Tag Archives: genealogical clean-up

Revisiting My Roots: Ancestry Tree Cleanup

organization, ,

Part of my process for cleaning up my work from when I was a “baby genealogist” involves cleaning up my Ancestry Tree. A few things about my tree on Ancestry. First, it’s a mess. Second, I keep it private now, mainly because it’s a mess and I don’t want people copying “bad” or incorrect information. Third, did I mention it’s a mess?

“Back in the day,” I uploaded a GEDCOM file from my Reunion software to start my Ancestry Tree. That was a huge time-saver because I had already done quite a bit of information collecting and data entry of family history information. Actually, I started with a freeware family tree software program (I in no way remember what that was called) (and then probably another one) before I uploaded that GEDCOM into Reunion. So, there were a couple of GEDCOMs created and uploaded before I got it into Ancestry. If you’ve ever imported GEDCOMs from one program to another, and especially in the early 2000s, you probably have noticed that sometimes the fields did not transfer all neat and tidy. And to say that my Ancestry tree is a mess now is no exaggeration.

It’s not that the information is wrong, though some is. It’s more that citations didn’t port over neatly, or sometimes, if Ancestry didn’t know what a field was about, it just made it an “unsourced citation” or it just gave it a name, like this:


Some of these weird citations, I know exactly where it came from. Sometimes not. But part of my clean-up process is to just go through each person (as I’m working on a project or a family group) and fixing those up. The ones that say “Mahlon Meeker Household” are citations to censuses. I make sure the census in question is attached and then delete this “other” source. Those that are actual citations to books or records not online, like “The Descendants of Timothy Meeker (1708-1798)” I leave there. I may check to make sure all of the pertinent information followed over such as page numbers, or if there is a link to it on another website.

I also make sure all of the place names and dates are in a consistent format.

This is the kind of task I can do while sitting on the couch watching a show or a movie I’ve seen before and don’t need to concentrate on.

These are the minutiae that just makes things feel better, seem cleaner, look nicer. It is a form of decluttering and I find it helps me concentrate later on more important things, like research.

Revisiting My Roots: Census Records

Genealogical Preparation, organization, , ,

Censuses are one of the foundational records for building a family group. They take a snapshot of a family’s structure every 10 years. One thing many census records have in common is poor visibility, whether that’s because of poor handwriting, faint pen/pencil on the original, poor quality scanning, or something else. They can just be hard to read, especially in printed form. In my binders, I find it annoying to have to find the family of interest on the page, and then see and/or interpret the writing every time I want to review my research. I can do some zoomed in screenshots and print those as well. However, I prefer to transcribe.

To solve this, I transcribe the census information and print it out, putting it into the other side of the sheet protector so I have the original and the transcription together in one page. I use a set of fillable forms from CensusTools.com. (This is NOT a paid advertisement.) They have created spreadsheets for every federal, state, special, and international census. The cost today is $13.95 for 40 fillable spreadsheets. However, if funds are tight, feel free to make your own, or just transcribe the information into a word processing document. I just appreciate having the form match the original census forms, making it easier to see the data at a glance.

Sample from one transcription of the 1860 census for my Harrison family.

Since this is a spreadsheet, you can add columns or rows, transcribe 10 households up and down the page, or collect all persons in a county of the same surname. Whatever your project needs, you can do. These are nice because they are already formatted matching the original forms.

I add this sheet to every census I have for a family and add it to my binder. It makes reviewing those records much quicker and easier on the eyes.

Revisiting My Roots: Handling Each Document

Genealogical Preparation, organization,

As we drill down through my system of revisiting old work, I want to share the process I do with each document. I do this with the entire binder before I start with new research because the process I do now is way more detailed than the process I did in 2000. So, some of these things were not done back then and I want to bring my binders up to the same level of “doneness.”

This process includes:

  • Write a full citation for each item. I put that citation in my touch-it-once citation list as well as in my desktop software. I never have to write the same citation more than once. I do have to fiddle with them from time to time based on writing project, audience, and any style changes that invariably happen over time, but the bulk of the citation is done once and forever.
  • Print that document, with the citation affixed to the front of the page in some way. I personally use Snag-it most of the time to add my citations in a text box on the page. You can also use Word or Mac Pages. This fulfills the genealogy standard regarding the separation of document from citation.1
  • I put my documents into sheet protectors and file them in my binders in chronological order, with the children of the couple in their own section. This makes a visual timeline of their lives.
  • I also file that digital document in my electronic filing system that mirrors my binders. The main part of this step is with the file name so that the folder’s contents are in order to match the binder. This is largely done by putting the year first.
  • I make sure that document has been added to my Ancestry tree and my desktop software. I do have trees on other sites, but they are mostly for cousin bait and are not my full tree. My Ancestry tree (which is private) is where my work happens. It contains verified and unverified information, which is why I keep it private. I do have a public tree that I have attached to my DNA but it is a bare-bones tree with only the main details to get DNA matches the information they need. I also do not use a software that would sync with Ancestry (like FamilyTreeMaker). I like to have control over what is uploaded and downloaded. Plus, the act of adding items to trees sometimes reminds me of something else to do or shows me where I’ve made an error.

As I conduct new research to fill in the gaps from by “baby days,” I do the above as well. I don’t get “too crazy” with the children of each couple (except the one I descend from) unless I need to for a particular project. Remember, this is just the basics. I’m finding vital records, census, and newspapers as available. But I didn’t even do the basics when I didn’t know any better, so these binders have a lot of holes.

I’ll share some of the other things I do in my binders to make reviewing my research easier for myself. My future self thanks me when I do them and curses me when I don’t. Until next time…

  1. For more information on Genealogy Standards, visit the Board for Certification of Genealogists.  ↩︎

Revisiting My Roots: My Basic Process

Genealogical Preparation, organization

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!

Revisiting My Roots: A 25-Year Reflection on Genealogy Growth

Genealogical Preparation, organization,

When I started this journey in genealogy in 2000, I had set out to find my family’s connection to Roy Rogers. We just always knew that he was our “cousin.” I wanted to figure out the connection and in the process disproved a dearly-held family myth. (If you want to know more, you should tune in to my presentation for IGHR on 28 July 2025.) Since then, I have been on a 25+ year journey educating myself, building my skills, and gaining the Certified Genealogist credential. In that time, I have developed skills, processes, and strategies that I have honed into a workflow that works for me.

However, as I look back at some of my early work, I see a lot of flaws. Of course, I do. As we gain knowledge and skills, those things we did before did not benefit from that knowledge and skill. I have been revisiting my old work, families I have not given attention to since I started. It has been eye-opening to see how far I’ve come. Working the daily grind, I find it hard to notice that my skills have gotten better over time. But when I look back at some of my earliest work, the contrast is stark. And it fills me with a bit of pride, but also some anxiety. If I died today, what would other researchers think of this low-quality (i.e. early) work?

It is from this anxiety that I have started on a journey to bring my older work up to standards. I’ve said in lectures that I feel like there are at least two phases in a genealogist’s life: the collection phase and the project (or brick wall) phase. The first is when you are just collecting all of the easy, low-hanging fruit for your ancestors and climbing your family tree as fast as you can. I believe this is where we all begin. In my beginning, since no one had built my tree, I started out with very little, so finding records and climbing branches is relatively easy. The second occurs when things get tougher. You run into research in that pre-1850 time when censuses did not name everyone in the household, for example.

As I’m revisiting my older research, I’m discovering that I didn’t even get all of the low-hanging fruit. When I started, genealogy on the internet was in its infancy. I had email. But digitized censuses did not exist yet. Or the 1880 census CD boxed set had just been published by FamilySearch (but I couldn’t afford it). I did most of my beginning research at the library (Denver Public Library, the Family History Library, or a local Family History Center) or via email or mailed letters. As I am going back through my work, so many things are online now, it is incredible to think about!

My current process includes:

  • Finding all of the census records each individual/family group should be in. Extracting that information into a spreadsheet. (I use premade forms from CensusTools.com.)
  • Find any vital records that are available online for the individuals.
  • Find online obituaries or news articles about the individuals.
  • Find probate, land, military, or any other records for the individuals.
  • I add the information from these records into my Reunion database.
  • I write the source citation for each document and add it to my master list and copy/paste to Reunion. (See my post on my “Touch it Once” Citations.)

As I’m doing the above, I often think of other records to look for. Especially after 25 years of education and practice, I have knowledge of other records that I didn’t know about in my early days. This is allowing me to fill in gaps and build better profiles for my ancestors.

I am doing this through all of my family groups. I keep a binder system, because that is just how I like to do it. I get tired of reading on a computer after doing that all day for my day job. Also, if all of my “stuff” is in a computer file, will anyone ever find it once I’m gone? My binders and my digital system match, more or less. The binders make an easier to see representation of my work and our family history. Of course, they could be tossed out, along with all of my unfinished craft projects. But I digress…

My next post will share some of my future plans for this revisiting old research and how I plan on improving what I’ve got.