Starting Over
Hi All
I'm sorry I've been so slack with this. What with having a toddler and studying for my Masters, things have been a little bit crazy around here so I haven't done much family tree research for a while. However, on my little dabbling, I've been getting increasingly frustrated because I know I have some glaring errors in my tree that are now so ingrained that I haven't been able to iron them out. To solve this I have decided to do the genealogy do-over*. I'm not going to do the "put everything in a box and forget everything you already know bit" The main reason for this is, whilst I see the benefits of starting completely from scratch, after doing this for so long there are certain things that I know to be true so it seems a bit silly looking for them again.
So what have I done so far?
Well the first thing I have done is backed up my old tree as a gedcom. That way I have it all there just in case something goes wrong. Now, gedcoms don't save all the media. You know what I mean, all the photos and stories that you have pilfered from other people on Ancestry (I won't get into the debate about sharing etc... I have conflicting views on it and may blog about that another day). To save all these I downloaded RootsMagic. You can get a free version which allows you to do TreeShare from Ancestry and will download all your photos into a separate file. That way I know they're all saved even if I may not use them.
How do I plan to restart?
I'm using the My Family History* workbook which is really helpful. You get a large double sided family tree. Each person is numbers so that your direct line matches with someone in the workbook. The workbook then has family sheets for the your direct line. This is a great way to get your direct line organised. The other good thing about this book is that one side is paternal and the other maternal.
Alongside this I also have my trusty old filing system. This consists of lever arch folders and plastic wallets. I have written a blog about this before that you can read here.
Another reason for doing this, it will hopefully make my DNA matches make a little bit more sense, as hopefully my tree will be a little bit more accurate.
I will keep you posted
*links are affiliated.
I'm sorry I've been so slack with this. What with having a toddler and studying for my Masters, things have been a little bit crazy around here so I haven't done much family tree research for a while. However, on my little dabbling, I've been getting increasingly frustrated because I know I have some glaring errors in my tree that are now so ingrained that I haven't been able to iron them out. To solve this I have decided to do the genealogy do-over*. I'm not going to do the "put everything in a box and forget everything you already know bit" The main reason for this is, whilst I see the benefits of starting completely from scratch, after doing this for so long there are certain things that I know to be true so it seems a bit silly looking for them again.
So what have I done so far?
Well the first thing I have done is backed up my old tree as a gedcom. That way I have it all there just in case something goes wrong. Now, gedcoms don't save all the media. You know what I mean, all the photos and stories that you have pilfered from other people on Ancestry (I won't get into the debate about sharing etc... I have conflicting views on it and may blog about that another day). To save all these I downloaded RootsMagic. You can get a free version which allows you to do TreeShare from Ancestry and will download all your photos into a separate file. That way I know they're all saved even if I may not use them.
How do I plan to restart?
I'm using the My Family History* workbook which is really helpful. You get a large double sided family tree. Each person is numbers so that your direct line matches with someone in the workbook. The workbook then has family sheets for the your direct line. This is a great way to get your direct line organised. The other good thing about this book is that one side is paternal and the other maternal.
Alongside this I also have my trusty old filing system. This consists of lever arch folders and plastic wallets. I have written a blog about this before that you can read here.
Another reason for doing this, it will hopefully make my DNA matches make a little bit more sense, as hopefully my tree will be a little bit more accurate.
I will keep you posted
*links are affiliated.
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