347 improvements

Last night I uploaded an updated gedcom file to my family databaase at www.geniaus.net.

Since I reported on my last upload  I have made changes to 347 records in my database. I have been slowly revisiting the oldest records in my Family Historian database as it is easy to sort by "Last updated". There were many that were last updated on 14/8/2010 when I imported my gedcom into Family Historian. I am pleased to report that I have dealt with most of those that were direct relations of miine. I haven't bothered with husbands and wives of  distant cousins. I am happy to just have marriage records for them.

I am the Root Person in my database. The diagram below  (a sample from the Family Historian spreadhseet like view) shows that most of the people last updated on 14/8/2010 are either not related to me (blank) or are the spouses of our cousins. 

I'm rather proud of my cleanup efforts so far. Once I have covered some later dates in the "Last updated" column I will move on to seeking more information on my direct line.  It is taking quite some effort to stick to my Revisiting, Reviewing and Revising as I am fond of tangential genealogy.

520 Updates

On New Year's Eve I talked about the Genealogy Do-over and my reasons for not taking part. I said " So for my do-over I am going to keep puddling along reviewing work from years ago, revisiting and scanning some of the records I have stored away in folders (Mr Geniaus found some gems today that I had completely forgotten about), recording what I see with a pair of more experienced eyes and revising what I have already recorded".

I have been slowly revisiting the oldest records in my Family Historian database as it is easy to sort by "Last updated" and I have been working through those, I have looked at all that have not changed since my import from The Master Genealogist! I have fixed typos, added some sources and moved sources from the "Notes" field into the "Sources" field. 

Today, when I uploaded a new gedcom to my GeniAus website, I calculated that since my last update at the end of January I had made changes to 520 records. Considering that I have had an overseas trip in the interim and have attended two major Conferences I'm rather pleased with my progress.

Concurrently I have been pulling old vital records out of my folders, examining them for further clues, scanning them and getting ready to store the hard copies in archival quality folders and sheets. I have ordered a few missing vital records for direct lines ($$$=ouch).

There is still a long way to go but I am happy with my decision to Revisit, Review and Revise.

Am I ready for a Do-Over?

I'm not sure that I am.

So many of my genimates have enthusiastically embraced Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over activity that I feel a bit odd not rushing to join in. 

Of course with my voyeuristic tendencies I will tune in each week to see what is being suggested and I will no doubt take some of the suggestions on board. I think I will be like Jackie who in her blog post today when asking herself if she "can do it" has said "I'm not sure I can. Or if I want to do so. I may adapt and 'just' revisit my tree, One person at a time,"

I am going to keep all my precious stuff in my newly updated Family Historian Version 6 database

My policy from days gone by has been to continually evaluate my practices for whatever I do. Pauleen Cass described someting similar in her wonderful post My Three Rs of Genealogy Research: Review, Record, Revise.

So for my do-over I am going to keep puddling along reviewing work from years ago, revisiting and scanning some of the records I have stored away in folders (Mr Geniaus found some gems today that I had completely forgotten about), recording what I see with a pair of more experienced eyes and revising what I have already recorded. There are lots of Rs there!

Thanks to Pauleen Cass for permission to usse her 3R's graphic

I know my main enemies are lack of time, my inclination to practise tangential genealogy and leap into new projects without thinking things through but I'm enjoying myself.

I commend all those brave people who are lining up for the do-over - I will be following your progress on your social media.