Genealogy Do-Over: Step #2 - Where I'm at now

Topic: Setting Research Goals

As Week #2 closes, I have made some decisions:

1) I will think of the Do-Over weeks as steps instead of weeks.

2) I will recreate my tree, beginning with me

3) As I add each new person to the tree, I will :

• gather, scan/photograph, record and file all documents I have for the individual
• use the research log to track what I have done
• enter information into RootsMagic, completing citations as noted on log
• complete the "to-do" list as I go along - these will become research goals in the future

4)  As the Do-Over progresses, I will review recent work and incorporate the new skills/techniques.

Doing all the above for one individual, then moving to the next person, rather doing a global sort/reorganize seems to be a better match for me. I need to see the results from applying my newly learned (relearned) skills. 

Here's a Before and After of my digital files for my 3rd great-grandfather, Aaron Lazarus Samuel:

BEFORE

You'll notice a few things from this reorganization:

1.  There are more files in the AFTER folder. That's because I went through ALL my digital folders and moved all relevant files to this new folder. 
2. There's a shorter path to get to Aaron's folder.
3. The FIRST file in the AFTER folder is the Genealogy Research Log for this person. I put an underscore _ as the first character to force it to the top (Learned this from a Do-Over post!)
4. The old folder for Aaron (inside the HOLD Genealogy folder) is now colored red. I used Folder Maker to differentiate this finished folder from the others.(Learned about the Folder Maker program from the Do-Over.) Once my Do-Over is completed and I'm sure I don't need the old information, I'll delete the old folders.

Aaron Samuel Folder -AFTER

HOLD Genealogy folder - AFTER

Topic: Conducting Self Interview

RootsMagic has a pretty comprehensive list of facts you can associate with each person in the database. After entering myself into my new file, I completed as many of the facts as were applicable to my life. This went fairly quickly as I wasn't slowed down by the tedious completion of citations. The only citation I used was "Personal Knowledge!" On my to-do list, I listed the need to the acquire the documents related to my life 

I did enter the names of my parents, my direct paternal ancestors (the men only), my step-dad and my siblings as I knew I was going to focus on my 3rd Great-Grandfather, Aaron Lazarus Samuel and my step-dad, Alfonse Falcone for the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.

Topic: Conducting Family Interviews

So much for watching the video of my Mom. We recently got a new flat-screen TV and apparently my husband hasn't hooked up the VCR! I am also going to resend the interview questions I originally sent out years ago. This time, I will expand the list of recipients to my cousins as well as others who may have relevant information to contribute. This will have to wait until I return from my vacation. 

Hopefully, I will be rested and reinvigorated, ready to resume the Do-Over!