Category: Family File Cleanup Project

One Year and Four Months Later

Posted on by Kathleen

On March 16, 2011, I posted an entry that basically turned into a pep talk for myself. I can’t even believe it was that long ago that I made that pep talk to myself. In that year and four months, so much has happened. Grandpa Moore moved into our house from Seattle, Washington in May of 2011. In May of 2012, Grandpa passed away. We’ve added new additions to the tree and we lost a few too.

In the scope of my family file cleanup (I’m adding a category for that.), I was a year in already at the time. Or close to a year. I had finished up my Dad’s side of the tree and I was working on my Mom’s. In that year, I know I’ve expanded even my Dad’s side, but my Mom’s has grown a lot too.

March of 2011
March of 2011 (click for full size)
July of 2012
July of 2012 (click for full size)

Because my March picture only shows 5 generations, I don’t know exactly how far back on the Mays side I actually was at the time. In the entry though, I mentioned I was nearing the finish line on them. So since March I have finished the Mays line, Slusher line, Moyer line, Evans line, and I’m currently working on the Taylor line. It sounds like I’ve slowed down, and I’m sure I did while I was caring for Grandpa. However, the Mays and Taylor lines are the largest ones on my tree. All my lines except the Taylors only go a few generations past the ones shown above (if any). The Taylors go back many more then that, which is why I’m still working on them right now. If I remember correctly, I have at least five more generations of Taylors to add to my new tree. They are also one of those families that had quite a few children.

What I do have is the stats from when I last posted numerical statistics from my new file in February of 2011.

(click for full size)

I think this shows a better picture of how far my file has come. Since February of 2011 I have added (all sourced) 1075 people, 1 generation, 200 surnames, 203 places, and 74 sources. I have a new earliest birthday in Robert Love (thank you ScotlandsPeople!) and I’ve made a few additions of the newest family members. It’s so fun looking at these numbers because it shows me just how far I’ve come. 🙂

Oops, it’s been 2 years!

Posted on by Kathleen
2 years of progress
2 years of progress

 

Today is a very special day, and I didn’t even know it. Today is the two year blogiversary for Misadventures of a Genealogist! That’s pretty special for me. I can’t help but think of all the cousins and relations I’ve met through this website. The biggest thing this blog has given me though is the foundation to learning more about my passion of genealogy. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve learned so much from my fellow GeneaBloggers.

One of the biggest projects I’ve undertaken on the blog, is my family file cleanup. I’ve been working on it since shortly after the blog started. I’m actually coming up on the end of the project. I’ve almost sourced everything in my file I can source. The only thing I skipped was I did take a little break from the Mays side with the knowledge that I would come back to them first after I finished the rest of the project. The new file has 1,031 sourced individuals.

Some of you might be asking what the big project will be after I’ve finished getting everything entered into the new file.

Evidence Explained
Evidence Explained

Let’s just say that while everything has a source, it might not be quite… proper. So I’ll go through things one more time and I’ll fix them up a bit. Not that I think they need much fixing up. I do have all the pertinant information in the source, just not in any type of uniform style. So that’s the next.

Though, I don’t think I’ll ever change how I source some of the facts I know through Personal Knowledge. Those are a little near and dear to my heart.

“I called Molly. She told me.”

“Family Grapevine”

“Facebook”

“I lived it.”

“I was there.”

“My Mom said so, and I always listen to my Mom.”

Okay, so the last one isn’t an actual citation, but it is true! If there was something that fit with that citation, I’d definitely be using it.

How else do you document things that are just kind of “Duh” to you? Besides, if I did all the work now, what would my non-existent children and grandchildren do in the future?

It’s So Hard to Let Go Sometimes

Posted on by Kathleen

Even though I’m coming up on the end of my family file cleanup, (which I started sometime in 2010), sometimes I just love to dig into my Original file and clean that up a little too. I just can’t seem to let it go. Am I going to always have two working files? Or will I eventually scrap the original? I just can’t decide. I don’t think I’ll ever fully delete the original file.

With all the new databases that come out on a regular basis, sometimes I want to just dig into that old file, and just test the waters out a bit. Sometimes it’s really just to see if the database is going to be a very prolific resource for my family tree. I’m never really sure if the more rural areas of my family recorded the vital records or not. I know it wasn’t mandated until the 1900s in those states, so I know it’s a toss up.

Two of the databases I’ve really been digging into is the Ohio, County Births and Ohio, County Marriages databases over at FamilySearch. I’m digging up my Ohio roots right now on my file cleanup, so I’m really able to progress. I’ve already had some of these records recorded, but only from an index at FamilySearch, so I didn’t have all the information from the original record.

Ohio Birth Report, 1856-1909
Ohio Birth Report, 1856-1909

Yesterday though, I wanted a little break from the cleanup. So instead of just sitting in front of the TV watching the Housewives on Bravo, I opened up my Original file and I printed out the above report. The great thing is that I used the instructions discussed by Russ Worthington on his blog about preparing for the 1940 U.S. Census. Only I didn’t prepare for the 1940 U.S. Census.

I prepared for the Ohio, County Births database. I filtered in individuals with a Birthplace containing Ohio. Then I filtered out anyone born before 1856 and after 1909. Voila. I had an Ohio Birth Report to work from. It turned out to be 18 pages long, but my printer prints on both sides of the paper, so I went ahead and printed it out for ease of use.

After all that preparation was done, the dryer buzzed and my full day took over. Hey, I have the list though, which means now when I have some extra time, I can just bring up the Original file, take out the list and work from that. The great thing is even if I input information into my old database, I always have that up when I’m working from my new database. So I can easily find my sources and information in my old program once I get to that person in the new database.

Sure it might not make much sense to work in such a haphazard way, but then again if it wasn’t that way, it wouldn’t be me researching. It’s how I roll. That’s right, I roll back and forth over and over again.

A Pleasant Surprise

Posted on by Kathleen
Probate Court, Clermont County, Ohio, “Marriages, 1801-1910”, 1881, p. 516, no 299, Lafayette Moyer-Mollie Howell;

One of the reasons I haven’t been posting much is because I’ve been catching up on my family file cleanup. It’s been going really well. I’m onto the Moyer line of my family tree. I’ve also been soaking up the Ohio, County Marriage and Birth images that were added to FamilySearch. At first I wasn’t going to do new research into Daniel Moyer‘s (my 3rd great grandfather) brother. I know he had siblings, and I knew I’d get back around to it, but I couldn’t help myself with these county marriages. What would a little search hurt right?

Well, I found Henry Moyer up to the 1880 census. I know he had two children, Emma and Lafayette. I was having problems finding the children after they left their father’s house. For Lafayette it would be the 1900 census and Emma the 1880. As you all know, the girls take a little more leg work. Well, I found Lafayette in the marriage records as you can see above. However, it was a pleasant surprise to also find that Henry Moyer, appeared with the couple. This is the first time I’ve actually had a parent appear with the child. Lafayette was well over the age of consent (21), so that wasn’t the reason why.

I think what I want to do is learn more about the marriage records from the 1800’s and figure out what little surprises like this could actually mean about the family.