Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions Archives — Page 2 of 3 — GENOHISTORY.COM

Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions

Descendants of slaveholders, we have a job to do

4 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 6 minutes of reading

Some of you started long ago. I started six months ago. Perhaps some of you will start today. When it comes to the very difficult and incredibly rewarding challenge of documenting America’s enslaved populations, we who descend from slaveholders are the logical ones to do the work.  It makes sense at so many levels. Welcome, GEGs, to the Beyond Kin Project. …

Descendants of slaveholders, we have a job to doRead More »

Share...
Share

Descendants of slaveholders, we have a job to do Read More »

Research To-Do List in Zotero

3 Comments / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Organizing for optimal efficiency, Zotero / By / 5 minutes of reading

Most genealogy software tools offer an embedded to-do list feature–useful, as far as they go. But for me, they don’t go far enough. Most are not accessible away from your computer. If you have to move or restore your data via GEDCOM, you will usually lose your to-do items. The tools aren’t designed to let you apply a single to-do item to multiple people. Zotero, on the other hand, provides the ideal research to-do list. It fully integrates with research notes, and it’s free.

…

Research To-Do List in ZoteroRead More »

Share...
Share

Research To-Do List in Zotero Read More »

What’s in a name? Conflicting practicalities.

2 Comments / Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 17 minutes of reading

In genealogy,  a rose by any other name may not smell sweet. A feud broils over what is acceptable, when it comes to naming conventions. Do you use question marks for unknown portions of a name? Do you write helpful information in the suffix field? Congratulations, we’ll call you a Montague! Do you get annoyed when you see people doing the above, fearing trashy data transfers — a messed-up GEDCOM? You, friend, we’ll call a Capulet. In determining how to use the name fields in our software, we find ourselves having to choose the house of Montague or Capulet — expedient practicality or clean data sharing. Some want both, and we call ourselves GEGs. Starry-eyed GEG I may be, but with the right tools and rules, I think Romeo and Juliet can have a future together.

…

What’s in a name? Conflicting practicalities.Read More »

Share...
Share

What’s in a name? Conflicting practicalities. Read More »

FamilySearch, same-sex marriage, and the risk of obsolescence

3 Comments / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, New developments in the field / By / 6 minutes of reading

We genealogists use family trees to reflect the past, not to morally judge it. Our trees contain many family situations our churches then and now have disavowed. But we’re the historians of families; it is our job to gather, interpret, and present facts. In FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT), I can reflect unwed parents, infidelity, common law marriage, and even incest. But FSFT blocks me from recording the legal marriage of two men. As a historian, I then have a problem: FSFT, great gift to the world that it has been, now risks obsolescence. (Welcome to my newest, and rather disturbing, addition to the Wish I’d Known Series.)

UPDATE: FamilySearch has since added the capacity to reflect same-sex relationships, for which we are relieved and grateful. See this notice to read FamilySearch’s announcement.

…

FamilySearch, same-sex marriage, and the risk of obsolescenceRead More »

Share...
Share

FamilySearch, same-sex marriage, and the risk of obsolescence Read More »

Goodbye research log — hello Zotero

6 Comments / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Organizing for optimal efficiency, Zotero / By / 5 minutes of reading

A research log made perfect sense once. In fact, I felt great pride in my mammoth binder with neat notations, hand-crafted tabs, and cross-referenced numbers. My notebook even had a flap with a Velcro latch to secure it. I protected this treasure, when paper ruled. But paper stopped ruling a long time ago. Once I weaned myself from the inconvenience and limitations of paper, OneNote became my research log of choice — also with limitations. But then came Zotero, which made me ask the million-dollar question: Why do I need a day-by-day research log at all? And guess what? I don’t. 

…

Goodbye research log — hello ZoteroRead More »

Share...
Share

Goodbye research log — hello Zotero Read More »

Parental relationship — the unproven link

4 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Every little thing in context, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist / By / 4 minutes of reading

You proudly display 25 sources citing  life events of your grandfather John Smith, and 20 on his father Robert Smith. You’re a source citer of consummate skill. Everyone can trust your work with so many sources, right? Well, maybe. How many of those sources prove that this particular Robert Smith was your John Smith’s father? It’s a great big gap in our genealogical software — the absence of a parental relationship proof requirement. But we can solve it with a simple custom fact.

…

Parental relationship — the unproven linkRead More »

Share...
Share

Parental relationship — the unproven link Read More »

The helps and hazards of speculative Ancestry tree climbing

7 Comments / Digging for genealogical gold, Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Leaving it better than we found it, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 7 minutes of reading

Remember when we  Golden Egg Genealogists (GEGs) were innocent kittens? We could extend a family line back to the Mayflower over a weekend, thanks to those oh-so-helpful “Ancestry Member Trees” on Ancestry.com. Many of us built our early trees on those shaky branches. Here and there we might have speculated on possible family connections, adding them to the tree in an effort to chip away at a brick wall. Helpful! Then we grew into GEGs and started doing genealogy right, swearing we’d go back eventually and clean up that old mess. One day, though, we realized that a new batch of kittens were copying our oh-so-helpful and oh-so-public “Ancestry Member Trees.”  Uh-oh. …

The helps and hazards of speculative Ancestry tree climbingRead More »

Share...
Share

The helps and hazards of speculative Ancestry tree climbing Read More »

Syncing your genealogy software with online trees

5 Comments / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Organizing for optimal efficiency / By / 13 minutes of reading

For optimal effectiveness in ancestry research, our desktop genealogy software needs to share data (“sync”) with our online family trees. So, how well do the “Big Three” software packages sync? In this next installment of the Desktop Dilemma Series, we continue our side-by-side analysis of the Big Three — Family Tree Maker®, Legacy Family Tree®, and RootsMagic™.

…

Syncing your genealogy software with online treesRead More »

Share...
Share

Syncing your genealogy software with online trees Read More »

Zotero for genealogy: getting your ducks in a row

Leave a Comment / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist, Organizing for optimal efficiency, Zotero / By / 8 minutes of reading

Genealogy requires us to capture and organize mounds of information. We can do it the hard way, or we can use Zotero. This robust, free tool simplifies the capture, organization, and use of citations and research notes. You can cite sources with a single click. Attach images, documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs. Sync to free cloud storage and get your notes anywhere there’s Internet access! It got me through graduate school, and now it’s revolutionizing my genealogy. It’s a GEG’s best friend. In Part 1 of my Zotero series, I tell you why you should bother. Don’t miss out! …

Zotero for genealogy: getting your ducks in a rowRead More »

Share...
Share

Zotero for genealogy: getting your ducks in a row Read More »

Getting help from genealogy software: rating the “Big Three”

Leave a Comment / Go-anywhere, paper-free solutions, Golden Egg Genealogist / By / 12 minutes of reading

Genealogy’s “Big Three” — Family Tree Maker®, Legacy Family Tree®, and RootsMagic™ — offer many  tools for our research. How well, though, does each guide you in figuring out how to use the product? Do they help you get started? Describe the screens and fields you see? Guide you to deeper uses of the software? Do they help  you? In this next installment of the Desktop Dilemma Series, we continue our analysis of the Big Three side by side, looking at genealogical software online help.

…

Getting help from genealogy software: rating the “Big Three”Read More »

Share...
Share

Getting help from genealogy software: rating the “Big Three” Read More »

Shopping Cart
Share
Share