Free Time for Research

Due to unforeseen circumstances I now have a lot of free time to do research on my family tree.  So I have spent the past couple days trying to get my information organized enough so that I can see where there are holes in my research.  While I enjoy the process of organization and often get a lot of satisfaction out of the result I have found that I'm dividing my energies too much.  I have my general genealogical information from the various online courses that I have taken and I have all the more specific information from my personal family tree.

Binders are great to help gather everything and categorize it all, but then I also have my computer files which have become quite extensive.  I've used a combination of several different methods in order to sort through my electronic files.  I took the Genealogy Gems approach and have folders such as "Charts and Files", "History Topics", "Photos", "Research Trip Materials", "Societies", "Surnames Researching", and "Timelines".  As I've progressed through my genealogy education and activities I've added some additional folders such as "Blog", "FindaGrave", "GoogleEarth" and "RAOGK".  Those folders are more of a sideline from my actual research when I help others with their research or take pictures of additional headstones if I happen to visit a cemetery.

My folders look something like this:

Genealogy
  -Blog
  -Charts and Files
     -AncestryForms
     -Coorespondence
     -GED
     -GenealogyInstitute
     -JewishGenClass
     -Rootsmagic
  -FindaGrave
     -MapleGrove-Alexandria
     -NorthLawnCem-Utica
  -GoogleEarth
  -History Topics
     -RussianJewishImmigration

  -Photos

     -Jens Family

        -Alford

           -Billie and Margaret

        -Krueger

           -Myer and Antonia

        -Morse

           -Edward and Shirley

  -RAOGK

     -2010-10

  -Research Trip Materials

     -Thomaston ME

     -Michigan City IN

  -Societies

     -Ohio Genealogical

  -Surnames Researching

     -Jens Family

        -Alford

        -Krueger

        -Morse

  -Timelines

Another thing I'm working on is a bit on the creative side for my office.  I decided to paint the doors to my closet with chalkboard paint and will be sketching my family tree on it.  I'll post some pictures once it's done so you can see how it turns out.

Also, I'm thinking that I'm going to take a trip down to Cincinnati to go to the Underground Railroad Museum to visit the FamilySearch Center there.  Perhaps with professional help I can break down some of those frustrating brick walls!  I'm also going to make some personal requests on RAOGK to get help with the research for those out of state. 

Random Acts of Kindness

Today I had a fun little side trip that hopefully assisted in another woman’s family history search.  She lives in Montana and had found my contact information on the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website.  I’d heard about it through Genealogy Gems Podcast and thought it would be a fun thing to do and could possibly help me in my own search too.  So I had signed up and this lady emailed me requesting some assistance in getting an obituary from a relative that had passed in 1979.  She added that if it was possible to find his grave, she’d appreciate a picture of the headstone.  I replied to her saying that I’d do my best to get to it during the coming weekend.

And I was off….

I did a bit of searching online first to see if the man happened to be listed through the Ohio Genealogical Society or even on Find a Grave.  No luck there.  I then took a look at Ancestry to see if there were any interesting listings about his death record.  I did find a mention of his death and the date matched what my contact had given me.  After that, I figured it would be best to go down to Newark, Ohio and check out the catalog of obituaries that the Licking County Genealogical Society has on hand.  I’d been there about a year ago and they had explained that they do their best to get clippings of all the obituaries in the local newspapers and have been doing so for a very long time.

Unfortunately the hours that they are open are quite limited (1pm-4pm most days) and so I had to wait for a day when I’d be off work and able to get there.  Saturday was the only day I could make it.  I got there moments after 1pm and knew just where to go.  There were three listings under the same last name and fortunately they did have the one I was looking for.  I paid the 15 cents for a copy of the obituary and saw that the man was buried in Indiana.  Not much else I could do to assist in the lady’s search, but I hoped that the information included would help confirm some details she may not have known.

I’m glad I took on the task and look forward to more.  It made me realize that I should really take a moment to make a list of missing items that could help clear up some questions that I have and then ASK FOR HELP.  My time is unfortunately limited and I can’t travel all over the country/ world to get the answers.  So it’s time to start thinking about who I will ask about through the Random Acts website!