organising family history.

[blinky]

im new to family research ,but my paper work and certificates are now out growing their designated drawer,so i must start organising.i was wondering how everybody else does this,how do you file things.do you give family members numbers and file that way.please how do you sort your information?

[Nick Carver]

One suggestion - number parents 1&2, grandparents 11-14, gg grandparents 101-108, ggg grandparents 1001-1016. That gives you generational information. If there are too many siblings in your parents' generation, start with 11 & 12 and move others accordingly. Then use other numbers in the same sequence for siblings etc. Keep a note of the numbers (most important). Children of siblings can have a different code e.g. 1013-03. There is no hard and fast way to do it other than to realise that you can get up to a thousand names very easily, so make sure your reference scheme will not be broken as a consequence.

Good luck and make sure you start keeping order at an early stage. Not doing so was my big mistake.

[jax]

mine too was becoming a mess...

I bought ring binders and have one for each name i am really interested in and researching..

I have been doing my family tree for a couple of years and currently have 5 ring binders one for each family line and one other for misc, research links and stuff that I dont want to throw away, but dont actually need at the mo...

simple, but currently effective 

jax

[Berlin-Bob]

Similar to Jax, but with only one big ringbinder, with dividers for each surname.

Data then gets transferred from the ring binder to my hypertext book and, since monday (!) to my new web-site at rootschat. I can then get rid of any notes in the binder, thus keeping the size down. The book/web-site is now my "official" repository for all data !

The hypertext book gets burnt onto a CD once or twice a year, for distribution to the rest of the family. 
Knowing that others will read it, or looking at my web-site,  is a great incentive for not just having loads of scribbled notes.

[Sylviaann]

I think we have already done something about this but can't find it.

I have files for each name, I cannot remember numbers.  Within the name I have a clear plastic paper holder for each name.  I start with the youngest first and work backwards.  For each name I have birth/baptism, parents, marriage and wife, death.  Then underneath each census year they were alive, if at all.  For each census year I leave space for age address and occupation.  With clear plactic folders you can tuck in your piece of paer until you can update things.

I'm old fashioned and dont have a database.  I use word to type out each person and then type a tree for the name.  It is easier to send to people and to update into a book when the time comes.  It also gives room to add a bit of history and current events which is what turns genealogy into family history. 

I've been doing this for 15 years and at present I'm sending out updated copies to relevant family members.  It needs to be in readable format for those without computers or the interest to look through a load of names.

That reminds me I must make a backup copy of all my family stuff.

Sylviaann

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Syviaann,

I thought so too, (that we had done this before) but all I can find is a thread on "Presentation", http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,12461.0.html  which doesn't really cover blinky's question.

So it's quite a good idea to have a thread like this, "How do I organise my data" and then move on to "How do I present my data"