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  • Paperwork

    Hi All
    I am curious, do you have all your information about your tree on a computer programme, or do you keep paper records for everyone.
    I must admit I started keeping paper records for everyone, but as my tree has grown I now only have them for all my direct lines.
    What do you all do ?
    After the virus/trojan episode with my OH's computer I think I will have to start heeping the records again,
    Has anyone got a filing cabinet, bookcase, spare room etc going spare:D
    Jackdaw

  • #2
    I always print out the most important stuff, and keep it in files - having everything on the computer alone would worry me to death!!
    Sally - Researching amongst others, JOSEPHY; WRIGHTSON; COOPER; GLOVER; DOWNING AND DICKINSON.

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    • #3
      Mine does a full circle, I have lots of paperwork notes and then I enter it on the pc in word documents and pictures because I haven't as yet used family history software.

      I have written stories about my ancestors, that is the ones I have enough information about and I want it to see it as paperwork or book in its final stage but I never seem to want to 'finalise' anything that I have written about as there might be a chance that I find more information.

      I do wonder if I would be better with two sets, one which has the techinical look and states all the basic facts and the other with the stories that I like so much.
      Kathleen

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      • #4
        I have everything on paper - just in case - otherwise I have tribal pages updated regularly and backed up - and ancestry (small proportion) and GR (not updated recently).



        Researching Irish families: FARMER, McBRIDE McQUADE, McQUAID, KIRK, SANDS/SANAHAN (Cork), BARR,

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        • #5
          I confess that most of my stuff is written down, the computer is great but I don't really trust it, the kids bought me a great big metal box with a handle and lock, that's got everything in.....in the event of a fire you know what I'll be saving........

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          • #6
            I started long before computers, so my default is always paperwork and my tree is sketched out on a roll of wallpaper!

            I have a tree on TP, a mythical and elastic skeleton tree on GR and I also have FTM, which I haven't done much with yet!

            I still find it easiest to reference paperwork and since I discovered how Ahnantefal numbers work, it is all easily accessible (erm, if I've done the filing, that is!). I use a simple flow chart system, so I can always find my way to the previous and next generation without a problem.

            OC

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Kath nr the Crooked Spire View Post
              I do wonder if I would be better with two sets, one which has the techinical look and states all the basic facts and the other with the stories that I like so much.
              This is what I should like to do.

              Mine is horrifically disorganised - I have most stuff on the computer plus a lot of hard copies stuffed into a couple of large boxes

              I have my tree on FTM, and I've written a couple of articles about people in it for the magazine, but I haven't found a good way of combining the two.

              I'm probably trying to be too ambitious - it'd be nice to have stories with links to maps, charts, places and people, but I think you'd need some knowledge of html programming to do that, which I don't have.

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              • #8
                I use Legacy, and have a basic tree on GR, also TP and a tree on Ancestry.
                With the way on Ancestry is now in the fact that you can add whole families with just a few clicks (I find myself adding loads of twigs to the tree ) I keep forgetting to write it all down, and feel faint at the thought of the time it would take to check everything.
                My tree and my OH tree join and another tree I am doing for a friend joins my tree as well, so it gets a bit confusing , with close to 2500 leaves on the trees.
                Think I'll look into getting one of those voice thingy's that type as you talk.
                Jackdaw

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                • #9
                  I have most thing on the computer but I print off a paper copy of almost everything apart from some censuses. I am a bit of a scaredy cat and, although it would still be a disaster if I lost all of the computer stuff ( I have it on my desk top, a laptop and disc), I have paper copies.
                  There is something very satisfying about curling up on the sofa and reading some info about a rellie. I don't get the same buzz from the computer.
                  Sorry if I appear weird but I love my dead rellies and I am very attached to them.
                  herky
                  Researching - Trimmer (Farringdon), Noble & Taylor (Ross and Cromarty), Norris (Glasgow), McGilvray (Glasgow and Australia), Leck & Efford (Glasgow), Ferrett (Hampshire), Jenkins & Williams (Aberystwyth), Morton (Motherwell and Tipton), Barrowman (Glasgow), Lilley (Bromsgrove and Glasgow), Cresswell (England and Lanarkshire). Simpson, Morrow and Norris in Ireland. Thomas Price b c 1844 Scotland.

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                  • #10
                    I like some of my dead ones more than some of the live ones

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                    • #11
                      he he Jackdaw - I know what you mean.;):D
                      herky
                      Researching - Trimmer (Farringdon), Noble & Taylor (Ross and Cromarty), Norris (Glasgow), McGilvray (Glasgow and Australia), Leck & Efford (Glasgow), Ferrett (Hampshire), Jenkins & Williams (Aberystwyth), Morton (Motherwell and Tipton), Barrowman (Glasgow), Lilley (Bromsgrove and Glasgow), Cresswell (England and Lanarkshire). Simpson, Morrow and Norris in Ireland. Thomas Price b c 1844 Scotland.

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                      • #12
                        I too have grown very attached to some of my dead people.....especially the ones that were elusive and interesting.

                        Every now and then, I "write up" the story of a line that I am working on, so that I have what is in effect a growing book. This is all kept as hard copy as well as on the computer, and it is fairly easy to add to or update. I would be cross if my computer went bang, but would be absolutely devastated if my books were destroyed
                        Sally - Researching amongst others, JOSEPHY; WRIGHTSON; COOPER; GLOVER; DOWNING AND DICKINSON.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Mary from Italy View Post
                          This is what I should like to do.

                          Mine is horrifically disorganised - I have most stuff on the computer plus a lot of hard copies stuffed into a couple of large boxes

                          I have my tree on FTM, and I've written a couple of articles about people in it for the magazine, but I haven't found a good way of combining the two.

                          I'm probably trying to be too ambitious - it'd be nice to have stories with links to maps, charts, places and people, but I think you'd need some knowledge of html programming to do that, which I don't have.
                          Keep trying Mary and one day you will master it. Mine has changed format several times since I started.
                          Presently it starts with a head and shoulders picture (where possible) then lists the facts, where they fit into the family, their children and then I start the story.
                          I'm not sure if this is all going to gell together in the end this is why I think I may need two versions.
                          I want to use appropriate or pretty background pictures too. I have pictures of gravestones, houses, aeriel views, things my mother made, all which I would like to add but not sure that they will all fit in.
                          I will probably need a book binding course too to finish it off
                          Kathleen

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                          • #14
                            I would not get rid of my paper files which are numerous. At least once its on paper you don't have to keep changing it from Floppies to CD'S to DVD's to Memory Sticks and probably soon to Blue Ray as it looks asthough DVD is on the way out!! What after Blue Ray in another two years?? I understand that none of these mediums will stand the test time like paper, although today's paper and ink is of poor quality, so that may not stand the test of time either. Still, I like my paper files as well, although I do have lots of things on the computer, but it's all on paper first, before the computer gets hold of it. Mind you it is difficult finding everything, and I do have three shelves 12ft long + another three shelves in another room as well as 3 big bookcases. I have lost count the number of times that I have changed my files around. But I have also changed the computer stuff around.

                            One time I decided on certs to go with each person file but now I think I will change that, as when I pop off my kids are likely to skip the lot. If I have a couple of files of certs that fate might not happen to those files. I do seem to spend my life changing everything around. The computer is good for doing work with Publisher with which I have written 3 Family History Books and I know that offspring have said they will keep the computer work!

                            Janet
                            Last edited by Janet; 10-04-09, 21:36.

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                            • #15
                              I don't have much on paper - only the things that came that way in the first place. I don't have any prints of censuses, but have around 900 pages attached to my family history program. I have all my certs (around 350) scanned and attached to my program too, plus scans of photos and other documents. I have hard copies of wills but they are all transcribed and added to my tree prog too.

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                              • #16
                                Its very strange how similar we all are..........or maybe its not that strange!
                                I started off using the free build tree on Ancestry but never liked not being able to see all my tree at a glance, so I drew it out on wallpaper!
                                I still use Ancestry and also Legacy, keeping everything up to date is a pain but necessary and I intend to continue.
                                Recently I have introduced a new format. I have started putting together a ring binder using clear plastic sleeves and coloured dividers. Each ancestor has a coloured divider and behind that printed sheets of information in their life event order.
                                For example, John Penny married Elizabeth Knight at West Camel Church Somerset on 5 April 1777. The rest of the page contains a picture of the interior of the church as it is today.
                                I know I will end up with lots of pages, but I like the thought that it will one day read as a book!
                                This method also means that I can insert birth/marriage/death certificates in the appropriate order.
                                It has made it easy to show 'living' rellies which helps when asking for stories or info.

                                Guess everyone has their own method!

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                                • #17
                                  Yep

                                  Each to their own, i just can't do paper at all, i tried in the early days but never transferred the scribbled notes onto my super dooper master sheet for each individual.

                                  It's all on the pc now and i can print reports to show certs held and bmd refs etc. I just make a backup every week onto disc.
                                  http://www.flickr.com/photos/50125734@N06/

                                  Joseph Goulson 1701-1780
                                  My sledging hammer lies declined, my bellows too have lost their wind
                                  My fire's extinct, my forge decay'd, and in the dust my vice is laid

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                                  • #18
                                    :o mine is mostly paper notes. when i want a specific reference or event, i si through the folder and look at every piece of paper and it's scribbled notes.

                                    i have a few large drawn trees on art paper. i tend to put all members of a family on a page. i did a tree of my great grandfather, all his descendants, and every known ancestor plus their siblings going back to 1590. hard work, takes hours, but they look magnificent.

                                    i have a lot online too, ancestry mainly. and in my emails. so if the comp crashes, or there's a fire, i don't have to start all over again!!

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                                    • #19
                                      Mine is on computer with a backup on my second computer but I would like to start putting things on paper it's just that I've been thinking for months about the best format to use and can't decide. I would like to make a book of my primary line eventually but I'm not at that stage yet. My sister bought me a large family tree chart for Christmas but I don't want to use that until I've purchased all the certificates that are outstanding.

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                                      • #20
                                        I have always had an untidy desk... well okay, it is worse than untidy, it is almost unhealthy. No rats just yet, but I have one clear space that a beer mat occupies for cups of tea/coffee. I have no real filing system for printouts, they are (let me find a tape measure) 3 random stacks total 14 inches tall. I bought a box file yesterday and all my certificates fit in it although it needed to be a inch longer.
                                        I have an A4 ring binder with sleeves etc... cant find it at the moment. A briefcase with all my mums original work in. I updated to FTM 2009 but never read the instructions but can save census records. I will back it up to disk today! My cleaning lady shakes her head, dusts under the beer mat and moves on
                                        After confessing my sins to all... today I will go and get 3 more box files, label them, organise my paperwork (hide in boxes) into my dads side, mums side and post any Christmas cards I find.
                                        I feel refreshed and enthusiastic after writing down my faults and will take some good ideas from others.... mind you, it looks like a lovely day outside!
                                        John

                                        Brick wall in Ireland demolished after 25 years! Looking for any more Carrolls of Stradbally Parish, Waterford in particular Thomas Carroll b1861 married Bridget Leavy 1896 in QLD Australia..chipping away!

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