One Way to Easily Organize Your Genealogy Documents

Today I’m speaking to all of us who have loads of paper genealogy documents that we would like to get organized once and for all. I’m talking about genealogy record copies, family letters, vital records, newspaper clippings, inherited paper files, etc. These can be overwhelming if we don’t already have a system in place. I will share my system that works for me right now. But I’m also keeping my mind open to new ways to organize my paper documents. For example, Family Tree Magazine has an awesome article about 9 Habits of Highly Organized Genealogists that is worth a closer look.

The Family Surname Folder

There are many ways that you can organize these papers. Some of you probably scan them into your computer and put them into a designated folder. Others may have a filing cabinet that holds them all. I like to do both! I have a specific filing container for paper files and when I’m actively working on a project, I scan those papers into my computer files.

I start by using the family Surname folder. Each family line has a main surname that all my ancestors under that surname go into. It doesn’t matter if they were born or married into that name. Some of my file names are Lee, Rosencrantz, Krogh, and Miller. These folders are color coded for even easier organizing.

Couple Folders for Specific Genealogy Documents

Then I break down each Surname folder into specific couple names. I start with my parents, then my grandparents, then my great grandparents, and so forth. In each of these files I have the papers from when the couple marries until they die. This folder also includes their children and all of their records until they marry.

I start a new folder when each child marries. Then in this new folder goes all of the papers that this new couple creates during their life until their death.

Multiple spouses

My great great grandfather married four times. Four times! And he had children with each spouse. So how did I account for this in my file system? I made a new couple folder for each couple. They all go under the same Surname folder especially if it’s the man that married several times.

If it’s the woman that married several times and she has several different surnames, then I make a new couple folder for each of her marriages as well. Then she would go under her new married name in a new Surname folder.

For example, Mary Smith married Tom Miller as her second husband. So the new couple folder would be Tom and Mary Miller. Then if they had any new children in that marriage, they would go in that new folder. You can choose whether to put her children from her first marriage in with her first husband or in with her second husband. I choose to leave them in with her first husband up until she married again. Then I choose to bring them into the second marriage folder until they get married. I choose to do it this way because there are records that have them listed in the new household such as census records. But it’s completely up to you what you want to do. In time, you will adjust to your new system.

Adopted children and Their Genealogy Documents

This can be tricky when it comes to organizing them into families. Plus, each adopted story is unique. So you have to organize them differently. I have a grandfather who was adopted. I have chosen to put him in his adopted Surname folder because right now I haven’t found his birth Surname yet. When I do, then I will make a new Surname folder and put him with his biological parents. I will have him in both his birth surname folder and his adopted surname folder.

His adopted surname folder will have all of his records from when he was a child to when he married. But then he will keep his adopted surname when he marries and starts a new couple folder. His birth surname folder will have his birth parents and siblings in it with all of their information until the siblings marry.

Conclusion

Having a paper system for your genealogy documents will greatly increase your efficiency and save you time and energy. It may be more work in the beginning if you don’t have a system in place yet, but it will be worth it. Or it may be that you need to tweak just a few things if you do have a system and it isn’t entirely what you want yet. So make time this month to organize your papers using a method that you like.

In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. Here are Related Reads

• How I Organize My Genealogy and Save Time and Energy
• How Can a Research Log Help Me be a Better Genealogist
• How Research Plans Helped Me Get My Genealogy in Better Shape

P.P.S. Feeling overwhelmed by it all? Then contact me and we can figure out a simple plan for YOUR genealogy. I offer free 30 minute consultations.