I started (in my spare time) revisiting the work I did on some of my family lines back when I didn’t know any better. I refer to myself as a “baby genealogist” during that time. We all start somewhere and don’t know what we don’t know in the beginning. Well, now with 25 years of experience under my belt, I’m revisiting some of those lines I haven’t touched in almost as many years.

I have a binder and electronic filing system that should mirror each other. If you only do one, good for you! Seriously. I just can’t bring myself to trust one or the other and feel the need for redundancy. And I think if I were to disappear (hit by a bus, win the lottery and just move to a deserted island, whatever) I’m not sure my kids would know where to look on my computer to find the work I did. But I will have the binders. And someday I may have a “Read Me” file prepared directing them to the electronic files. But it is not this day.

First, I have to clean up the mess… ok, it’s not a mess, I just didn’t know any better at the time. So it is filling in blanks with the new knowledge, experience, and changes in the genealogical world that have happened since I began back in 2000.

I’m going to share my basic process and I’ll go into most steps in more detail as the series moves on. To have some background, you might revisit my posts on my organization system. You might also look at my post on “touch-it once citations.” I’ll be referring to items from these posts along the way.

My basic steps:

1. Review what I have in each binder and digital file. If I don’t have sections for each child in the binder and/or digital folder, add them, even if they have nothing in them yet. This is a stage to help get me ready and stay organized as I conduct new research.
   • I work by couple and their children (except the one I’m descended through because that person will be part of a couple). Each binder represents a couple (unless I have very little then couples might share binders until they get too much stuff).
   • I use those binders that have a plastic envelope on the outside that lets you slip papers in. On the front I have a family group sheet for that couple and on the back I have a pedigree chart showing this couple’s placement in the larger family tree. I print these from my desktop software.
2. I work on each couple and their children (I don’t go any further unless I need to for a specific project, these are just the basics remember.) I find the basic records that should exist for each such as:
   • Census for each year they should be there.
   • Vital records if available (state, county, or city).
   • Newspaper articles, especially obituaries.
3. As I work on the basics listed above, invariably something else pops up. I will either capture it right then or put it in a list (with a link and detailed notes) to work on later. It depends on how much of a time crunch I’m working with.

I have a process I do with each document as well. I’ll go over those details in the next post so stay tuned!