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Who goes where

I currently have four surname notebooks set up although I am working only in the one for now. There is one notebook for each of my grandparents’ surnames. Working in only one surname notebook at a time is for my own sanity. I am concentrating on going back through and documenting my direct line ancestors first. Then I will come down through the lines documenting their siblings. (Since I am prone to major distractions steering me off course, this may all be a pipe dream. Eventually I want to work on my other surnames though, so I keep deluding myself.) Okay, I have added in the names for other family members besides my direct line to my current notebook but I haven’t added any sources. Well, not that many… LOL Nevermind.

The first place I am going to start is with the Family Group Record (FGR). Here is a PDF of the Family Group Record I use in OneNote.

family_group_record

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It’s helpful to know exactly where that FGR is supposed to go in my notebook. I can figure it out using my pedigree chart but I made a mind map chart that might help some of you see where everyone belongs. Here is a PDF of the chart pictured below.

FGR_where_to_put

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Since I am related to 90% of the Williamsons in the Rochester, New York area, I collect every record I come across that is for a Williamson. Picking a random record… I have a marriage license index record for Stella (Williamson) Mackwood’s second marriage to Louis H Baumann. Stella is my grandfather’s oldest sister. First, she is listed as a child on her parents’ Family Group Record. So where does the Family Group Record for her second marriage go?

FGR_stella_2ndmarriage

Since she is a sister/aunt, she goes in Section Group 3. Non Direct A-Z of my Williamson Surname Notebook. The Family Group Record for Stella and Louis H Baumann goes in the A B Section. There is also a Family Group Record for her and her first husband, Robert Nelson Mackwood, and their children in the M N Section.

FGR_stella

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Next record… A military headstone application for Louis H Buisch.

Buisch_Louis_H_b1879_DaytOH_MiltaryHeadstoneAppl

Buisch is my father’s mother’s surname. (Green notebook). Louis Buisch is my grandmother’s brother. His Family Group Record goes in 2. Non Direct Surname Section Group.

 FGR_louis_headstone

Louis is listed as a child on his parents’ Family Group Record and he will have a Section in the 2. Non Direct Buisch Section Group. (Someday.)

FGR_louis

(Once I get to that notebook. If I ever get to that notebook…)

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Cite This Page:

Erin Williamson Klein, “Who goes where.” My Family History Files, 14 March 2015 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/organization/who-goes-where/ : [access date]).

Please do not copy without attribution and link back to this page.

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Inserting Files & Images in OneNote

alphabet treeInserting files and images into OneNote is different than attaching files in OneNote. When you attach a file, you are linking from another source to a OneNote Page. It is link to a web page, link to file on your hard drive or link to another Notebook, Section or Page, for instance. The problem with attaching is when the source gets moved or disappears, your link may become invalid.

When you insert a file or image, it becomes part of the OneNote page regardless of where the source of the file or image is/was. The nicest thing about inserting a file or image is that it is actually there for you to “see”, making it much more useful for research planning, transcribing, data analysis, using the drawing tools to make notes on the image, etc.

insert1

 

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You can insert File Printouts, (Word Docs, PDFs, Excel Spreadsheets) Screen Clips, Pictures and Scans. I am going to walk you through inserting File Printouts and Pictures in this post. Screen clips were covered here. (Scans will come at a later time. Maybe a short post on embedding Excel Spreadsheets as well.)

insert2

 

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From the Insert Ribbon > Choose File Printout and navigate to the folder where your images are stored. Choose the file in your folder > Click Insert. The file will be inserted onto the page with a shortcut icon that links to the original file. (You can delete those.) The images can be resized and moved around the page.

insert3

 

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Insert Pictures works the same way as File Printout except that it defaults to looking in the Pictures Folder on your hard drive. One thing to note here is the Insert > Online Pictures option. You can insert pictures from searches on the web, your Facebook and Flickr accounts, (you will be asked to sign in to your accounts before they will be linked) and your OneDrive account.

insert4

 

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For me, a much simpler technique is to Drag and Drop the files and images onto the page. Use Windows Explorer to navigate the the folder where your images are kept. If you drag and drop an image, you don’t get the shortcut icon. When you drag and drop a PDF or Word Doc, you will be asked if you want to Attach File or Insert Printout. Choose Insert Printout if you want to “see” your file on the Page. (You will get the “link” icon for Word Docs and PDFs, but again, you can delete them.) If the image is in another Notebook, Section or Page, you can copy and paste the image to the new location or create a link to the image file at the new location.

insert5

 

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Cite This Page:

Erin Williamson Klein, “Inserting Files & Images in OneNote.” My Family History Files, 2 March 2015 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/organization/inserting-files-and-images-in-onenote : [access date]).

Please do not copy without attribution and link back to this page.

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Task Management?

I have a confession. I am a To Do List junkie but a Task Management failure. Have been since… Well, as long as I can remember. I make the lists and then fail to do them. I won’t bore you with the details of how well I can organize but how miserably I fail at staying organized. Nor with the details of my forays into schedule-making—schedules that look so wonderfully doable on paper—but that I fail to implement for more than a week. Part of the problem is that I was trying to work with someone else’s perfect plan. Perfect for them, not so much for me. (Slob Sisters, anyone? FlyLady? Yes, BTDT and more. I even tried to implement one task management plan for homeschooling moms that had you scheduling every day of the week in half-hour increments. Bahahaha. Not sure why I thought THAT was going to work. Not unless I had a nanny and a chauffeur for my kids.)

task1

But, you know, I keep trying and I have learned a thing or two during all my failed attempts at staying on task and being organized. Namely, why I fail at them. Why do I fail? Because I am a bit of a non-conformist, slightly rebellious and a procrastinator. Oh, and I rarely feel guilty about chasing down bright shiny objects [BSO] that come into view or new ideas (mostly for quilts) that pop into my head that I immediately set off to do—which I suppose is the quilting equivalent to a genealogy BSO. There it is. The plain truth.

Trying to implement somebody else’s grand plan is bound to be a problem for me. I need my own plan and I need some form of self-motivation—some reason—to keep me on task. (If I were more Type A, none of this would be a problem. My mother is Type A. I’ve often thought I should hire her to be my task master. But I think it might kill me, or at least suck all the joy out of my life…) One last thing I’ve learned is that it doesn’t matter how long it takes me to get through the list as long as I work at getting though it. I can do things at my own pace with no worries. (I learned that one from trying to implement that crazy schedule-your-life-in-half-hour-time-slots-so-you-can-appear-to-be-the-perfect-homeschooling-mom-of-many organizational system.)

So what’s all this about Task Management doing on a family history blog? Welp, the funny thing about research is that it’s a whole heck of a lot easier with a plan. A clear goal. And a To Do List on how best to reach that goal. Another thing about family history research is that it helps immensely if you stay organized. So you’re not scratching your head later, thinking “Now just where did I find that tidbit of info?” or “Where did I put that death certificate for Grandpa Joe?” Add to that some motivation to stay on task when a bright shiny object comes into view and you can see where some form of task management is needed if I want to do this thing properly. And maybe a few forms. Like a To Do List and a Research Log. And, (what the heck?) it’s a topic in Week 4 of the Genealogy Do-Over! Oh, dear.

task2

It appears it is time, once again, to do something about my propensity to spend my days chasing BSOs in one form or another. Okie doke. I can do this. (I’ve done it before. Numerous times. LOL) So I dragged out a saved copy of this article on the Get Things Done system, finished reading this book on my Kindle and watched Thomas MacEntee’s Project Management webinar. And then I kinda mashed them all up and came up with my own Task Management System in OneNote. (You knew I was going to work it all out in OneNote, right?) It also helped that I had already started my long, long Master List for Getting Things Done back last summer.

task3

Another fail: See where it says Top Ten? It’s supposed to be a chart with the top ten things I want / need to get done. I have FIFTEEN things on my chart. [sigh] For the most part, my new plan is working though. Don’t get me wrong—I still chase down bright shiny objects in my research, or sit with my Kindle and finish off a book in a day, or waste time planning a new quilt that will probably never come to fruition—but I can easily get back on task because I can see what I SHOULD be doing and the steps to getting it done are laid out there for me in my Projects Section. And I can look at my list of completed tasks there in my Top Ten Section and see everything I have gotten done since I started keeping track last month. That makes me smile.

By the way, this is my motivation for staying on task for the Genealogy Do-Over: If I’m going to do family history research, I ought to make an effort to do it properly and also make an effort to leave something that others can easily follow. Something that will show them how I came to my conclusions. Something with a strong foundation for them to build on.

Now moving on to that urgent item [highlighted in red] on my Top Ten List… Oh, and be thankful I spared you the details to all the ‘reminder-type’ and ‘get-things-done’ apps for my phone that I’ve checked into. And then checked out of.

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Cite This Page:

Erin Williamson Klein, “Task Management?.” My Family History Files, 24 February 2015 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/organization/task-management/ : [access date]).

Please do not copy without attribution and link back to this page.

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