Gen Do-Over: Cycle 2 Week 2

If you would like to view in PDF, it’s here

Following up on my post for Cycle 2 Week 1, here is my new workflow chart. Or should it be work flowchart? (Whatever.) It is a simplified version of the chart I originally posted here during the first cycle of the Genealogy Do-Over. This one uses the names of the pages in OneNote that I enter data into. It has all the elements that I am trying to capture in OneNote listed on it:

1. A Research Plan with Research Log
2. Source Description Page that is where I describe the source, cite it, paste a JPG of source, link to the source on my hard drive and transcribe it.
3. Source Log (A listing of all the sources I have for an individual or family group to help with writing proof statements if I need to examine other sources and as a resource to see what other sources I might need.)
4. Family Group Records
5. Timelines
6. Proof Statements

This is mostly for my own reference as it relates to the final version of my Chronological Surname Notebook that I am using to document my family history. I am putting everything in OneNote as a way to leave something behind that others can build on and to be able to easily share it with others in PDF or printed form.

Cycle 2 Week 2 Topics:

1. Setting Research Goals
2. Conducting Self Interview
3. Conducting Family Interviews

Because this is my second time through the 13 weeks, I didn’t have much to do for Week 2. Last time through, I had decided I wouldn’t be able to conduct many family interviews for the current line I am working on as there wasn’t anyone left in the previous generations and opted not to do them. Same thing for this cycle. I did my self-interview in the form of a Timeline created in MSWord. I use Timelines to list life events in chronological order for my ancestors. A Timeline helps to show where there are gaps and conflicting information and where sources are needed. Those items can be used to set research goals and/or make a research plan. (I’ll post an Ancestry video by Anne Mitchell at the end of the post that was helpful to me in learning to create timelines if you are interested.)

My research goals for the first cycle through the Genealogy Do-Over were to prove my birth, marriage, divorce and birth of my 4 children; my parents’ birth and marriage; father’s death and siblings’ births and deaths. There were a few documents in my files and my mom’s files that were missing so I added obtaining them to my To-Do List in OneNote. My research goals this time through the Genealogy Do-Over are to concentrate on my father’s parents.

Research Goals Cycle 2 Week 2:

1. Prove birth date and parents’ names for Raymond Curtis Williamson
2. Prove birth date and parents’ names for Grace Rose Buisch
3. Prove marriage date of Ray and Grace
4. Prove death date for Raymond Williamson
5. Prove death date for Grace Williamson

This is the first page of my grandfather’s timeline embedded into a page in OneNote.

As you can see, there is a discrepancy in the records I have for the year of his birth.  I have written for a copy of his birth certificate and I have a theory about why his birth year is one year later on his draft registration that I will include in my Proof Statement. For my grandmother, birth records were not being kept for that time period in Batavia, New York. I will contemplate some ideas for a work-around in my Research Plan.

I’m not going to get ahead of myself here though, because tracking and conducting research are next week’s topics!

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Creating Timelines: A 15 minute tutorial by Anne Mitchell (AKA: Ancestry Anne)

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Cite This Page:

Erin Williamson Klein, “Gen Do-Over: Cycle 2 Week 2.” My Family History Files, 14 April 2015 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/research-plan/gen-do-over-cycle-2-week-2/ : [access date]).

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

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