Navel Gazing and Future Proofing

We need to evaluate our practices regularly. The catalyst for my recent navel gazing is the presentation I  prepared for Connections2025, The Thoughtful Ancestor: leaving a large footprint for future generations. I have a big footprint but need to ensure that it's easy for my descendants to follow.

I've been reviewing my practices, the products I use and my genealogy budget and trying to make my genealogy assets easy to access for future generations. Following is a summary of my recent thoughts and actions. 

I am looking at my assets in three categories: Digital, Physical and Cranial and using as a prompt this process.

My process for future-proofing my genealogy assets. 
Evaluation is vital at each stage of the process

Social Media

X formerly Twitter - I am no longer posting there but have kept my account. I have replaced this product with Bluesky where many of my genimates have accounts.  I am @geniaus.bluesky.social.

Instagram - I set up an Instagram for family history purposes after Twitter became unattractive. I'm still on Insta but not actively posing since moving to Bluesky

Facebook - I have a huge investment and history so won't be ditching it at the moment. My GeniAusPage is my main vehicle for sharing family history news and views. 

Family Tree Software

Family Historian. While I still retain Family Historian for my main database I have resisted upgrading to the latest version.

RootsMagic  I started using RootsMagic to manage the people in my CareyBay2283 One Place Study. Although I don't have a handle on its sourcing system I appreciate its fairly seamless syncing with Ancestry, FamilySearch and FindMyPast. This may become my primary tool in the future.

I now have several projects in RootsMagic 10. I find it good for managing the DNA matches of some of the kits I manage. 

TNG  I use The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding to maintain my family website. I can upload a gedcom file from any other product to TNG. 

I am concerned that when I turn my toes up no-one will keep the website going.  Over Easter two of my offspring committed to this task so I won't be ditching TNG or my website in the near future. 

GeniAus Website This is where I host my family site. I will keep it going while I am able but I need to have insurance lest my descendants run out of time or money to maintain it. 

WikiTree I am committed to Wikitree as a collaborative tree. I am working to ensure that my ancestors' and forebears' stories are not lost so I aim to give them all a profile on this platform. It's a future-proofing exercise.

Other Activities

Blogging I am committed to blogging about family history and to record my personal history. I use two free platforms, Blogger and Wordpress.com although I prefer Blogger because it is much easier to tweak their templates and they don't sprinkle my posts with ads as is the Wordpress practice. 

I see that several of my genimates have moved to Substack. I am not convinced that this is the platform for me. I will sit back and see how it progresses. I have seen too many Bright Shiny Objects come and go to move platforms when I am satisfied with what I have. 

FindaGrave In addition to adding details of ancestors' final resting places to the FindaGrave site I have set up several virtual cemeteries on that site. I have one each for biological relatives of  my husband and me. I also maintain one for a Cousin and one to support my One Place Study.

One Place Study I'm not sure I can do this justice but as no-one else was recording the history and  stories of the place where I live I commenced this project last year. 

Surname Study I now realise that I have bitten off more than I can chew with this project I commenced in 2014. I did not realise that Curry, my maiden name, was such a common surname, I should have chosen Pusell, my grandmother's maiden name which is not so common. Currently this project is stalled with a database of several thousand persons in Family Historian. The study blog is still active and will remain so. 

Cranial Assets or What's in my head I'm working on this. Some are things I am not yet ready to share. I keep a diary in an Excel spreadsheet and blog at jillballau but need to do more. 

Money Matters I need to give this some thought and will report in a future post. 

F is for ...The Family Historian's Enquire within

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I find it interesting that many Australian researchers with ancestors from the UK and Ireland adopt, as bibles, works on methodology written by Americans for American markets. I tend to look to the Old Countries to buy howto and reference books from experts who live in those areas.

In my personal library I have several books on methodology that are written by British, Scottish and Irish experts. One reference book I refer to regularly is The Family Historian's Enquire within by English genealogist, Janet Few. In her introduction Janet refers to this book as a "Help desk" and this is how I use it. I could use Google to find some of the answers contained in Janet's book but the advantage of this work is that is an authoritative source. Janet knows what she is talking about. 

Arranged in alphabetical order this book gives explanations of  a few words up to a couple of pages for terms we may come across in our research. The 6th edition which I have on my shelves contains much relevant information. I purchased my copy of this book from The Society of Genealogists on a visit to London. It is one of a few Few books on my shelves.

If you don't know about Abraham Men, Feoffees or Water-Gavils this book may be for you.

Trove Tuesday - Ancestry

For today's post I did a simple search "trace ancestry"and was rewarded with the following post that was published in several Australian newspapers in 1911. I chose this one to share because it was the clearest image of those I viewed.

Although written over 100 years ago much of  the content in this article rings true today.

1911 'HOW TO TRACE YOUR ANCESTRY.', Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), 7 October, p. 5. , viewed 29 Nov 2016, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77477729

Joynealogy

As I prepare to make flight bookings for my journey back to Salt Lake City for Rootstech 2016 I am thinking about the folk I will meet there.

I have been doing family history for 27 years and am still an amateur. For me it is not an academic pursuit but a fun albeit serious hobby. Joynealogy, the title of a genealogy blog I follow (joynealogy.blogspot.com), also describes the feelings of elation I get from my genealogy activities. It is a feel good  pursuit that fills me with joy whenever I make a new discovery or teach a group, friend or contact new new trick or tool.

I regularly speak or attend talks and meetings at local societies. Most of the people I encounter at these events are there because they too experience Joynealogy. I have been to four out of five Rootstechs, the greatest genie show on earth, and love these events mainly for the people that I meet from the old pros, to enthusiastic youngsters and beginners of all ages.

Most of the people who attend Rootstech or grassroots events at local societies are amateurs like me. They want to learn how to find their ancestors but do not worry about the correct way to cite a source, they just record enough detail to lead someone else to find that source. They will never bother with  Proof Arguments. Their methods of organisation may be haphazard like mine but they are having fun while learning about their ancestors, recording their lives for posterity and sharing their stories. Their  methodology may be unique like mine (not adhering to one of those fat expensive texts) and supported by information skills developed during years of life, work and tertiary study.

I think that more of the 22,000 people who crowded into the exhibition hall at Rootstech on the Saturday  were amateurs like me and probably not (unlike me) society members. They were there for a hit of Joynealogy.

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.

Rough around the Edges

My GeniAus' Hangouts on Air are, like me, a bit rough around the edges.

Each time I start a Hangout I seem to have some sort of technology glitch. In this week's Hangout the invitations I sent out for people to join the panel did not work so with three minutes to go before the Hangout was due to start I cancelled it and scheduled another which allowed some panelists to join me. Apologies to those who couldn't join, time was of the essence and I just had to get on with the show.

During the Hangouts sometimes there is an echo because someone (I'm guilty here) doesn't mute themselves while others are speaking, sometimes panelists forget to unmte themselves and  are just talking heads when responding to questions so I have to remind them to unmute themselves. Sharing computer screens creates issues as we wait for them to appear, sometimes my screen freezes and conversation halts so we have periods of silence. I do get stressed at these times but  I don't worry because it is all part of a learning experience.

What is gratifying is that those who are viewing have become quite competent at contributing to the conversation by comments during the live sessions. To do this you must be a member of the GeniAus Community on Google+. I do it this way so that we have a private forum in which to converse, only those whom I approve for membership of the community make and view comments but anyone can watch the sessons via my Youtube Channel.

What the panelists and I are doing is having an enlightening conversation on a genealogy topic and a practical learning session (on mastering the Hangout software) concurrently. I am so proud of those brave souls who put their hands up to join me as panelists and share my learning journey. If you haven't tried a Hangout yet please get yourself a headset and give it a go.

This prattling is by way of an apology for the quality of some of the hangouts I present but I will keep plugging on as they appear to fill a need (96 peple have watched the last recording on Youtube already). Apologies done here is this week's Hangout - Let's get Organised.

Plugging Away

I have previously blogged about I am decrapifying my life, this also applies to my family history files and tree.

In a recent GeniAus Hangout on Air someone suggested writing down the steps one is taking while Revisiting Recording and Revising one's research.

I have previously mentioned that I think this is an ongoing evaluative process that never stops but I realise that, although I am continually  Revisiting Recording and Revising some of the people in my database may have been missed.

These are the actions I am taking to ensure that I eventually cover all people in my database, it may take some time!

Common errors I have found so far are many hundreds of instances of sources recorded as notes, many unsourced assertions, some wrong genders or no gender and quite a few typos. There are a few duplicate people but not as many as I thought I might have. Until the new version 6 I could not add witnesses to events into Family Historian so Witness Recording is an important part of the Revision.

I am forcing myself to be consistent, I am recording the same type of information for the indivisuals in my database in the same format  in the same fields. Over the years I have used several genealogy databases and just transferred my gedcoms from one to another. Inconsistency has been a result of both this and my past practices.

The Jobs

* Revisit and Revise my Place List in FH that was a bit of a mess. I feel pleased that I sorted this before attacking the people in my database.

* Revisit all of our direct ancestors in my FH database and revise their entries.

* Sort the entries in my FH database by "Last Updated" and revisit and review these systematically (in Alphabetical order) . The earliest are 14/8/2010. Once I revisit and review these I will then work through other dates systematically. I will examine each of these entries putting more effort into those who are direct ancestors of Mr GeniAus and I. Once I catch up with the backlog I can continue this process.

* Go through all of my physical family history folders and extract the BDM certificate copies and transcriptions I hold. After going through these with a fine tooth comb (reviewing) and extracting and recording as much information as I can into my FH database I will scan them then file them all by individual's Surname/Given Names in archival quality sleeves in an archival quality binder.

* Examine all of the papers in my physical family history folders, scan them and file into my digital folders, extract and record as much information as I can into my FH database.

* Periodically update my website to reflect the changes I have made in Family Historian. (There have been at least half a dozen updates so far this month.)

In case you missed it....

Pasted below is last night's GeniAus' Hangout on Air - To do or not to Do (over) that is the question. Please excuse the hiccup in the middle of the recording where I lost my connection. I felt powerless sitting at my computer looking at the other panelists' and not being able to communicate.

My next Hangout will be on Sunday 18th January - Getting to know  Family Historian with Jane Taubman. Details here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/ci8dr1q70l34dekik35p2g5vjvs

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.

Can you ever say you have finished your family history research?

Can you ever say you have finished your family history research?

Until I attended a talk yesterday on One-Name Studies, a discipline related to family history,  I would have said that there was no way one could answer YES to this question but I have been enlightened.

You see it's all to do with the Aims and Objectives (which I don't have) one has for one's research.

For years I have thought ill of people who have claimed to have finished their research, Mea Culpa. I had been judging them by my standards. Those folk who were objects of my derision may have had clearly defined aims and objectives that placed limits on the scope of the research they were undertaking and once these were achieved they could proudly boast that they had finished their family history research.

I will never be able to answer YES to the question. I have  been thinking about my primary aim and it is simple: to identify all people who are related to me by blood,  to collect every scrap of information about them that is presently available and to continue to collect new information as it becomes available. As a secondary aim  I collect similar information for my descendants' ancestors.

How would you answer the question? YES or NO