plan is to cut apart the slips so that I can organize them into family groups through the years on my kitchen table and to make sure that each William stays with the correct family group.

The slips are meant to be filled out by hand as I look through the tax pages that I have scanned at my library, although the information could be typed in if I thought that would be helpful.  As I complete a sheet, I’ll cut the slips apart so that they can be arranged. After I feel confident that I know which Stephens men belong in my line, I’ll start looking for the deeds that go with each parcel of land.

Nothing fancy this week!  No border or anything, just a page to print out and copy, if you’d like.

Good luck in your research!
Lisa

Tax Record Slips

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Working It Wednesday – Double 4 Gen Chart

 

As my planner fills with more group sheets, I occasionally need a 4 gen chart to help me visualize who belongs to who.  I don’t need a ton of these, so I put a group sheet on half of the page and the 4 gen chart on the other half.  I don’t think any instructions are needed except to say that if you highlight the person title (“father”, “grandmother”, etc.) then you can type in the name to take it’s place.  Put your curser after the b. m. or d. and type in the desired date and/or location.  The arrangement is a little different to make 4 generations fit for both a husband and a wife, but I think it’s easy enough to fill out.

Enjoy!

Blank Group Sheet with 4 Gen Chart

Blank Group Sheet with 4 Gen Chart with Ivy

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Working It Wednesday – “Census Tracker”

My Genealogy Planner is growing as I think of information I’d like to have quickly at hand as I work in 10-15 minute chunks on my genealogy.  The goal of the planner is to have a QUICK method of keeping track of genealogy tasks I can complete in unexpected short blocks of time during my day.  So far, I’ve created pages for group sheets and a double timeline.  I’ve also converted my family notes to pages that fit in my planner, but that doesn’t take a template, it just means reducing the font, changing the margins and pasting in my ivy border.  I use my calander pages to jot down questions and quick projects so that I can open my planner during lunch or other free times and immediately have something to work on. As I continue working with my planner to do research for my Stephens line, I’m seeing what types of things would be helpful and what types of things would just be filler.

I wanted to have pages in my planner that would allow me to make lists.  My original thought was to have a place to keep track of what census records I had found for each family.  But then I started thinking of all the other things I make lists of.  I make to do lists, lists of available resources at the library, lists of microfilm I want to order from FHL, lists of questions that pop into my mind while researching, significant historical events in a location, etc.  So even though this says “Census Tracker” at the top, I could change that title to be anything I’d like. 

Remember, these sheets are meant to be cut in half so that I can put them into my planner.  Once again, I have a template called “Instructions” to show you where the text boxes are and to give a bit of information on set up.  Then I have templates for the front and back (margins have to be different if I want to print front and back) with ivy and without ivy.

I hope these are helpful!

Census Tracker Instructions

Census Tracker Front with ivy
Census Tracker Back with ivy

Census Tracker Front no ivy
Census Tracker Back no ivy

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Working It Wednesday – Double Timeline

Continuing to tweak my genealogy research planner, here’s my form for this week.  Remember, my planner fits pages that are 8 ½ x 5 ½, so that what these pages were designed to fit.

Sometimes I find it helpful to compare the timelines of 2 different people or a person and historic events in the area.  I’ve also used this to make a timeline on the left with comments, details or questions on the right half.  Having the timeline next to a copy of my notes helps me to zero in to make sure that the records I’m looking at fit in the correct time frame.

This full sheet is meant to be cut in half in order to fit in my planner.   Because you can’t change the margins half way through a document, there is a separate template for the back side if you’d like to print front and back or if you’d prefer to have a 1 sided page with the holes on the right.  Once again, there’s a page with explanations and details for the front and back, a front and back plain version and a front and back with ivy.  You can see the text boxes for typing in in the explanation pages, but not in the others (but they are there).  I hope you find them helpful!

Timeline fill in the blank front explanation
Timeline fill in the blank back explanation

Blank Timeline Front with ivy
Blank Timeline Back with ivy

Blank Timeline Front no ivy
Blank Timeline Back no ivy

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Working It Wednesday – Group Sheet

 

I’ve spent 2 days testing my “genealogy planner” at school and home and so far, it is working great.  It is great to be able to open the planner and see a list of quick tasks that I can work on or to jot down a question that pops into my mind so I can research it later.  It doesn’t clutter my desk and it’s easy to carry with me wherever I go.  I even used it last night in the car while waiting for my husband to make a quick run into a store.  

I’ve been working on several forms to include in my planner which I will be placing in the address section of the planner so that I can use the alphabetical dividers to organize these forms by surname or location.  In the next couple of weeks, I plan to take pictures of the different sections of my planner to give you a better idea of how it is working for me. 

My planner is a Franklin-Covey classic sized planner, so I need forms that will fit on a 8 ½ x 5 ½ sheet – or to have 2 forms on one regular sheet of paper that can be cut in half.  I’ve decided to use regular paper in my printer, so I have two forms per sheet.  I had to print the forms onto “portrait” oriented paper which caused me to have to rearrange my group sheet a little.  I was excited to see that the rearrangement actually allowed me to add spaces for 2 more children than my other form did!   The tables allow me to click in any box to add my information.  It is a Word file, which means I can add endnotes which I can then print on the back side of the paper as long as they don’t take up more than half a sheet of paper.  To make them fit, I had to highlight the endnotes and reduce them to a font size 6.  (Which led me to puchase a bookmark that is also a magnifier for $1.99 at Office Depot so that I can tell the difference between a 6 and an 8!)  I was also thrilled to discover that if I highlight and copy information with endnotes from my regular sized group sheets, when I paste then into the boxes of my smaller group sheet, it copies the end notes as well!  If I decide not to use endnotes with these smaller forms, then I could print the forms on the front and the back and still cut them in half – giving me 4 group sheets from 1 sheet of paper. 

I’m placing 3 files on here.  One is a copy of the form, but I’ve added explanations about the form in red in the boxes.  The 2nd is the form on plain paper.  The 3rd is the same as the 2nd, but I added an ivy border where the hole punches will go just to make the pages a little more attractive in my planner. 

Let me say that I am not an expert in using Word, so I’m hoping that the downloaded files will look the same on your computer as they do on mine!  I suggest that you download the instructions as well as the desired form as that may give you some help if the form doesn’t work properly for you.  I’d love to hear your feed-back! 

Happy Researching!
Lisa 

Double Group Sheet explanations 

Double Group Sheet no ivy 

Double Group Sheet color ivy 

 

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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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