Links to Help with the Genealogy Research Process

Most of the posts here at Free Genealogy Resources show you where to find data on your ancestors. However, we haven't talked much about how to go about finding the information you seek or how to deal with it. The other day, I came across a blog post at Susan's Genealogy Blog that gives a great step by step guide to research from starting with your objective all the way to filing your results.

While the guide is geared towards genealogists researching at libraries and archives, it still has some good information that even the at-home budget genealogist can do.

If you need help developing a research plan, check out Ancestry's Learning Center article, Plan Your Attack.
The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) has an excellent article by Elizabeth Shown Mills in their skill building section under Analyzing and Reviewing Published Sources that will help you perform a thorough analysis of your findings.

If you haven't yet implemented a filing system for your genealogical data, there's plenty to choose from. DearMyrtle has an excellent series on organization. Legacy Family Tree Webinars has a webinar by Karen Clifford on Organizing for Success (about halfway down the page at the time of this post. Kimberly Powell, the About.com guide for Genealogy has written a good article on Organizing Digital Genealogy Files.

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Organizing Your Genealogy Research

I'll be honest. Organization is not my strong suit. So after a few months of researching my family tree, I found myself dealing with a growing mountain of papers-copies of various documents, book pages, articles and message board threads; notes; family group sheets; and printouts of items from the Family History Library catalog. It was time to break down and organize my paper mountain before it buried me. I'm still experimenting to find my perfect system.

Right now my system consists of my genealogy software, Family Tree Builder, file folders and an index card file. I use Family Tree Builder to organize all my date. Since it allows you to associate documents or pictures with individuals in your family tree, I'm in the process of scanning in these items. If I want to know everything I have, I run a report.

I broke down my file system into files for census, vital records, other documents (naturalization papers, obituaries, etc), family group sheets, articles and book pages, message board and mailing list threads, notes (which includes unproven rumors and speculations), and research items to check (a to-do list of sorts). As my family tree continues to grow, I will most likely be breaking these files down into subcategories, but for now, this works for me.

Finally, I have my index file. I bought the larger index cards for this. I basically use it to keep track of what sources I have for the individual. Since many of the names in my family tend to repeat through generations, I did decide to include vital statistics on the cards such as date of birth and death.

What is your system for organizing your research?

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Free Genealogy Software

I recently came across another free program for use in genealogy. It is called the ScionPC Genealogical Management System. One of my favorite features of this program is how liberal it is. Some family tree programs stick to conventional relationships-husband, wife and children. With ScionPC, you can link a couple without marriage, regardless of their sex. Adopted children can easily be added to the family.

The program is portable. It easily fits on a USB flash drive allowing you to take both the program and your genealogy research with you wherever you go.

With ScionPC you can run a wide variety of reports including personal or family indexes, family group sheets, descendency or Ahnentafel charts, source lists and time lines. For those still researching their family tree (who isn't?), there is an option to run research reports which will note start of the line ancestors, unlinked individuals and errors and consistencies.

One really neat feature of the program is the ability to generate web pages from the program. You can use the default option or customize your web pages. Pages generated include a name index, evidence index, albums index, personal pages and statistics page.

I will admit I found one flaw with this genealogy program, albeit a personal one. I'm a visual person and like to see the tree while I'm working. You can't really do that with this program. Other than that detail, I like the program.

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Genealogy Software

Once you have gathered information on a couple generations in your family tree, you may want to look into genealogy software to organize your information. Software can vary widely in features and price. Basic programs allow input of names, dates and locations, but little else. More advanced programs allow you to add photographs or other documents, note sources of information and more.

The number of features is not always a good indicator of price. I currently use MyHeritage's Family Tree Builder. It is a free version with the option of upgrading to the premium version. However, even as a free version, it offers quite a bit. One of the features is SmartMatching. The software looks through other family trees made with their software to see if there are any matches. The premium version offers better matching, but I've had some success with the matches provided with the free version.

This is only one of the several free genealogy programs available for family tree researchers. I will be researching the other options and reviewing them in the near future.

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