How do YOU Organize your Genealogy?

Happy New Year everyone! I love a fresh start and the New Year makes it easier to think new thoughts about my life, my family, my career, and my goals. I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions because I’m constantly making goals all year long.  I personally believe that one should be making goals all year and not only making the big goals at New Years. For me, if I make goals all year, then I tend to keep them better.  Life still gets in the way sometimes, but I keep trying. I truly believe that consistency is essential with any goal that we set.  However, even I still struggle with consistency at times. I have a perfectionist streak in me, which hinders me at times when I’m trying to achieve my goals.  I sometimes make unrealistic goals and hold myself to a higher standard.  Then when I don’t achieve my goals I think that I’ve failed and it’s that much harder to try again.

However, this year one of my goals is to change my way of thinking about my life. I’ve noticed some negative thinking habits that I really want to focus on this year. I believe that I can find new thoughts that will serve me better and help me achieve my other goals.  It’s definitely worth the effort in my book.

Therefore, one of my goals this year is to write not only about Scandinavian genealogy, but about American genealogy as well. Many tools, tips, and tricks that we do in American genealogy work well with our Scandinavian ancestors as well. I’m opening up my blog to anyone who has an American genealogy problem as well as a Scandinavian one. I hope that we can all work together to solve problems and make family connections for others and ourselves.

In this article, let’s talk about genealogy organization. How do you organize your genealogy? Do you prefer paper, digital, or both? Do you have a system that only you know how it works or can other family members take over when you leave it to them? Is organization still a struggle for you?

It’s taken me many years to find one that I like.  I personally have taken a tip here and another tip there and merged them into my own way of organizing.  It’s not unique, but it is my own. I used to have all of my papers in a box and all of my digital papers in one folder on my computer.  I liked that because when I was starting out, I didn’t need more than that. I could easily find what I was looking for. However, as I grew my genealogy, I found that system wasn’t working anymore and I would need to seriously find a better way to organize my stuff.

One of the problems with organizing is that there are so many options.  As genealogists, we tend to want to find the “right” way to do something whether its photos, documents, sources, computer software, etc.  This was my hang up for a long time.  I didn’t want just any organizing style.  I wanted the right organizing style. I also had both papers and digital files to organize. I had to decide if I wanted to go full paper or paperless organizing.  I finally decided on doing both. I have an organization system for both paper and digital items.

Now, I’m not saying that this is the only way to do it nor, am I saying that I will stick with this way forever.  However, I am saying that this way works for me at this season of my life.  If I learn of a better organization system, then I may just change my system again. Who knows?

Main Theme for both Paper and Digital

This is the way that I organize my paper and digital genealogy. Take what you want from it and leave the rest.  It’s up to you.

First, let me answer why someone would have any paper genealogy in this digital age.  The answer is not every courthouse, library, or historical center sends you digital copies of their documents. It might be cheaper still to get paper copies.  Some people still like to get paper copies.  I know I do. There’s something pretty special about holding your great grandmother’s official marriage certificate in your hands instead of looking at it on your computer.  That’s my opinion. You decide what you like.  In addition, you don’t want all of your eggs in one basket should something bad happen to your research.

My main theme for both paper and digital files is grouping people into a family. There’s a mom, dad, and children. If a parent married again, then that makes a new family group whether they had children or not. When the children grow up and marry, then they get their own family group. Therefore, each mom, dad, and children get their own folder. The documents that go into that folder are parent’s marriage and death records, census records as a family, and children’s birth records. If a child died young then their death record would be found with this family. If there were court or land records for this family unit, then they would go into that folder as well.

Let’s use an example. John Smith and Mary Johnson got married. I would write their full names including her maiden name and their marriage year on a file folder tab.  I would put a copy of their marriage certificate in that folder.  Then let’s say they had three children Edward, Nancy, and Caleb.  I would put a birth certificate copy for each of them in the folder. I would search for each census year and put a copy of that census in the folder. If a family member dies, then that death certificate would go into that folder.

If Edward gets married to Lucy Cornwall, then I would start a new folder with their full names and marriage date on a new folder tab. Then whenever they create a document for this new family, I would add it to the new folder.

If Nancy marries George Anderson, then I would make a new folder and start the whole process over.  I would do the same for Caleb when he marries.

Let’s say John Smith dies when the children are little. Mary remarries David Montgomery and has two children with him. I would add John’s death certificate to John and Mary’s folder.  Then I would make a new folder and write Mary and David’s full names with their marriage date on the folder tab.  Then I would add any documents that this family created in the future. This includes any new census records that show both the children from the first marriage and the children from the second marriage. This document goes into Mary and David’s folder. When Mary dies, her death certificate goes into her and David’s folder.

I use this system for my digital folders as well. Whenever a new family is formed, then I make a new digital folder with the couple’s full names as the title of the folder. I then take all of the couple’s folders for a specific branch of the family and put them in one main Surname folder on my computer. For example, I put all of the John Smith’s family folders under Smith whether they kept their surname or not. The children are still Smith’s by birth so if they marry outside the Smith line, I still keep them in the Smith folder using both their maiden and married name.

This is how it looks on my computer.

1. Family History Surname Folder

2. Krogh Surname Folder

2a. Johanna Krogh and John Webb couple folder

2b. Johannes Kolbensen and Gjertrud Sjursdatter couple folder

2c. Kenneth Webb and Nadine Burroughs couple folder

and so forth

I have one surname folder for each of my grandparents. Each surname folder contains the couples from that branch going back each generation. Some people color code each branch and that’s what I started doing, but it was too much work for me, so I dropped that for me.

So there you have it! That’s what I do for the most part.  There is more that I do to organize my genealogy, but let’s not go into more detail.  This article is already long enough. Let’s just say that organizing any genealogy is an ongoing process.  I don’t know anyone who is completely comfortable with their organizing system yet.  We all still change it a little here and there according to our needs and wants. Like I said earlier, my way is not the only way, but it works for me right now. I can’t wait to hear what you guys do to tackle the growing piles of documents, photos, and paraphernalia that we naturally accumulate.

Let me know if any of this was confusing or you would like to know more about a certain point. In the meantime…

Good luck and happy hunting!

 Tiffany