how methodical are you with your research?

[patty38]

How nice to realise that I am not the only one who wanders, my filing is all done by paperwork - apart from Ancestry private tree, which keeps me organised a bit - because to be honest I don't understand all these on line ones, so have files for each direct surname and fit in others where I can. I try to keep as much as possible to direct family but must admit find side branches can be much more interesting. Any unusual name or occupation or strange death will see me chasing information and wandering away, BUT people in the past were much more family orientated and the number of times I've found lost relatives through side turnings is amazing. Everyone has there own method and the best of luck to all.

[jbml]

BUT people in the past were much more family orientated and the number of times I've found lost relatives through side turnings is amazing.

This is soooooo true

[Rainbow Quartz]

I prefer to work with pen and paper - but I do find it easier to manage stuff on my laptop, I can use Word to create my own notes, lists etc. and it's so easy to download documents from the internet - just wish I was more organised with my filing
I've trialled a few family history programmes but haven't found one I like, so I think I'll persevere with my own system I do use GR to 'map out' my tree and to make notes as I go along. By having my tree on there I've also made many useful contacts and shared information with distant rellies, so that's good.
My main problem is that I get sidetracked very easily and go off down branches of my tree that I didn't intend to! Then, of course, I don't make proper notes, thinking I'll return to it later, then when I do, I've forgotten what I was doing and where I was up to! It's all good fun though

[Trillian]

My research looks very organised. At the moment it's divided into a binder for each of my grandparents with all of their ancestors in order behind them. Each person has a plastic wallet for any papers and also I have a kind of form to fill in for each with the basics. I'm sure this will need expanding once I get further in but it works for now. I've given each ancestor a number as well which I write on any papers relating to them (mostly because I got so confused with the number of Williams I had). I tend to generate a lot of paperwork as I print out anything I find. As much as I love my computer, my brain functions better when I can move actual hard copies around. I do keep copies of photos and documents on my laptop though and also a bullet point commentary on each ancestor.

My issue tends to be staying on track whilst researching. I often find my self not only side-tracked, but looking at something completely unrelated. A few nights ago I was surrounded by documents and papers relating to my Gran's traveller ancestors yet I'd start searching for army records for my great-grandfather in a completely different line because I'd suddenly thought of something. 

[777777]

Mine is all done on my laptop. I don't use specific genealogy software, I use omnigraffle (mac equivalent of microsoft visio) to document my family tree. I have documented my ancestors as far back as I can (i.e. I have all 32 great-great-great-grandparents, but only 11 of my 256 great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents, but still they are all on the tree); however with siblings, cousins etc I have only included the generations that can be exhaustively researched, so all the descendants of my great-great-great-grandparents, i.e. as far out as my 4th-cousins. Although I have come across some fifth-cousins, they are not on my family tree as I want to give a full picture of each generation I include. I have folders for each person organised in iphoto so that if you click on the name of someone in my family tree, all documents and sources for them come up, as well as any photos of them. As well as birth, death, marriage, census etc, I also keep transcripts of conversations with relatives or emails so I know exactly where I got the information. I also keep transcriptions of info I got in parish records, dated with the date I consulted the records. I confirm any info I get by word of mouth or email through searching records, however I find it helpful to know where I originally got it.

So I guess I'm pretty methodical. At the very start (when I was 14) I wasn't at all methodical, but I realised once I hit my seventh Pat Doyle that I would need a better system and started scanning everything I had and meticulously organising everything into folders. I took a long break from the family tree and went back to it when I was 18, and transferred everything from my parents' computer to my own laptop. Since then it's been much easier because I can take all my information with me when I go to consult records. My computer is full of birth, marriage and death certs, census records, etc, and each is attached to every person named.

I do have a lot of my tree on ancestry.com, but am thinking of taking it off because people keep copying my info and photos to people with the same names who are very obviously not the same people. However I owe a lot to having my tree on ancestry.com, I've found a lot of relatives that way. I think soon it might be time to take it off though.

Not using a genealogy computer programme means I can lay my tree out exactly as I want to. I've attached a photo of my layout (low quality so names etc can't be seen). Pedigree chart is in the upper centre, the columns at the side are siblings, cousins etc of ancestors, the columns underneath the pedigree chart are ancestors further back than the pedigree chart goes and under that are my grandparents' birth certs (minus my Nanny's because I stupidly gave it to her *before* scanning it, and I keep forgetting to ask her can I scan it whenever I'm in her house, however that will be going on the tree at some point soon). The photos at the top are my ancestors, at the bottom I have photos of siblings of my ancestors and above that I have wedding photos of siblings of my grandparents. The photos on either side are family group pictures and photos of places relevant to my family (i.e. the house where my mother's paternal ancestors have lived since 1606, the windmill my great-great-great-grandfather built). The tree is still very much a work in progress but there is a place for everything to go when I eventually find it...

[bibliotaphist]

After a couple of false starts I got organised.

Now I print out a cover sheet for each person from the individual report in RootsMagic software.

These cover sheets go into ring binders, one for each family. The printed documents I have for each person go into the folders behind that person's cover sheet, in chronological order, and matched as far as possible with facts entered into RootsMagic; the source citations in the software and on the printout mean I can tell which document(s) the fact is supported by.

It's a bit complicated and time/space/paper consuming, but it does mean I can locate any document or fact for any individual or family pretty quickly and reliably.

[djct59]

My records are kept on several Excel spreadsheets, a detailed Tree on Geni.com with 756 names, and a 57,000 word Word file that might end up being turned into a book if i ever get the time to finish it. I can definitely identify 31 out of 32 great-great-great-grandparents, with the last one debatable due to the quality of Northern Irish records in the early 1800s. I have 54 out of 64 in the generation above that, and a few further back thanks to Gaelic patronymics.

I do not share my information with randoms: if someone can be proven to have a family link I will offer to share. Sometimes people agree, sometimes they don't. Sometimes their reasons are understandable (the widow of a second cousin killed in a car crash aged 37 declined to assist), other times they are less clear (I asked another second cousin, after e-mailing each other for some weeks, for details about her great-grandmother's arrival in the USA, all kept by her on ancestry.com but not accessible in the UK, and she didn't reply).

[Lesley Abrahams]

Hi, My family want me to have it all organised, now that I have many folders, and a full filing cabinet of "stuff". When I took over my mother's files, much of it was "on the back of the envelope". However I have managed to recreate these by using Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.com.au, where I have two trees for different large branches of the family.
Some of Mother's material I reorganised into folders, with contents pages, and indexes, so that it is easier to go back and locate the documents, if they are not fully entered into the "Tree".
 It also helps to focus the mind if you have somewhere to have articles published, which I now do, so that particular topics or people can be researched as much as I can, and then a sensible story told, of interest to others.
At the moment my cousins and I are researching the soldiers in the family tree from WWI, and this provides a base for getting these parts of the Tree into shape. This will be published in November, so having a date helps to keep us on track.
Good luck everyone. Enjoy the journey !   

[annesthreads]

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
regards,
Bob

I think you're right Bob, and I mustn't get TOO methodical! I found a new, apparently very rare, surname the other day, and had a happy hour looking at that branch. Going off at tangents from time to time keeps me interested: the key for me is to make sure that I have notes of where I was up to, and keep track of sources, so that I don't have to reinvent the wheel when I come back to that bit of research later.