 |
AncestorSpy We found the records so you can FIND ANCESTORS! |
NOW available! |
|
|
||
|
Click here to learn more and Get Started Today!!! |
|
Personal Digital Genealogy LibraryOne of the frustrating challenges with the internet is that things do not remain the same. There have been times when I have searched a particular record on the internet and found a need at later time to consult the record again. Then to my horror it was no longer available on the internet. The solution is to establish your own personal digital genealogy library. This library needs to be organized as simple as possible and after much trial and error and a great deal of thought, I feel it is best to organize this library by locality. The reason is that when doing it by surname, family members do not always live in the same area. So in your ancestral index, you will find yourself searching for surnames that never lived in the area where you are currently searching. It is a waste of time. Computers have folders and documents. Folders can have sub folders. Here are suggested Titles for organizing your computer digital library: 1 Personal Genealogy Library by Locality
0
Colorado In the above list, those lines without a yellow folder are actual digital documents. These documents can be generated in various computer software programs. I have some in my word processing program and a few are jpeg files. However, my favorite software for my personal library is Adobe Acrobat Pro, not just the reader, but the whole software program. I like it because the bookmarks make navigation through the document easy. I can also add text boxes and post-it notes. I can add arrows and underlines. I especially like the search feature. The only thing I do not like about this software is the price, which I think is too high. However, I am glad I spent the money because, this software seems to have all the features that are useful to genealogists. Even though I will be showing examples using Adobe Acrobat Pro, keep in mind that there are other software program you can use for your personal digital genealogy library. The key is to use the above organization available on all computers and then learn the wonderful features of the computer software on your computer. The Checklist is the most important part of your personal
library. The checklist consists of all the library catalogs and web pages that
list records for the places your ancestor lived. When I come across a list, I
first highlight and copy the whole list
to the computer clip board (control C) then paste it
(control V) to my word processing program. Here I adjust it to my liking,
usually by adding more space for my comments and post-it notes. When I am
satisfied, I print it to my Adobe PDF software and place it in the appropriate
folder under the title "temp page." The reason I put it on a temporary page is
because if I add it to my Checklist page I will overwrite what I already have in
that document. Also, this allows me to add a header that has the name of the
website or library and the URL where I found the list. I also put in the header
the number of pages (1 of 5, 2 of 5 etc.) for this particular document. After
this, I save and close the temporary page and go to the checklist page where I
add the new document to the bottom of the document. Next, go to first page and
link a book mark to it so it will be easy to find in the future. Here is an
example for the book marks panel: I always add new pages to the bottom of the file even though they can be insert anywhere in the document. It is just easier. However, the bookmarks are easier to use if they are in alphabetical order. I use the bookmarks to take me where I want to go. Each page in the checklist tells me genealogy items are available. As I search these items, I add text boxes and post-it notes. Text boxes are for information such as URLs and if there is a broken link or perhaps that record is too late or too early to contain information about my ancestors. The post-it notes are used to describe what I found along with where I filed or didn't find. See sample below. The notes added to the page, tell you what you have done so you can move forward in your research instead of redoing the same search over and over again.
Bradford Township
Brady Township
Burnside Township
Chest Township
Westover Baptist Church Cemetery http://www.pa‐roots.com/~clearfield/townships/chest/westoverbaptist.html
County RecordsThere are many types of records for a county such as cemetery, census, church, history, land, probate, vital records and do on. Each record is placed in its own separate PDF file. They are like having individual books on your bookshelf. Document labels are important. Since they will already be in a folder for a specific county keep it simple. All that is needed is the type of record followed by the title or description of the record. The computer will automatically place them in alphabetical order. Example:
It is easiest and best just to add them to the bottom of the file after you have added the heading information at the top of each page. (See Tips and Instructions for using Adobe Acrobat Pro) Then use the bookmarks to identify them. The bookmarks are best placed in alphabetical order by type of record. Sample bookmarks for county records: Biographies - Biographies of Rensselaer County, New York by ____
_____, pub. ____ Also for images of pages with text, run an OCR (optical character recognition) of the page before adding headings to each page. Then the searches will find words on those pages too. The Index of Ancestors who lived in the county.One of the wonderful features of Adobe Acrobat is the SEARCH capability. This makes it so you do not have to spend time identifying each page, although you can if you wish. What I have found works best is create an index of the ancestors who lived in the area using bookmarks. Here are some sample book marks for the index. Ancestors of Rensselaer Co., NY etc. The capital letters identify the surname. When you click on the + sign the section will open up and reveal the names of specific ancestors and when you click on the + for the ancestor, it opens up to the bookmarks linking to the pages where information is found for that ancestor. On the pages where I find ancestors I will often include and arrow or an underline or a text box or even a post-it-note to point out an individual or a fact or a conclusion. I add remarks and comments whenever it will help me to quickly see what interests me on that page and what is necessary for proper and correct identification of the ancestor. This is as far as I go in developing my personal library. I do not add any family group sheets, pedigree charts, or another other report because when using the search feature it will bring up those pages also and make it more difficult to zero in on the subject of the search. by Donna K. Clark, your AncestorSpy guide.
| |||
If you offer GENEALOGY services or products for any of the states or counties in the USA, please send an email describing what you offer. We want to make this site as complete as possible. We also welcome links to pages on this site.
About us Contact Information Site Map Genealogy Web Site Links
