Ancestry.com – making my research easier

The year was 1994, and I remember the day like it was yesterday.  That sound…that beautiful sound of a dial-up modem, connecting to the internet.  My husband was by my side, showing me what the “world wide web” was like.  I was mesmerized and astounded.  I don’t recall what I said, but I’m sure “WOW!” was in there somewhere.  Not that there was a ton of genealogy sites online in 1994, but my immediate thought was how this “www” thing was going to revolutionize genealogy.

Well, here we are, more than a decade (almost two!)  later.  My dial-up modem has been replaced with wireless internet service and WiFi in my home.   The internet has grown, and we have a lot of free genealogical stuff available to us online.   Continue reading

I’ve gotten used to the snickers of my coworkers, who are amused by my use of technology.  Hey, my goal is to be efficient, and technology is the  best way to get there.  One of the things I learned long ago is whenever possible, only touch a paper once.  Then either file it, toss it, distribute it….don’t save it for later.  Well, often that’s not possible.  Especially in genealogical research, we need to spend time truly analyzing and “digesting” or mentally “processing” a document.  I find when I’m in the middle of a research project, I don’t have time to finish all that I want to accomplish.  I may have worked on a family line all weekend long, but alas, Monday morning comes and off to work I go.  I don’t want to forget where I’m at in the project, so I’ll “ToodleDo” it – that is, add it to my online, cloud-based task management system, so I can pick back up where I left off on the upcoming weekend.  Other times I find I get bored working on one family line, and just need a break.  However, again, I don’t want to forget about ideas I had for research, or overlook data entry of documents gleaned at repository.

Last Spring I was working furiously on my Bursley family, preparing for our New England trip.  Well, I was also researching several other lines while at the same repositories, and consequently, brought back a considerable amount of data that needs to be reviewed, analyzed, and where appropriate, entered in my database.  The items above are some of the “to do” items for my Bradstreet and Bursley families.

ToodleDo also allows you to include notes for each item. Continue reading