I started researching my family history about 14 years ago. I had no clue what I was doing, so I just started pulling random information from the internet that I thought looked like it might be related to my family. Pretty soon I had a massive amount of information that was all over the place and quickly got flustered and overwhelmed with what to do with it all. I bounced from my paternal family to my maternal family, only briefly focusing on one surname at a time. I would stop when I hit a bare branch and couldn't find any information. I failed to get documented proof of events and stories. It was a mess!
Unfortunately, over the years I have only worked sporadically on my family history and with several moves I have lost some of my research, so I am starting over. It has been awhile since I last climbed our family tree, so I thought I had better start out with a little genealogy "training". So I set out on the internet to learn
(again) a little about beginning my family history research. That's when I came across the
Genealogy Do-Over.
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| Original Image Source: GeneaBloggers |
This do-over program created by Thomas MacEntee from GeneaBloggers is exactly what I need to start over in my family history research. There are
13 weeks of Genealogy Do-Over topics, each week there will be a post over at
GeneaBloggers with tips, advice, and resources to help build a firm foundation in my genealogy and family history research. There is also a
Facebook group of over 800 members that are participating in the Genealogy Do-Over.
The topics for the first week of the Do-Over are:
Week 1 – 2-8 January 2015
- Setting Previous Research Aside
- Preparing to Research
- Establishing Base Practices and Guidelines
So far, setting aside previous research is pretty easy, while I have started
and restarted several trees in Ancestry.com and/or FamilySearch.org over the past few years- it has been awhile since I have accessed them and I haven't a clue what the login information is - so, there ya go, it's been "
set aside" - mostly because I am not going to waste the time trying to figure out how to access them. Besides those research files are such a mess that I wouldn't want to look at them anyway
...remember I said I would just grab any information that looked like it fit...yeah well...
I also have a couple binders full of information, copies of documents, photos, and such that is completely unorganized and a mess, so until I get through the first couple of weeks in the Do-Over program to establish my research guidelines those binders will stay in the cabinet.
I will strictly be using good ole' pen and paper, along with
EverNote and this blog, for my family history research notes until we get to week 7 (Reviewing Genealogy Database Software) of the Do-Over program - then I should be able to make an educated decision about which software I want to use to record & store my research.
Oh yeah...did I mention that this Genealogy Do-Over Program is completely FREE!
It is my intention to post my progress through the program at the end of each week here on the blog...this is my accountability statement...
keep me accountable people, PLEASE!
Best of luck to you as we begin again!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteVery cool! My husband is the one that is in charge of family history in our house, and he's avid. However, once my parents get too old, I'm going to have to take over for them.
ReplyDeleteDon't wait til they are too old, join them!
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