Using Research Logs

There are many way to keep research logs for any topic. The most common way of keeping research logs in genealogy is by person. Here are some links to research logs that you can find online.

• Printable Research Log - FamilySearch Wiki
• Free Genealogy Forms - lots of links to forms available online
• Research Trackers and Organizers - Family Tree Magazine

Here is a great article about research logs: Research Logs Genealogy - FamilySearch Wiki. I even learned some mistakes I was making in my own Research Log.

My problem with the types of research logs above is that they focus on one person at a time, and I don’t research that way. My research tends to be more organic. I start with a question, then follow the records and record the facts later. So, I keep a journal-style research log.

As I’m researching, I record what I’m looking up, what I found, and what questions come to mind or what facts I still need to find. Then, when I sit down with my research again, I can use my questions as starting places. I use a composition book for Bullet Journal style notes, so I can identify the tasks easily.

I have always preferred hand-written notes, but Evernote is a great tool for keeping this process digitally. The notes are tagable, searchable, and accessible from multiple devices.

Whichever tool I use, when I finish my research session, I review my notes and copy them into Legacy so I have a run down of everything I have done for a person. I don’t copy everything - just the information I found for a person.

I have tried using Legacy for research logging as recommended by many top researchers, but I just don’t connect with digital notes. For some reason, I have to write things down.

How I Keep Organized

The biggest thing I noticed about genealogy is that it produces a lot of paper. There really is no truly paperless way to research. What's ore, I am not a paperless person. I have tried hard to use digital systems, but I always miss that personal connection - that emotional investment.

So, what gets printed and filed? In my world, EVERYTHING. I print every record I find. I do this for three reasons.

• First, so I can show it to the person I'm researching for. It's one thing to see all the facts and dates on genealogical charts. It's a completely different experience to see your ancestor's name in writing.
• The second reason is so I can take or make notes on the record I'm reviewing. I have used Source Notes forms before, and like them, but if I can, I prefer to make my notes right on the record.
• Finally, as reliable as technology is today, you never know what might happen. So much can be lost - computer failure (mine, or theirs), fire (1890 census, anyone?), natural disaster. There are no guarantees.

So, I have my binders, and records are kept in family groups by their MRIN (Marriage Record Identification Number) from my Legacy software database. Any events in a person's life that happened before their marriage goes with their parents. So the earliest record in a family group is the marriage record.

I used to just accumulate records in order of discovery (listed & numbered on a Table of Contents for each marriage record). But I have found it easier to view a family's chronology by keeping the records in order of events. This way, I can see what I might be missing by just flipping through a Family Group.

I also save images and PDFs of everything I print. This way, I can easily reprint them if I want a clean copy. And the storage of the record is not entirely on the service where I found it. Also, when I'm given documents, I scan them in and save them in the same folder.

Hope that helps someone out there. I plan to go into more detail in future posts, but that's it for now. Take care, and journey on!

Practical Skills for Every Genealogist

I not only love research, but I also love history, and several skills and crafts from older times. I make my own bread, knit and crochet clothing items for myself and my family, write in cursive, study various methods of shorthand, dabble in other languages, and read historical fiction. All of these passions help me be a better researcher and genealogist. Here are some places to start that can make you a better researcher, too.

Penmanship/Handwriting

Unfortunately, just knowing how to read and write in modern cursive is not sufficient for reading century-old documents. Many handwriting manuals are available in the public domain. You don't have to learn how to write that way, but reading a few of the manuals will help you decode the fancy handwriting used in many of the source documents we use for genealogy. I suggest looking up Palmer Penmanship and Spencerian Penmanship, for starters. There were several other popular methods, but these manuals were written to establish some standardization in handwriting, and can help you identify those crazy capital letters the census takers used. You might also want to take it a step further, and research journals and diaries from the time. George Washington was an avid notetaker, and his notebooks are available to view on the Library of Congress website. Thomas Jefferson kept meticulous records of his correspondence. Copies of his letters, written and received, can also be viewed on the Library of Congress website.

Geography

It is important to learn some things about the geography of the places you are researching, so you know what records might be available and where to look for them. For example, one tree I've been researching lately was most recently in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and San Bernardino, California. While following the research, I discovered the family suddenly moved there from Missouri in the 1920s. After some quick geography research, I learned that a railroad intersection existed in Missouri before their emigration (they were railway men and farmers). Further tracing led me to Galesburg, Illinois, which also housed a railroad intersection and farming. However, further consideration for the geography of the states helps me keep in mind that, although the naturalization card for this person is dated 1860, and his son's birth record indicates he was born in Illinois in 1858, the family was not going to hop on their horse and high-tail themselves for days to the nearest courthouse to file these records. The ancestor's immigration happened sometime before 1860, and his naturalization occurred later, when it was convenient.

In another example, one of my ancestors came from a place that is now in the country of Lithuania. However, at the time of the recording of his life events, the town was in Prussia, Germany, and Russia, but he spoke German. While briefly studying maps through the years of his life, I am able to see how the border lines moved, and verify the accuracy of the records.

American History

Outlines of World History, especially if you are researching your roots in Europe and other parts of the world, are important, but you must know the outlines of American History, as well. Not only a rough order of statehood, but the major wars: American Revolution, American Civil War, War of 1812, French-Indian War (known in other parts of the world as the Seven Years War), Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, etc. Other events to be aware of are the Great Depression, the invention of the car, the Oklahoma Land Rush, the California Gold Rush, the Klondike Gold Rush - any events of mass migration are key items to keep in mind. If your ancestors suddenly disappear from a location, chances are they took a chance and took part in one of those key events in American history.

Local History

Don't forget to check in with a local library near the location of your research. They should be able to help you pinpoint local disasters or events that may have impacted your ancestors, as well. Growing up near Chicago, Illinois, the Great Chicago Fire had a huge impact on the development of communities and areas around the city. Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes all impact us as much today as they did in past centuries. Whole families could have been wiped out, or moved out, because of these events.

I find the journey down history lane to be completely fascinating and satisfying. So many pieces of our lives fit together to make a whole picture, and researching our family histories helps us be more aware of the impact we make in the world around us today. let me know if you find other useful skills on your journey through your tree.

Importance of Source Documents

I will start with my main point: always check the original. ALWAYS read the original document. I can't stress this enough.

I have been a researcher for almost 20 years. I have volunteered as a transcriber. It is not easy. Some of the documents were in bad shape when they were digitized. Some of the images are poorly scanned. Sometimes the writing is small, or a very fine point pen. Other times, the ink fades, paper yellows, and you can't make it out. And none of that even accounts for the fancy handwriting.

Transcribers do their best, but sometimes mistakes happen. And sometimes, the mistake was in the original. I'll you two examples.

My grandmother, Elsie Florence Stadtler, has two birth certificates on record. We discovered this after she passed away, so no one really knows why. The first one, filed a few days after her birth, shows her name as Elfie Florence Stadtler. The second, filed about five years later, is marked as a correction, lists her name as Elsie, and her birth year is one year older. So we asked ourselves why they filed a new birth certificate, and decided it must have been required for her to attend school. The only confusing thing is the change in her birth year, because we always celebrated the date from the first certificate. So now, we have two birth certificates with mistakes. By the way, these are for the same person because the parents match, and there are no other records in all of Chicago with the same names, and Else only had one brother.

The second example is a recent project I was working on for a friend. While searching for census records for her ancestor's family, I found two listings for him in 1910. One database entry shows him as head of house, married, several children, father-in-law, and aunt. Great! This is a jackpot!

Second listing didn't concern me too much, because it's a sort of common name, but what struck me was that the name I was looking for was listed as father-in-law, while the wife and children had the same name as my search, and the head of household had a completely different last name.

I checked all the fields, and sure enough, the roll number, page number, Enumeration District, were all different. I had no choice but to study the original images. (I always do anyway - there's some really juicy information in there!)

I was shocked to find that the transcriber had jogged a line in the record and pout the wrong last name for head of household. Not only that, the father-in-law's name was also written in the census correctly, and transcribed incorrectly. Additionally, the aunt was described as "aunt-in-law" in both cases, and all first names were correct, and in the same order.

While I'm sure it didn't happen often, I am 99% sure this family was counted twice, which I wouldn't have discovered if I hadn't checked the original images. By the way, reading the originals also explained, at least partly, why they were at a different residence the second time. Dad changed jobs - both of his jobs could have offered housing, so they probably moved due to the job change.

Always check the original images to verify the transcription.