Taking Stock of How We Research

Pinterest

For those of us that do a lot of Genealogy and Family History work it is importnat to have a plan.  All too often we just start looking for a person without a real direction in mind.  There is not one plan that fits all of us but think about how you research.  

1.  What I like to do is start with the information I have in Family Search on Family Tree and check out what's there.  Is it correct, is it sound and does it make sense?  By checking the record hints on the Person Details Page if there are problems with something you will see a red Exclamation Point alerting you to maybe this isn't right or doesn't make much sense. Correcting that is important.  So figure it out and make the needed correction.  

2.  Then I look for records on Family Search.  Although Family Search defaults to the Records page which often gives you lots of random possibilities I find that the Collections tab right next to the Records Tab can be more helpful.

3.  Then I proceed through the other three partners to see what they have on my person.  Anything that pertains and is not a duplicate record I attach to my person with the FS/RT source linker right in the program.

4.  The next step is analyze the records you have found.  (This seems intuitive but it is not always what people do.  They attach the source and go on to something else.)

5.  Once you have analyzed the records and compiled your information you are ready for the next step.  Ask yourself a few questions?  What am I looking for?  What do I still need?  Be specific.  What kind of record might give me that information?  

6.  If I cannot find that type of record online...then what next?  Go to the FS Research Wiki put in the locality and find out what records are available for that locality and where you will find them.  As an example, if you are searching for a divorce record in CA you will learn that you will not find it online from the Wiki.  You may have to go to Sacramento for the State Archives or contact the County to help you locate the record for a fee.   The importance of the Research Wiki, as well as, reading the description of any record collection before you start ploughing through it will save a lot of time searching in the wrong places.  One thing I am learning is never discount the value of Historical Societies. I called Macon County Missouri HS and got a whole lot more than I dreamed possible just last week.

7.  I like to double check everything once I am done inputing the information into The Tree.  I know this is a good idea for me after all the transposed numbers and typos I can find.

These are just some of the things wanted to share after reading Amy Johnson Crow's blog post about researching for a specific answer.  You can find her here.

http://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/2016/09/23/31-days-better-genealogy-version-2-0/

Amy is running a 31 days of email ideas for letter genealogy right now that is simple and informative.

Remember to Ask yourself a QUESTION to get to the heart of what you need.

Wiki Face Lift

James Tanner Blog

Did you know the Wiki has a new face lift?  It is still the same great place to research information about localities and genealogical 
83,000 such helpful tools in the FamilySearch Wiki. 

James Tanner says it is the best genealogical research tool on the Internet.  He should know as he is one of the volunteers  on the Wiki Research Team and serves as a moderator for it for Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. The moderators check the articles submitted for authenticity and accuracy.  Thus assuring that the content is of value to the rest of us.  As Kim Miller said in our Boot Camp Training, "When you don't know what to do, Think Wiki!" YOu'll also be happy to know that the "Big Blue Button"  that says Records Online Kim taught us about is still there!

I am glad they have improve the design and usability of the Wiki but it is still always a little period of adjustment that is needed when you have to relearn things.  That is just part of this game.  Changes...constantly.  We can handle that...it's what we do. 

 I maintain that it is easier to learn a new aspect of something you are already familiar with than to think you should just wait until the changes are complete and then learn it.  The secret within that statement is that they will never be done.

James has done 4 blog posts on The Wiki's new look.  You should definitely read them.  Did you know you can "Watch" the articles you are interested in for updates and changes?  Did you know they have a Talk section for each article so you can pose questions or converse with others?  You can even write articles on your area of expertise but you need to review the policies and rules for that first. You can find links to all of these things in the four articles James has done.

One of the things I like so much about James Tanner is that he is clear in his thinking and instruction.  The link below is the fourth installment of his series on the Wiki and at the bottom it contains the other three links for the full series.  It is OK to read #4 first as it has a great overview.

One of the things I really like is that from the start page of the Wiki you can look for links and find the contents by categories. Just like the Home Page of FamilySearch there is a lot of help on how find what you need if it is there.  It is the portal to the entire Wiki. According to James Tanner you can get everywhere from the start page to progress in your own research (or to help a patron).  So Wiki Wiki (Quick Quick) check it out to find the help you need. Learn more about the Wiki by going to the Search tab on the tool bar at FamilySearch.org and clicking on the dropdown menu! It is the last link on the menu.  Dive in!

http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2016/05/exploring-new-look-of-familysearch.htm

Some Background on the Research Wiki

According to James L. Tanner in one of his classes at the Family History Expo in Sacramento this summer, "The Family Search Wiki is easily to most valuable genealogical resource on the Internet!"  That is a pretty bold statement but this man is incredibly knowledgeable about the Wiki and is one of its Arbitrators.  It made me sit up and take notice.

You can find it at familysearch.org. On the tool bar on the home page click on Search and you will find it on the tool bar there. Here is the path to it.  familysearch>search>wiki  The WIKI can be used free of charge as can the entire website familysearch.org. However, you do not even have to register or sign in to use the wiki. 

So what is a wiki exactly?  According to Mr. Tanner, a Wiki "is a website that allows the creation and linking of a large number of interrelated pages  in a collaborative environment where the wiki is constructed."    It is maintained by a community of users that allows any authorized user to add or edit content.  Sound familiar?  Our new Family Tree is a wiki platform program! Every page or article is considered open-ended and never finished.

A wiki website relies on its authorized users to supply content and edit what is there.  If you have expertise in a given area of family history or genealogy you should consider adding it to the Family Search Wiki.  Wiki articles are about places and methodology.  You cannot add information about a person.  Nor will you find your ancestors there.  But you may add or find something in the locality where they lived that opens up a new vista of research for you or another user.  There are instructions for making additions on the website.  The wiki community usually has a committee of arbitrators that maintain the integrity of the site by publishing only things that appeal to the users as a whole. This is definitely true of the Family Search Wiki.  It must pertain to genealogy and family history or the technology used therein.  Obviously off-topic articles are not going to make it through arbitration.

The Wikipedia is the best known of wiki based programs and the most successful to date.  It allows all topics and encourages editing them as needed.  Sources and citations for the changes are usually found.  I like to think of it as a living encyclopedia that can be updated immediately when changes in something occur.  Remember the old static encyclopedias?  The annual books?  Wikipedia is so much more cost effective than all of that.  When was the last time we saw an encyclopedia salesman?  Another industry has apparently gone by the way side with our modern technology.

The Research Wiki, as the Family Search WIKI is called, is still young.   There is no compensation for adding an article or sharing your knowledge.  This is is act of good will on the part of the community.  Occasionally controversy will arise, as long as there are people with varying opinions, but the arbitrators watch this closely and research the things when changes become controversial.   For the most part it is a very congenial group of users just trying to spread the wealth of information as a way of helping others.  It can be as simple as one person's experience with one record that could be very beneficial to other users with the same ancestor, according to James Tanner.  Additionally it can be more complex and broader in scope like research techniques in general or in a certain locality as an example.  

If you'd like to read a good article on the Research WIKI check this one out.  Its contents will surprise you, sadden you and perhaps even enrage you.  It will teach you compassion, gratitude for when and where you live and the privileges you have that many in history have not. This article was written by our good friend and our Italian cousin, Stephen K. Ehat.  10 Stars! 

 https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Italian_Infant_Abandonment

All of this information on the Wiki and its background was inspirational to me.  I love knowing the hows and whys of how these things come to be.  Now if we will all just remember to check it out and search it and learn from it.  Adding it to our research toolbox is a great idea.  Remember it is about places and methodologies, not individuals.  I also learned from the Google image above about it that you can add your organization's upcoming events to it also.  It is the first place I will be looking when I have a question!  I know I have mentioned this before but James Tanner is a verocious  scholar of genealogy, family history and technology.  He writes constantly, posting an average of two posts per day on our subject matter on his blog which is:

http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com  

You can subscribe to his blog just like you can to this one, and have the new posts come straight to your email. You'd be surprised how much you can learn from blogs that will come in handy at some point.  The other blog I thoroughly enjoy is The Ancestry Insider found at:

http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com

He has done a fabulous job of covering a lot of classes I didn't attend at the BYU Genealogy Conference 2013 which has make my experience there twice as rich.  By the way, I will be doing some posts on the classes I did get to attend which were phenomenal.  I'll be studying that syllabus for a year.  I see it happening in October perhaps, when the leaves are falling, there are some lazy Indian summer days left and things are not as crazy as they are right now.  It is definitely on my to do list.