Genealogy Do-Over: Week #2 – THE PLAN

Topics:

1) Setting Research Goals
I decided not to focus on making any goals specifically related to individuals. Presently, my goal is to clean up the mess I have created over the past few years: information w/o sources cited, multiple databases, several folders of duplicate files and – most annoying of all – no particular file organization. I have already found inconsistent information on the very  FIRST person whose files I chose to work on. Once identified, I am adding these “inconsistencies” to my new “To-Do” excel spreadsheet.
(Thanks, Eileen Coulter for posting Thomas MacEntee’s Genealogy Research Log.xls to the Do-Over’s FB Files page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogydoover/527506504058678/)

This process is going to take quite a while. I spent the better part of yesterday just cleaning up my 3rd Great-grandfather’s folder!

 2) Conducting Self Interview
After creating a brand-new file in RootsMagic, I “interviewed” myself. I can ramble on for hours, so to keep focused, I simply used the “Fact Type” options available in RootsMagic (Birth, Education, Residence, Marriage, etc.) The options available pretty much sum up one’s lifespan. Hopefully, I have a few good years left and will remember to continually add facts to my my file as they occur.

3) Conducting Family Interviews
Sadly, both my parents are gone and pretty much every aunt and uncle as well. A few years back, I sent interview questions to my 10 siblings – step-sibs included. I got back 3! I plan to resend to the others again. What I’m really looking forward to is tonight. Several years ago my oldest daughter interviewed my Mom on video. I plan to revisit that video this evening. Mom passed away 3 years ago, so that video is pretty special.

So – that’s my plan this week. Let’s see what I accomplish!