Free Family History Mini-Class 2021 : Lesson 4

In this lesson, I take a look at organising the information you find about your family.  This could be on a visit to a record office, a graveyard, or in conversation with a relative.  If you want to start with what you have at home, check out my post on shoebox genealogy. Whichever method you choose, you’ll need something to help you make sense of all the details you’ve collected and recorded in your notes. 

To start with, you should decide if you’re going to store your family tree on paper, in electronic format, or perhaps both.  

Paper options

☙  A good hard-backed notebook, with a page for each individual or family. The kind with built-in alphabetical index tabs is ideal.

☙  A loose-leaf folder or lever arch file for family sheets, which you can organise by surname or family line. This is a really flexible system - polythene pockets can protect your records and keep related documents together.

☙  Index cards, one per person – but beware, this can grow very rapidly and take up quite a bit of space!

☙  Once things really take off, you may want to splash out and get a filing cabinet.  This is a great method for storing copies of documents as well as your family history notes and charts.

Electronic options

☙  If you’re comfortable using database or spreadsheet programs, you might like to consider adapting an existing package like Access, a cloud-based app such as Google Sheets, or a free office suite of programs. 

☙  Install specialised genealogy computer software on your laptop or PC – check out some of the many free packages available to download.  Take advantage of free trial versions before deciding on one with the features you want.

☙  Use a genealogy website with online tree hosting facilities – and you don’t need to have a paid subscription with them.  In a previous blog post I compare a few of these companies’ free offerings. 

Next time, I'll look at how to plan and
carry out a cemetery visit in search
of family gravestones.

Free Family History Mini-Class 2021 : Lesson 3

 

Once you’ve identified the repository that holds the records you need to search, you can start to make preparations for your visit there.

Here are my suggestions for ensuring nothing gets forgotten:

☙      Contact the archive well in advance to make an appointment, where necessary, as well as to pre-order any materials that require notice to consult.  Make the most of archive staff's expertise in the records and the local area by asking them for advice regarding your search. 

☙      Make a list of all the records you want to see, alongside the names of the people you hope to find in them.  For instance: Sequestration records - Andrew Byrne, 1911 - and include the reference numbers from the catalogue, to avoid wasting time by having to look them up again

☙      Put together a file or database to take with you that contains details of all the relevant family groups that you will be researching

☙      Review the rules and visitor information on the repository’s website or in their literature to ensure you are properly prepared, for instance

• Whether you can buy food there or need to take your own, and if there is somewhere on the premises you can eat

• If change is required for lockers or cloakroom - you won't be permitted to take your coat, bags, or food and drink items into the search area. Many archives provide clear plastic carrier bags to allow you to bring essential research kit to your seat

• ID requirements. You may not get into the archive without specific forms of identification, so be sure to take the correct paperwork with you on the day

• If you'll be allowed to plug your laptop in to charge in the search room

☙      Practice some palaeography if you’re going to be consulting records with unfamiliar handwriting styles.  I’ve listed some websites to help with that. 

 ☙      Prepare a research log book or use pre-printed log sheets to keep track of what you find, what you don’t find and, most importantly, which records you’ve searched. This is a good safeguard against re-doing the same work.   Download and use this ready-made log sheet. 

 

In the next class I'll explore some of the 
options for organising your family information.

Free Family History Mini-Class 2021 : Lesson 2

 

In this lesson, you can learn how to identify which record office, archive, or library you need to visit in order to move your research forward.  If you missed Lesson 1, you can catch up here.

☙  Do your homework by reading background material on the place and time your ancestors lived in, and find out what types of records they may have generated: for instance, consider court documents, rental rolls for tenants, electoral registers, and school records. 

☙  Use the websites of archives in your ancestors' city, county, or country to learn what kinds of records they hold, and what information those contain.  Specific subject guides are often available to download and study.

☙  Search online catalogues.  Some apply just to individual archives and are found on their websites, while other catalogues such as the UK's National Archives' cover the country as a whole - check out their guide to mining the catalogues.

☙  Be aware that as well as official government records, archives are held by charitable, religious, business, private, and academic organisations.  If you know that your ancestor worked in a specific occupation, for example shipbuilding, you should investigate what relevant archives exist.

☙  Contact the archive(s) you plan to visit if you're not sure what records will help you.  Archive staff are well-versed in the records they hold and can advise you on how to get the most out of them.

☙  Make sure that the documents you want to see will be available at the time of your planned visit.  Some archives are stored off-site and require advance notice to be produced for searching - you should see indicators of this in catalogue entries.  Records undergoing conservation may also be unavailable, but staff can check this for you.

The next mini-class will focus on practical

preparations to make for your research trip.

If you've a question about this lesson,

just post it in the comments below. 

Free Family History Mini-Class 2021 : Lesson 1

It's time for me to roll out my series of 

10 family history mini-classes

In the first of this series of mini-classes, here are some do’s and don’t’s to remember when writing down your family information: 

☙      Print rather than write – you may like to use block capitals to highlight surnames.

☙      Pick a format and stick with it. For example, if you prefer to put the surname first, be consistent.

☙      Use pencil when adding information to charts, then go over it in black ink (for permanence) once you’ve confirmed it as accurate.

☙      Write names out in full if known – avoid abbreviating for speed’s sake as you may not remember what the abbreviation stands for!

☙      ALWAYS record a married woman’s details using her maiden name, if known. Don’t be tempted to fill in a blank space with her married name, as this can be confusing.

☙      Record dates in a clear format – e.g. 8 Oct 1840 rather than 8/10/40 which can be interpreted in more than one way.

☙      Write places with smallest area first – parish, county, country – with any farm names or townships before the parish.

 And to help you get started, here's a family group record you can print off and use as many times as you like.

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Please comment below if you have any questions about this lesson!

The next mini-class will cover identifying record sources.