I’ve been researching my family history for nearly 30 years now, and I’ve never used a research log or journal. I watched the Legacy Family Tree Webinar New Tools and Ideas in Research, and he suggested that you should keep a research journal. I also noticed that Geoff Rasmussen talks about his research journal in… Continue reading Should you use research logs or journals?
Category: Researching your family history
Thursdays Tips – FamilySearch
At this stage, I am still focusing on websites that are free to search with records from Victoria, Australia. I started with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and then looked at websites with newspapers. The next type of record I use are cemetery records. The first site I use to find cemetery records… Continue reading Thursdays Tips – FamilySearch
My research checklist – an update
When I was researching my great grandparents, Joseph Whimpey and Sarah Jane Sharp, I found I needed to update my checklist. Sarah was born in 1853 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England. She came with her parents to Australia in 1863. Also, one of Joseph and Sarah’s son had been killed in the First World War. I… Continue reading My research checklist – an update
My research checklist
In previous posts, I have summarized my previous methods of organizing my research, how I finished off 2019, and my plans for 2020. In an earlier post, I shared the index I had set up for my previous research (at least for the documents, I still haven’t indexed my old research notes). Since the 1… Continue reading My research checklist
The advantages and disadvantages of indexes
Today I was double checking my entry in my Ancestry Public Member Tree for Edward Whimpey, and noticed that I still hadn’t added a source to the burial information I had for him. Before the images of the Somerset parish registers became available on Ancestry, I had been using the indexes on the FreeReg website,… Continue reading The advantages and disadvantages of indexes
Using multiple sources to confirm information
I was recently researching my great grandmother, Henrietta Louisa Russell’s brother, Edward Fitzgerald Russell. I had a copy of his death certificate, which showed that he died at 62 Stirling Street Footscray, and the death certificate listed this as his residence. Then I came across an entry in the Victoria, Australia, Wills and Probate Records,… Continue reading Using multiple sources to confirm information
The limitations of OCR
In working in the Australia Electoral rolls collection on Ancestry, I have come across numerous examples of instances when the OCR has not done a very good job. Some names come out as gobblygook, while other names are missed completely. The following is a list of the years available on Ancestry for Victoria. Those marked… Continue reading The limitations of OCR
My process for searching Ancestry
As part of my research process, I use the Search button on a person’s profile to search for records. Since I want to download the records to my computer, I prefer not to use the hints, or at least not to begin with. If I use the hints, I have to attach the record to… Continue reading My process for searching Ancestry
My Research Process
Yesterday, I wrote about my genealogy do-over progress. As a follow up, I have outlined my current process as part of my genealogy do-over. Step 1 Go through my index of my old research, and add these documents to my database, and also add the sources to the relevant events in the Ancestry tree. I… Continue reading My Research Process
My genealogy do-over progress
For the last year or so, I have been trying to work out the best way to keep my desktop family tree and my Ancestry Public Member tree synchronised. After trying to do this a number of different ways, my conclusion has been that there is no easy way to do this. I played around… Continue reading My genealogy do-over progress
