This is where I’m at today:
I’m overwhelmed with all the
information I have to organize.
I’m waiting for bits and
pieces of information I’ve requested to arrive so I can “finish” my father’s story before I was born. I have tons of photos to scan, information to
compile and thoughts to remember so I can write about his life after I was born. I also have a few questions left to ask my
mother about him. Then I’ll put the
story of Ray Rowe away and focus on another ancestor. Next in line is his father, Fred Oliver Rowe.
Meanwhile, I’ve also got
starts and no finishes to many other ancestral write-ups laying around my
office, including those on my mother’s side of my tree, and I’ve got piles of notes
and documents and photos that need to be filed away in their appropriate
ancestor’s file.
I want to keep searching for
stuff (it’s so exciting to find new information), but I feel like I first need
to organize the stuff I have.
And, of course, I’ve broken
one of the major rules in genealogy . . . I have kept horrible record logs!
So where do I go from here?
As “organized” as I am (I can
find anything I am looking for, my filing cabinets ARE organized) I have tons of information that needs to be compiled
in an enjoyable, interesting and readable format. All information that I have sourced and
proven beyond a reasonable doubt is in my electronic family tree (I use Legacy
Family Tree). I’m a hands-on,
I-want-to-read-it-on-paper sort of person, so everything is also printed
out. However, it’s not perfectly written
and graphically pleasing to my final expectations. So that needs to happen.
I keep saying I have to
“finish” the research first. But, as
every genealogist knows, the research is never finished.
This past January (11 months
ago!) I made a resolution to start putting the ancestral books together. I started with the easiest one first, the one
that I thought was a simple,
there’s-not-much-there-so-I-can-complete-what-I’ve-got-until-I-have-time-to-move-on
family. It was on my mother’s side, so I
won’t go into depth about it here, but what happened was the more I researched
their settlement area’s history, and the more I found out about each family
member, the larger the project became, and it was truly not a simple project to
complete! The book is done . . . for
now. But in the process I found more
leads and more stories that I want to expand on at a later time, plus I found
more ancestors in that line to research.
It’s killing me not to get back to it, but I need to write up and
organize a graphically-organized book for each of my family groups first. Then, I can go and insert new information and
more details to the different groups at a later time. But if I continue to research the new stuff I
find as I’m compiling, I’ll never get away from each individual family group.
It’s a monumental project,
but what’s the point of doing all this research if I can’t share it in a way my
descendants can enjoy it? (By the way,
that simple book I started in January took until April 1st to complete! Three full months! And I could go back and continue another
three months just adding the additional information I found during the process!)
So that’s where I am at now. I’m going to complete (with information I’ve
got now) those books!
Most of my many genealogy
site subscriptions have run out, which makes this a perfect time to put
together what I have! I’m fighting with
myself not to renew them, but by not doing so, I won’t be side-tracked by researching
on sites for more information to file away and stay in a holding tank for the
day to come to write it up.
So, I’ll scan the hundreds of
pictures I have and organize them on my computer for safe keeping. (I like to put the originals in my books, in
acid-free protectors. We should be able
to enjoy the original photos, right?)
I’ll write little vignettes
about my ancestor’s lives, and if I can’t narrow specific stories down, I’ll
research the area and other people who lived where and when they did and then
write a synopsis of what their lives were “probably” like.
I’ll include census records
and other records I come across for verification and graphic appeal, along with
(hopefully) photos of everyone.
I’ll put together
mini-research trips to investigate any holes I have in the stories to try and
fill them up. (Oops? Isn’t that what I said I wouldn’t do? Get more stuff BEFORE I organized everything
I had?)
And, obviously, as one
relative leads me to others, I’ll follow all trails. Later, though. Did I say I need to complete those books
first?
Starting with my father. Simple, right? Back to paragraph one of this blog!
(And, of course, I will allow
myself to be side-tracked here and there for variety’s sake!)
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| Top shelf--just some of the books I need to fill-- at least I got the "spine labels" on some of them! |
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