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General => Technical Help => Family History Programs, Tree Organisation, Presentation => Topic started by: Deirdre784 on Sunday 17 June 18 18:32 BST (UK)
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After 8 years I’m finally about to start filing my huge collection of certificates. They are currently in 4 large box files, one for my mum’s family, one for my dad, and same for my husband’s side. Still in GRO envelopes! Wondering if this will be enough, or if i need to go back one more level, so have 4 binders for each of us? Have one landscape binder, pockets, backing card and dividers on order as a start.
My main puzzle is what to do with the females... birth certificate belongs with their parents, but do you file the marriage certificate there too so you know who she marries (they’d fit nicely back to back), then her death with her husband (but that would be his birth and 2 deaths, so would need 1 and a half pockets). Or do you file a copy of the marriage certificate in both names? How about subsequent marriages?
Have done several searches both on here and google, but not found anything to help with this puzzle; apologies if i’ve missed something useful. Guess there will be options, but would love to hear some ideas. Thanks.
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One way would be to file the certificates in order using the GRO reference number. You could then add the appropriate reference numbers to each individual's record. That way you only need one copy of each certificate.
Much depends on how you store your data. I use RootsMagic software and add the reference number to the event source, which works whether your certificates are paper or digital.
I'm sure you'll get plenty of other suggestions.
Mike.
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Thanks Mike, that’s one way I hadn’t thought of. Think i’d prefer family groups though, so plenty to think about 😀
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Not dismissing the suggestion from Mike but I find it easier to keep info. in date & event order as it's far easier to look for/find a date (easier recalled) than any ref. no. but we all work different?
I keep them in order of event i.e. BMD
Edit to add (alongside each person/couple by surname) or if unmarried they're kept with their parents ;D
Annie
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Still in the envelopes! I lose them in the excitement of finding out what's inside or they get mixed with the wrapping paper if I have them for my birthday/Christmas presents! I do keep the paper letter that comes with it though.
I have a few folders for my certificates, including one long certificate file which contains all my long certificates to keep them safe.
However all certificates, long and short, are ordered in date order, so they're easier to find. They are then ordered into birth and stillbirth, marriage and divorse, and death (except for the long certificates). Although, I still get confused at the one certificate where the GRO have put 18XX (can't remember the year and I'm away at the moment) rather than 19XX as it seems out of order, but it isn't!
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Thanks both, date order getting popular!
I’m always excited to get mine too but it seemed a good way to keep them safe until i was ready to file them properly. I use a pencil to note what’s in the envelope and add them to the relevant box, in name order (surname, first name).
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After 8 years I’m finally about to start filing my huge collection of certificates. They are currently in 4 large box files, one for my mum’s family, one for my dad, and same for my husband’s side. Still in GRO envelopes! Wondering if this will be enough, or if i need to go back one more level, so have 4 binders for each of us? Have one landscape binder, pockets, backing card and dividers on order as a start.
My main puzzle is what to do with the females... birth certificate belongs with their parents, but do you file the marriage certificate there too so you know who she marries (they’d fit nicely back to back), then her death with her husband (but that would be his birth and 2 deaths, so would need 1 and a half pockets). Or do you file a copy of the marriage certificate in both names? How about subsequent marriages?
Have done several searches both on here and google, but not found anything to help with this puzzle; apologies if i’ve missed something useful. Guess there will be options, but would love to hear some ideas. Thanks.
First before you think of doing anything else take them all out of the envelopes and store them unfolded and flat.
Any paper stored folded will deteriorate along the crease (fold line) and will eventually tear along that crease.
How you arrange your documents in storage really depends to a great extent on how you are going to access those documents.
Do you want to be able to browse your archive and read all the information you have on one person or do you simply want to dip in and out easily when you need to confirm something?
You must also take into account the size of the documents you are archiving.
I would suggest that you archive similar sized documents together as problems occur if the sizes vary greatly.
Do you already have a database in use (i.e. do you use a family tree program)?
I would suggest forgetting all about family groupings or even date & event order as the main way of archiving family history and simply use the numbering system allocated to the person by the computer.
Keeping in mind document sizes I give each document the computer allocated number followed by letters to describe the document type
Example:
B,M or D for birth certificates etc.
Bap, PRM or Bur for parish register entry
Ml marriage licence
W & Deed for wills and House deeds etc., etc.
I store all similar sized documents, such as certificates, parish register entry and licences, together for the same individual by computer number followed by event order. This keeps most family groups together but that depends on how your research developed.
This system also allows digital images of each document to be stored on the computer in a logical order but does mean having a range of files, boxes or draws etc. to keep your documents in.
Cheers
Guy
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Thanks for that Guy, very useful info (i’ll read and digest it again later). Will get the first batch out of the envelopes.
All but 2 of my ‘old’ certs are A4 landscape, mainly GRO, with 2 old originals which are longer, plus a few newer ones which are annoyingly portrait.
Probably don’t need to access them much as all the details have been added to my tree. Just want to preserve them - i have deaths going back as far as some of my 5th great grandparents and my husband to several 7ths 😀
I use Family Historian but not sure how it numbers anyone (not used numbers before).
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This conundrum always has me foxed!
You already have several interesting suggestions to consider....
It seems to me any system used needs to be obvious to the person who comes along next, when I'm not there to explain matters.
Using GRO numbers or date order would mean having to flick through a lot when searching for a specific document, so I think I would favour name grouping.
However, a card index for each individual on a tree, in alphabetical order could, not only show basic BMD etc, but also list documents with reference numbers and storage details, which may make everything easier to find.
Generally speaking I feel offspring stay with their parent grouping until marriage, when the bride moves to the family group of her married name. Details of her marriage would be last entry in her parent grouping and thus make her easy to find with new in-laws.
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Thanks mowsehowse, that was what i was thinking of doing but couldn’t quite work out the exact order. Several branches have a number of infant deaths - thanks to the GRO pdf offer i have their birth and death certificates - and it seems sensible to file them with their parents.
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I'm at an interim stage with filing BMDs.
I have 12 multi-punch pockets
---4 for Births - for my maternal line, my paternal line, OH's paternal & maternal lines.
---4 for Marriages ditto
---4 for Deaths ditto
It does mean riffling through thirty or forty certs to find the one I want!
And some of them are odd-shaped photocopies from Dublin GRO, which lose themselves in among the A4s.
like you, Deirdre, I've not quite decided how to file them properly, but this thread has given me food for thought.
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Still puzzling too eadaoin 🙄
Only just ordered my first binder (and innards), and am on holiday the first week in July so have a few weeks to decide on format. Pleased i asked here though, as there are plenty of ideas.
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I too keep children's certs in their parents file until marriage, then transferred to the new family file. This works for me as my main research is direct lines, not many offshoots at the moment :)
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Thanks cristeen, i too mainly have direct line ancestors, other than the babies born to my grandparents, great and great great grandparents who died young. I was keen to see why so many died (cause, age) and it was interesting to plot the movement of the families over time. As these are pdfs i hope to save both the birth and death onto one page to save space.
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For what it`s worth, my method is to scan the paper documents, and file the images in surname order. The software I use allows pointers to the images, so I can examine relevant documents directly from the database.
Thus, amongst many others in my "Certificates" folder, I have
ALSTON, Christopher birth 1865.jpg
ALSTON, Christopher & FULHAM, Emily marriage 1891.jpg
ALSTON, Christopher death 1938.jpg
The first is referenced from the entries of Christopher and his parents; the other two are referenced from the entries of Christopher and Emily, since Emily was the informant on the death. In addition, I put my transcriptions of all the events in the main section, so I don't need to refer to the images much.
The actual pieces of paper are "somewhere in that filing cabinet". They are not really important, but the data that's on them is.
Come to think of it, should they get a special mention on an insurance policy? Replacing the paper certs would cost a tidy sum. In my case, should the paper versions go up in smoke, I can live without. The images, like the rest of my data, are backed up in various places besides my home.
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Thanks Andrew, i was just about to come back on here with an update. I too scan in all the certificates, parish records, death notices in the papers etc and save in much the same format as you. All the info from the records is added to my tree (started on Ancestry, now being added to Family Historian). But i felt i needed to file the certificates too, not really to look through, but as evidence. And yes, I wouldn’t want to have to replace them, but not covered on my insurance policy. Using this process as an additional check that i have everything i need (scanned copies - sure i missed scanning a few when they arrived - and detail added to tree).
My first binder and pockets arrived yesterday and although it was supposed to be a project for my leave in a few weeks, I couldn’t wait to start! Filed the males in a pocket on their own, the females birth and marriage in another pocket, then husband and wife deaths in a third. But still couldn’t get my head around an order.
I created a query in Family Historian, based on generations / relationships to the starting person, but that didn’t come out quite right; in searching the FH help i discovered the ahnentafel numbering system (which i’d never heard of until today 🙄). That is just what i wanted, so i’ve printed off the query result and put the 2 pages back to back in another plastic pocket. I’ll print off a tree too for the front of the folder, then the list, and then sort the certificates to match the list. Easy to reorganise if / when i break down the brick walls in my tree.
So that will be one quarter of my combined tree done 😀 Will probably end up with a fifth folder to store all the extra certificates (baby deaths, subsequent marriages etc).
Thanks again for all the comments and advice.
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Surely ahnentafel only works for direct ancestors ??? That would mean using some other system for siblings, etc., which would be confusing . . .
Maybe the system is changed from when I last looked at it :'(
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It does yes, but i have just filled a binder with one branch of direct ancestors and there are a couple missing at the moment.
Subsequent marriages i’d hope to add to the branch binder, but babies / siblings and any other non direct ancestors will have to form another binder. Think i’m happy though 😀
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Glad you've found a system that suits you :)
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It wasn’t how i set out to do it but seems ok at the moment (would struggle without the list at the front though).