Several days ago, I wrote that I was going to start putting some organization into my genealogy research. Things like photos, records, stories, timelines, etc. I showed a photograph of my filing cabinet where a great deal of my documents and research is currently kept.
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| My filing cabinet |
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| Several of my existing binders |
After contemplating for several months how I exactly wanted to tackle years and years of research, I finally took the plunge this week. I pulled together several different forms like the Family Group Record, Six Generation Pedigree Charts, and, Record Requests.
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| Miscellaneous Forms |
Even though I have an extensive family tree built on Ancestry.com - I don't have the above-mentioned items in hard copy forms. I'm not going to do this step because I feel like it would be reinventing the wheel. However, I did fill out the Six Generation Pedigree Chart for a visual reference. I have many of my family tree grandparent lines built up past the 6th generation point though. I'll share those surnames with you.
The Great Grandparent lines that are built out eight generations are my Martin, Thompson, Ammons, Griggs lines, and my West lines. The Great Grandparent lines that are built out nine generations are my Huff and Brown lines. The following Great Grandparents lines built out ten generations are a completely different set of Martins on the other side of my maternal lines, Chenault, Rogers lines. My Littlejohn and Hillman lines are built out to eleven generations. The largest generation of ancestors I have built to date is my Gordy lines. This is my mother's paternal line.
Each set of grandparents is considered a generation. At this time, I have 22,866 people documented in my tree. So, you see, I have been busy over the course of the last fifteen years working on my family legacy. I work on my family tree almost daily working from branch to branch. I don't stay in one area though. I move all around my tree. I have many branches that still need to be expounded on, researched and entered. I suppose it's a fact that my family tree is a work in progress (WIP)! I'm not sure when it will be finished and honestly, as long as people breathe, my tree will continue to grow.
Now that I have gotten off track with regards to my genealogy organization, I explained all the different grandparent lines to give you an idea of how my binders will be set up. For each set of grandparents, there will be one binder. I'll use my grandparent's binder as an example. The cover will say, GORDY "Descendants of Richard Munroe Gordy and Letha Inez Chenault". If possible, I will include a family photo on the cover of them together. This will be printed off in greyscale. Within that binder, they'll be different tabs for the corresponding information I am going to include. For example, their children, marriages, divorces, Baptismal records, family photos, maps of their locations, family stories, Census records, and Military records. I will then break it down even further to have a binder for my grandfather proper and a binder for my grandmother proper. Both binders will segue into their parent's stories. (I know, it sounds a bit cumbersome) - but in the end, my hope is that I have documented my Family's story as well as I can so that generations to come can learn and know their family through my eyes and the eyes of my ancestors.
For now, I'm off to continue working on my mom's binder. That was the first binder I started as it just seemed the easiest one to begin with. My genealogy organization is going to be a journey just like walking with my ancestors has been.
I will be able to make my binders as detailed as I want or as little as I want...it's all up to me! Honestly, it all will be driven by how much research I have been able to uncover.
Until next time...I'm off to 'walk with the ancestors'!
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Sounds intriguing and no telling what all or who you might find. I can't wait to hear more and see more of your story as you move through your family.
ReplyDeleteyes, I'm stoked to finally be at a place where I'm ready to tackle this ginormous project. This is also going to give me the opportunity to ensure everything I have has been scanned in and backed up as well. Hopefully, my vision will come to fruition...to be continued.
DeleteThank you for following my journey!
I find that after collecting things, organizing them is not a spring picnic. Sounds like you are so organized and you will have evarything ready to pass down to the next generations.
ReplyDeleteMartha,
ReplyDeletesadly, I'm "not" near as organized as I have been in the past...I'm determined though to get my genealogy to a place so when I'm long gone - - it can be donated or preserved and cherished by others without trying to figure out what it all is.
I've had that daunting task of trying to decipher documents, determine who are in photos, etc.
Thank you for following my journey!