Idiot Proof Filing System Needed

[Pam101]

I've been mooching around all sorts of sites and byways for the last week or so, and have accumulated all sorts of information to add to my existing paper mountains. Once I've entered everything into my Family Treemaker 7, does anyone have suggestions for the best way to keep the paperwork under control? File downwards from ancestor names with marriages under separate names? Keep certificates separately or with the individuals? Census sheets?
Is there anything better than FT7 for keeping control of stuff? Would a website be sensible? |help| |help| Please!!

[v.wells]

Every one has their own way of doing things so make it so "it works for you". I have 4 different colours of folders for each of my family lines. Certificates are kept separately with births, marriages and deaths behind all in date order. I also use coloured dots on the files to show heads of families.

Ancestry is the only site I know of that allows you to attach census, bmd's and other source information to individuals and for me is the best bang for my $. I have a website but I don't attach any of these items to individuals, just the source information. I only print out the ones that are most important to me to save paper.

The 1911 census is in a folder of its own as I didn't need to have separate folders for the different lines (keeps it altogether).

I have Legends and FTM and don't like either but I need at least one on the pc in order to download GEDCOM's and transfer to other programs.

Hope some of that helps you sort it out :)

[GenealogyPitney]

The further you get into your research, the more you'll find there's no such thing as an idiot proof system - the organization of some public records is terrible!

I know that's not a lot of help, but it's important to keep smiling while you're researching |laugh1|

[Sue Mackay]

We have an office type metal filing cabinet in the study and one drawer is devoted to family history. Each family has a file in that drawer. Certificates, print-outs of important web based info, letters etc etc all get dumped in there indiscriminately. Every so often a file gets so full the metal tabs bend or the cardboard folder breaks. I then replace the outer file and have a good old sort out at the same time. It's amazing what obvious courses of action occur to you when you go through old research!

[Browneyes]

A tip:

If someone asked you to sort out their documents how would you do it? The simpler the system is the better. Ring binders are great as you can always buy another one. I use those plastic inserts with small sticky labels on the top corner and slip things inside them so they're easy to move if necessary and don't get so dog-eared. Things I haven't filed go in a very large shoebox so they're in one place (apart from the bits that always seem to end up on my desk because I'm working on several things at once! :D).

I sort mine into families, ie Chapmans, Faulkners etc. Individuals have their details all together, census pages are at the back of the file in front of information about villages, occupations and so on. I use coloured dividers to separate the 'topics'. I don't have marriage certificates yet but intend putting them with the husband. I'm also trying to gather maps so I can mark where they lived.

[pottoka]

I used to keep everything in one cupboard, slinging in pieces of paper when I'd received or downloaded them and promising myself that one day I'd sort it all out properly. Things came to a head not that long ago when the cupboard door threatened to give way, and I am now in the same position as you, Pam101.

I have a tree on Ancestry like Vanessa, with censuses and so on attached, but I have a somewhat paranoid finger of dread between my shoulder blades about what is actually happens to the people information I put on there. Especially since I read the small print.

But I definitely need a system because I've lost - out of the only cupboard they have ever been kept in - certificates that I paid good money for!! (And I know that if I shell out £7 each again even for the really important ones, they'll turn up).



Every one has their own way of doing things so make it so "it works for you". I have 4 different colours of folders for each of my family lines. Certificates are kept separately with births, marriages and deaths behind all in date order. I also use coloured dots on the files to show heads of families.

:)

Call me thick if you will, but I'm afraid I don't follow your four-folder system, Vanessa. I presume (probably too much ...) that your four lines are your grandfathers and grandmothers. So where do you put your grandmother's mother, who has a different name, and her parents, and so on?

I tried a gy-normous file (one maternal, one paternal) with coloured separators but, although I started with my parents and grandparents, I was soon lost in how to file the branches ...

A filing cabinet sounds like a good idea, Sue. Ooh, and I've just remembered ... I haven't had a birthday present yet!!

[pottoka]

I don't have marriage certificates yet but intend putting them with the husband.

Browneyes, how can you? The wedding certificate was much more important to the wife, especially the further you go back, as it made her what she was. Before she was married, she belonged to her father who then gave her away at her wedding, whereupon she became the chattel of her husband.

I put the original certificate with the wife, and a copy with the husband.

(and that's something I learned on here, but don't tell)

[Browneyes]

Browneyes, how can you? The wedding certificate was much more important to the wife, especially the further you go back, as it made her what she was. Before she was married, she belonged to her father who then gave her away at her wedding, whereupon she became the chattel of her husband.

I put the original certificate with the wife, and a copy with the husband.

(and that's something I learned on here, but don't tell)

Perhaps it's something to do with the feminist in me :D

[Astoria]

Am I wrong - to this day I believe a marriage certificate is the property of the wife, to prove her children are legitimate.

[Browneyes]

Uh oh. I'm shrinking by the minute ;) Ok ok I'll think about it alright? :D

[DBCoup]

As soon as I think my filing system is idiot-proof I become a bigger idiot ;)

I guess I am lucky in the sense that a logical partition for me is into immigrant families which each have a box of their own. Some of my busier/longer lines have stretched into their 4th box (and that's not counting what I haven't sorted and counts only what is printed out). Of course with the advent of on-line searching etc I also have "virtual boxes" on my computer. They are called folders but perform the same function as my cardboard boxes.
One of big plans for winter when I cannot do all those outside jobs that my wife has on a list for me |help| I plan to scan my bits and pieces that are in the real boxes and put them into my "virtual boxes" - at least then my wife won't be "upset" by the chaos that surrounds my genealogy area (which is spreading :))

Of course a better thing to do would be to analyse and write up what is on the bits of paper in a methodical manner (well I have started which is why I have 10 or more write-ups on the go) .....
I guess what I am really saying is that whatever filing system you come up with you will probably have to revisit the problem from time to time as your genealogy (hopefully) expands. With the death of my father-in-law I have inherited his research which I helped him with in the early days. And now my daughter's in-laws have asked for help ..... so your genealogy can expand without your input.
Good luck with whatever filing system you come up with. Bet it changes sooner or later :D
daryl

[Mutley]

Who mentioned ring binders? Great idea.
One is for Births, two for Marriages, three is for Death Certs,

four is for 1911 Census, five is for Thomas (he grew too big)

six is for a paternal branch that fell off the tree as is seven for a maternal one.

eight is for my one and only will ;)

nine is for newspaper cuttings and ten does maps,
eleven for Irish and twelve for Swiss,

thirteen is for, I don't know whose, but they are not mine ;)

Fourteen contains the kids that I have not placed with a parent and fifteen is for the parents that I have not attached to kids.:confused:

sixteen is me and mine

There are three with question marks on the front, I don't go there often.

And finally one has trees, scribbled or printed.

I won't start on the ones with the photos or I'll be here all night. :D

[v.wells]

Pottoka I use different coloured labels to identify the side branches that are attached to one of the 4 family lines. My lineages aren't that big. I also use like coloured folders for correspondence and other info. All these files are in hanging files in separate portable boxes.

Browneyes - don't feel bad. I keep all my certificates in 4 family folders - it's easier to grab and run with 4 folders than trying to make several trips for my boxes of hanging files.

I print out and save to hard drive all bmd's and make copies of all my bmd certificates.

I have just cleared off my desk for the 2nd time this year and it is amazing the useless stuff that "I've no idea why I wrote/kept that" gets thrown. Now I can start working on the piles I have on the floor!

[christanel]

I use ring binders. There is one each for my direct lines. Siblings and their descendants go in one other. At the beginning of each folder I put a copy of the family tree at the front of the folder and a family sheet at the beginning of each generation.
All records go in to plastic sleeves including census, BMD's (certs or print outs) Anything to do with a particular person goes in with the records in one place including maps etc.
I write the persons name, birth date, parents and spouse on a small piece of thin coloured cardboard and tape it to the outer edge of the plastic sleeve at random points - on the style of alphabetical inserts. This means I don't have to flip through the whole folder looking for a particular person.

In-laws - if I don't have too much on them -go at the back of the entries for the particular family member they married.
I copy records that need to be attached to two or more people.

I did start a rather complicated colour coding system at one stage for one of my main branches but reading it now takes a while to cotton on to so I don't bother with it.

I like to have everything for one person in the one place 'cos once I get sitting down I don't want to move.
Also I put all stuff without a specified home in to one ring binder under the family's name.

I also am still trying to find a family tree program I find easy to use and is pleasing to the eye during use.
Basically so I don't confuse myself (too easily done) I try to keep it simple and with all my files so close just leaning a little to the left puts me in reach of them.

Christina

[Browneyes]

:D In my defence Yer Honour...

My hard copy FH files are royal blue - I happen to like that colour :D and it separates them from non FH stuff. I'm still sorting them but this is how I'm doing it. Mind you, I don't have truck loads of information yet. :p

Chapman ringbinder:

Everything in A4 plastic pockets, labelled to coincide with index, lots of dividers with couple of words on tabs.

1. Index of contents
2. Chapman Family Crest
3. Family tree of chapmans - I use FT Maker
4. Excel sheet of people born 'Chapman' - (date of birth/death/marriage, then name, relationship to me, aka, etc). You can do all sorts of things with excel...
5. Individuals in alphabetical order (christian names), summary page about them then relevant information including info on their occupations, letters etc
6. Census print outs
7. Miscellaneous info

Same thing for other surnames.
I use another ringbinder (marked 1 of 2, 2 of 2...) if they get too fat.

Rough notes, useful web sites, queries, etc go in another one.

When I eventually get round to it I'll scan and shrink photos...

As long as I understand the system and I keep it in a simple standard format I'm happy. :D

[Geoffers]

Once I've entered everything into my Family Treemaker 7, does anyone have suggestions for the best way to keep the paperwork under control? File downwards from ancestor names with marriages under separate names? Keep certificates separately or with the individuals? Census sheets?

To a certain extent I think the answer depends on the type of research you are doing.

Are you trying to follow:

Every branch of a family

Every branch of a family and every family they married into

A single name study

A single place study

Something else


Is there anything better than FT7 for keeping control of stuff?

That's a matter of personal preference and again depends on what sort of research you are carrying out, but for single place and single name studies, a programme called Custodian 3 is very good.

To me the first question to be answered in trying to consider how to sort and store information is - What is the aim of my research?

The answer will govern the perameters of what you need to store and how.

As has been mentioned - keep it as simple as you can, but allow for expansion.

A pencil and several sheets of paper would allow you to sketch out a plan of how you think you could best achieve your aims; before you try to put things into practice.


Would a website be sensible?

I've managed 35+ years without one, but others like them - it again depends on the above questions and what you want to do with the information you collate.

[Pam101]

Wow, what a fantastic number of very useful responses. Thank you, thank you! I'm copying them into Word so that I can consider them at leisure and decide what may suit me best. There are so many useful little tips too. Thank you to everyone for sharing them :)

I'm so relieved that there are others out there battling to control the paper as well. Remember when people said that computers would mean the end of paper?|laugh1| And I know so well the bits of paper with valuable jottings that can't be found, the certificates that have escaped from the "safe place", the gathering of information but not getting round to putting it in the tree because it's so much more fun to carry on searching. Thank heavens I'm not alone! |hug|

Geoffers, thank you for the all important question - what is the focus of my research? Well, it's not the one I first thought it was. Originally, I wanted to trace my ancestors as far back as possible, and to find out if there is any truth in my mother's belief that there was a connection to nobility. But we're a pretty boring, respectable lot so far. However, some of us married some very interesting people, so of course I had to have a rootle. Also, I'd like to try and put names to faces in photos, and to find out if the names I heard mentioned when I was young were family or friends. So, I guess I'm trying to follow every branch of my family "and every family they married into".

Looks like I'm going to need an awful lot of ring binders, plastic sleeves, storage, etc. etc. Watch for a stock market rally in stationers' shares!

But most of all, thank you for giving me hope that I may win the battle |jumphappy

[Browneyes]

PS Don't forget you'll need a trolley, shelf, cupboard, extension, lockup too... :D

[Sue Mackay]

Gosh Browneyes, I've heard that genealogy and keeping up with the filing can turn your hair grey, but pink? |biggrin|

[Browneyes]

:D

Mushy bit coming up...

"It's the love from this forum that's turned it pink".

[v.wells]

:D

Mushy bit coming up...

"It's the love from this forum that's turned it pink".

|hug|Cute Avatar :D

[Dorset Girl]

Don't know this is of any help to anyone but found this some time ago - I must admit I haven't followed the system but it's just one more for the pot.

fileyourpapers.com/lessons.html

Marion

[Browneyes]

If there's more than one person with the same names I file them in dob order

[Pam101]

That's a useful site, Marion, many thanks. And Browneyes, what can I say? So many useful tips - especially the one about additional storage space. An extension? Hmmm. The last one took 10 years off my life :D Not sure I've got enough years left to cope with that and all the research still to do. Maybe I'll get climbing boots and crampons and live with the paper mountains |laugh1|

[Browneyes]

Maybe I'll get climbing boots and crampons and live with the paper mountains |laugh1|

|laugh1|

Aha! So that's what it is...I have an unconscious urge to climb mountains but but vertigo prefers flatland and generally wins in the end. Thank you. I always wondered. :D