Paperwork

[Olde Crone Holden]

HEHE John...sounds like my desk too!

Do try Ahnentafel numbers for your filing system, this system has simplified my life.

Difficult to explain but very easy to understand - go to Lost Cousins for a free downloadable Ahnentafel chart and you will immediately understand how they work. I number my folders/files accordingly and have found that it is now much easier to find out where I put GGGF Grimshaw, instead of having to ferret through piles of scruffy bits of paper.

Oh, talking of scruffy bits of paper - train yourself to use a notebook instead and date the pages. I use cheap shorthand pads for all scribble work and cross the stuff through as I load it onto the tree or whatever. I also use this book for Records Office work when I can wheedle it in (not always, nowadays) but the LDS are still ok with taking notebooks in.

I have changed my filing system about once a year on average since I started, lol. I don't think you ever hit on the perfect filing system because what seems a brilliant system one day, shows its flaws on the day you inherit two suitcases of blurb from some relative or other.

OC

[Just Barbara]

I've just thought, everything ISN'T in my metal box.....my photographs..aaahh! And I too love my notebooks, I now have some big posh books which I have started transcribing stuff into.

[Janet]

Oh dear notebooks, having a tidy up yesterday I discovered almost 20! I started off with the idea of a different notebook for different places eg one for Northants/Colindale/Kew etc but somehow they all get mixed up and then I have to go through each one looking for info which is what I was doing yesterday. Definitely preferable to bits of paper, but more efficient that depends;)

Janet

[Just Barbara]

Janet, I don't think I'd know efficient if it bit me on the ankle.........:o

[Janet]

OC

Do you like numbers? I have to say the one tree that drove me mad was the one someone sent to me with these Ahnentafel Charts but then I hate anything which has numbers attached to it, I get a real mental block.:(
I have just spent some time getting rid of the numbers which I know defeats the object.

Barbara,

I have definitely decided that efficiency and family history do not sit well together. Just as well there are no offspring left at home otherwise they would both be wondering what happened to their bedrooms.:D

Janet

[Kath nr the Crooked Spire]

HEHE John...sounds like my desk too!

Do try Ahnentafel numbers for your filing system, this system has simplified my life.

Thanks for that OC
I've downloaded the chart it will be useful for OHs family which I have recently started, as they don't stay in my head as easily as my own family do.

[borobabs]

Yes I to have downloaded it and printed of as I couldnt get my head around how they worked ;;;I have FTM and that has added the numbers to my tree but didnt know what they meant so Cheers OC

[jackdaw]

I do use the the numbering sytem - sort off anyway - for my main branches but I loose the plot when I use it in the twigs,
I have done my tree on wallpaper as well :D it is easy to add to and correct if needed and I use different colours for the branches and the ones I have double/triple ckecked ( looks quite a work of art) I find this makes it easy to follow and I can see where the ones I need to do some more work on.
They also have their own numbers and each family has its own folder

[JayG]

I've been on sorting, for about 2 years, all my papers, certs, bapt/marr/bur printouts, census, cemetery records, headstone pics etc. I've got about 14 lever arch files so far, that's the same number of years i've been researching (& half my age), so does that mean in 20 years time i'll have 34 of them The files are split up into families/surnames, but i'm still not sure i've got the best 'system' yet :(

At some point I want to do a file(s) that starts with me & my direct lines follow with all the above & write ups for what I know of their lives etc.

But as i've still got several piles & bags of papers to sort that will have to wait awhile.

I sorted my desk out a few weeks ago (everything went in a bag LOL), but this has already been replaced with 'new' paperwork :D

Note to self, get some notebooks, the amount of scraps of paper, backs of envelopes etc would be much less if it were all in a book :D

[Olde Crone Holden]

Janet

Yes, I do like numbers funnily enough! But I do agree, other people's ahnentafel numbers are incomprehensible, lol.

OC

[Trina]

I see that I am going to have to buy a roll of wallpaper!

Most of mine is on Ancestry as I felt it was safe there, but I started to get "trigger finger" adding all those family members and have a few on twice now!
One tree became huge with OH side and a relative using it for her side, so I tried having seperate trees for each side. It is getting to be a bit of a muddle!

I have a copy of Family Historian which I used for a while, but before I really understood it - not sure I do now actually, and I intend to start again from scratch with a file for each side.

At the moment I am writing up my mother's father's side as an 80th Birthday present and it is really satisfying. Each generation has a separate filename so it can be amended easily and I'll put it into a loose leaf binder. That way it is a work in progress. Having a deadline helps to focus the mind too.

In fact I will try to do this for all sides eventually!

[brenmac]

i print from ancestry i use the the alaphabet from a to z and print all the names of.i also have each family printed of and filed.i have legacy and ancestry,i have done a c/d disk too brenda xxx

[kathsgirl.48]

I have my famiy tree on Genes Reunited, Ancestry.com, Tribal pages etc. I also had it on my computer (Family Tree Maker) until my computer packed up once and for all!

I'm so glad though that I had previously printed off census records and all family information given to me by newly found distant relatives.

Luckily I had also writen up the history of my direct ancestors on both of my parents side of the family and on OH's and saved the info on CD's.

I have six A4 files stuffed full of (paper census records and emails) for each surname in my family tree.

Plus two A4 files for certificates. One for my Irish side and another for the English.

I much prefer my paper documents as I can browse though those without having to spend time sat at the computer...and it's surprising what sometimes 'jumps out' at you, that you didin't notice before.

Every certificate and (photo) I get, I also store them on my computer and periodically download them on to CD's too. That way I know that I can access them again if ever my new computer packs up!

Over the last 5 years I have gained so many photo's of my grandparents' siblings and extended families, I've had puchase new family photo albums and I've even split them up into OH's surnames and mine. AND I've written who they are just so my children can see that these are their ancestors/relatives and must be kept at all cost!