Spurred on by Randy

As I sat in bed this morning thinking about how I would spend my precious day at home I thought about doing some photo organising, writing some Tripadvisor reviews, researching my next holiday with Mr GeniAus or working on my Irish lines (a priority).

Then as I was savouring my morning coffee I came across this post from Randy Seaver, RootsTech Conference and the Family History Library - a Win-Win-Win-Win For Me, and I got a wakeup call. I realised that I wasn't as organised for my forthcoming visit to Salt Lake City as I could should be. Perhaps I am becoming blase about visiting Salt Lake City and forgetting what geneatreasure it has at The Family History Library for the organised genealogist. There is the temptation when at the Family History Library to indulge in a bit of  Tangential Genealogy so I need a plan.

Here I am, closeted in my geneacave, with the aircon on cool and a bottle of icy water beside me. My first task is to go to the "To Do" list I have compiled for the Family History Library. I use the Named List Function in my Family Historian database for this purpose.

My Named  Lists in Family Historian

I use these named lists for all sorts of tasks, one being to create "to do" lists for various repositories and resources I wish to consult. In the highlighted FHL SLC list I presently have 19 tasks each of which is connected to an individual. In the middle pane at left one can see GOWANS, Catherine highlighted and in the bottom pane  I have notes or details for the task associated with Catherine. My first job this morning is to go over these 19 tasks and make sure that I have clearly referenced the resources I wish to consult. For this I am checking The Familysearch Catalog.

Once I completed this task I turned to Mr GeniAus' Gowans cousins in the United States. I am hoping to find some more info on them and would love to track down some living descendants of his ancestors from Scotland in the US. Revisiting Familysearch, Ancestry, Findmypast and the California Digital Newspaper Collection has allowed me to update my records for the US Gowans. I have added several new tasks to my FHL SLC list to further research on that line.

I'm going to upload a revised tree to my family site, www.geniaus.net, that reflects my new finds and then, as I've spent eight hours at the keyboard, I'm going to move on to some more active pursuits.

Before I head to Salt Lake City I'll  see if the library catalog has anything new on the towns and villages where my ancestors lived. I will add those that look promising to my named lists too.