It’s a brand new year and often we are tempted to make a New Year’s Resolution. Last year my resolution was with every great find to fill my Geni jar and read them at the end of the year. I read those entries a couple of days before we left for Arizona. It’s amazing the things you’ve found in the past year and then just moved on. I’d forgotten that I’d found 4 of my 4x great grandparents at the very beginning of 2017. If you want to read about the Geni Jar you can click here.
I know the typical resolutions might be to lose that Christmas weight or to get back in the gym and although those things are important I’d rather make another genealogy resolution. I think I will continue with my Geni Jar but there are a couple of other things I’d like to do. Here’s my list:
Genealogy Education
I have a couple of subscriptions that I want to make a better effort of using.
- I have a membership to Legacy Family Tree Webinars. They provide weekly webinars, and at times even more often than that, on some pretty interesting topics. DNA, Using Google for Genealogy, Getting Started, Organizing Your Genealogy and so many more. There are FREE videos posted each week and if you purchase a subscription like I have for $49.95, you can watch them anytime you’d like and of course, there are other membership perks like discounts and you get copies of all the handouts. They recently just posted their list of upcoming webinars in 2018 so you may want to check out the 106 classes they have to offer HERE.
- Another site that I’ve signed up for to advance my genealogy education is Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. If you don’t know Lisa Louise Cooke’s site then you’ll want to check it out. There you’ll find her blog, how-to webinars as well as her podcast. Her podcast is offered as a FREE version as well as a premium paid version.
- Something you might want to consider that I’ve done in the past is to look at the courses available at Shop Family Tree’s University. You can check out the 2018 schedule HERE.
Organize The Documents
The second thing I’m going to achieve in 2018 is to scan all of my hardcopy research. I brought some of my research with me to Arizona, to start with two binders that I’ve put my Middlebrough and Thompson research in and I want to scan it so that it can be stored and accessed anywhere.
I intend to do this by using our Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500. We’ve had the ScanSnap for several years and it really works slick. Why I think it’s perfect for the job is because it scans both front and back at the same time and it’s really quick. Once your scanning is done you can save to your computer, Dropbox, Evernote or Google Doc.
My binders are set up with tabs for each couple. So the first tab in the Middlebrough binder are my grandparents; Frank Middlebrough and Mary Beaton. All the documents and ephemera that I’ve collected for that couple are within the sheets between the tabs. There are photos and census forms. In this case, there will be homestead records and school records.
Both binders are basically direct line binders. Documents about the couple’s children are kept with the parents but when a child marries then any documentation collected are put in a different binder for the collateral family. The next tab will be for my grandfather’s parents and then for my grandmother’s parents. It may not be the best system but so far it’s worked for me.
My plan is to scan each family grouping and save as a PDF document and then to store on my Evernote account.
What are your geni resolutions or goals for 2018? Are you getting your poop in a group? If so you may want to join my newly formed Facebook page; Getting My Poop In A Group (Genealogy Rewind). Here you’ll be able to post your goals and get help from others. I hope you’ll join.