how methodical are you with your research?

[annesthreads]

I'm getting absorbed in family history research again after a longish break. I'm curious to know how others work as the number of names and lines increases - do you focus  on one line at a time? What do you do, for example, when a marriage introduces a new surname  - start looking at that as well or leave it for later? I'm finding it hard to stay focused  -I get intrigued by new information, eg a rare surname,  someone from a different area of the country - and go off at a tangent  -then can't remember where I was up to  I also need to be more diligent about making notes and referencing documents immediately- there's rather too much back-tracking and re-checking at the moment. I'd be interested to hear how others deal with an increasingly complex tree and how you keep notes of material that you may want to come back to. 

[heymin]

Hi,
Sad to say, I echo most of what you say. I started off with certificates of those closest to me then took notes on scraps of paper of any other info. I could find - without noting the sources. I bought some software to instil some order but until I went back and sorted out the sources
, it was fairly valueless. I'm slightly better now but I'm always jealous of those with ordered minds and methods. My wife chastises me for the piles of paper I have lying around and volunteers to tidy for me - usually with a box of matches in her hand. I had so many searches going through my mind that I think I put myself off and so stopped for a while and I am struggling to pick up the threads again. The information gained so far has been a real education, much of it from this site and also from the millionaires at Scotlandspeople as well as all the topics covered when I have been side-tracked.
Brian

[Vicki Morley]

I am the same. I have so many lines and threads that I nneed to start gathering together.  I have notes everywhere.

Someone come to my house and sort it all out for me!

[mike175]

Although I made a hesitant start many years ago on paper, I can hardly imagine working now without my PC and RootsMagic software. I generally tend to work on one family line at a time, but I did have a couple of frantic periods of grabbing anything I could find while I had active subscriptions to FindMyPast, Ancestry, etc. followed by long periods of careful cross-checking.

Once the information is recorded in the RootsMagic database it is easy to go back to it any time, and easy to link or merge people . . . or unlink them

Other genealogy software is available 

[jbml]

You have to be mercilessly methodical in this game.

I have a Word document which is my Table of Forebears.

It lists them all by generation, starting with Generation A (my parents), generation B (my grandparents), generation C (my great grandparents) and so on.

Each has a number within the generation (B1 is my paternal grandfather, B2 my paternal grandmother, B3 my maternal grandfather, B4 my maternal grandmother).

The numbers are assigned to that particular ancestor, whether I know who they were yet or not. The numbers do not change every time I find a new ancestor.

A random entry from this table is:

G29 FF MM MF F: Robert Brothers, 1750 - 1814

So this is someone in Generation G (my great x5 grandparents), he is number 29 in the sequence of ancestors in that generation. He is my father's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father. His name was Robert Brothers, and he lived from 1750 - 1814.

I then have my family history narrative documents. A separate Word document for each generation, on which I note down everything I have discovered about each ancestor, fully footnoted with references to the source material.

Finally, I have a set of files, one for each ancestor, in which I keep all of the documents I have relating to them. A marriage certificate may be copied and appear in up to 6 different files: the files for the husband, the wife, each father, and each witness.

Updating is a constant and ongoing chore.

I have yet to produce two more documents that I believe are needed: an alphabetical directory of all the people referred to in my family history narrative, and a gazeteer of all the places noting relevant family history events that happened there and the dates on which they happened.

A lot of work? You bet ... but the outcomes are worth it.

[annesthreads]

Very interesting to read these replies - thankyou. I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles to keep things under control! I'm using Family Tree Maker and Ancestry to compile the tree and save references to documents. I also print out a lot of the census returns etc for future reference as I find it easier to use hard copy than squint at a screen. My difficulties lie with deciding how to tackle the job: whether to keep focused on each person in one line, or take up new information such as a wife's maiden name and start to look at that as well. I suppose it's whether to go vertically up one line of the tree, or horizontally across each generation. I suspect the former is the better approach, but I'm such a butterfly that the lure of the new and intriguing will always divert me. The keey must be adequate note keeping and I'm still figuring out how best to do that.
Hadn't heard of RootsMagic - must look at that.

[mike175]

Hadn't heard of RootsMagic -

I believe you can import FTM files directly into RootsMagic. I have tried most of the family tree programs over the years and settled on RM as the one that suits me best; others will have different preferences. There is a free trial version here: http://www.rootsmagic.com/Try/RootsMagic/

I'm sure we all know and share your problem In my case I have tried to concentrate on the 'vertical' line and limit side branches to one generation up or down . . . well, that's the intention . . . 

Mike.

[Berlin-Bob]

Although I concentrate on the "main lines" I also branch out whenever I find it interesting. After all, this is a family chronicle and anything or anybody interesting deserve to have their stories told

For instance, my grandfather Hans Margulies was quite well known in pre-war Vienna as journalist, author and  artistic director of a cabaret, so obviously I've written a lot about him. But he had three brothers - Isador, Emil and Heinrich - who were all politically active and well-known, so I try to tell as much of their stories as possible.

Or the father of my aunt's husband - Harry Morser, or my mother's uncle - Joseph Remenyi; although not directly related, they also had interesting lives, so they get included too !

regards,
Bob

[eadaoin]

I find it easiest to keep the stuff in folders etc - one for each type of thing. (both computer and physical folders)
So, one for certs (which blossomed into 6), one for censuses, one for Parish Regs etc. And a hardback copybook for graveyard/family headstones

Then I also have the actual family story separately.

So, if I find a reference online to the death of John o'Hara, I scribble it on a piece of paper and put that in my Newspaper folder, and make a pencil note of the date etc on the "story" printout.
All my tatty bits of paper are in the right folder (mostly!)