Genealogy Chat

I am hoping someone may be able to help a newbie. I only starting researching my family a few weeks ago and already have so much information (probably incomplete or incorrect) that I don't know what to do with it all. Now I find from reading this board that I should be writing down EVERYTHING. But where?? Can anyone give me any tips to organise myself so I can find the information again quickly when I need it?

Thanks in advance
Beverley

I think all of us do this, we get so excited and jump from one name to another .

I think a notebook or maybe file cards , so that you can put down everything you find , even if it doesn't 'fit' yet it may later. Also print off any census details that you can refer to when nec' ...for eg, if you have found someone in 1901 census try finding them in all others and keep those together.

add... if you are doing several families at once... have seperate box files for each

And I thought it was just me being a bit over enthusiastic. Thanks for that. If I start printing things though, I feel I'll drown in paper but I'll take your advice.

Thanks
Beverley

That could also work for me but what if you don't have your computer switched on and you just want to look at one thing? Shouldn't there be some written notes? They are the ones I'm having problems with.

Thanks for the advice though
Beverley

I suggest you get a family tree computer program. I use Familytree Maker. For every person there's another screen for keeping notes. So easy to access. Don't forget to source all of the info you get, I didn't do that at first and it caused a few problems. Now I source every little bit of info that I get.

Ah - that leads me to another question if that's OK. I already have a lot of information but and already beginning to forget where I found it. Should I now go back to the beginning and source all that? Would it be helpful later or shouldn't I bother?
I'm trying to learn from all your mistakes :-)

I was dreading you saying that Barbara but I take your point. Wish me luck!

Thanks very much for all your help. I'm enjoying myself already.

I'm not much in favour of paper copies. I keep everything in files on my PC.
I find copying and pasting saves a lot of time writing - if I get certs from the GRO, I scan these (well, really I get someone to scan them for me) and normally work with the scanned images.

As Barbara notes, you need to back these up - if you don't have an extrenal drive, buy the cheapest memory stick you can and back them up onto that. It helps if you've got everything in the same folder - called Genealogy, say. Within that folder you can have subfolders, like one for each grandparent, plus one for your grandparents' descendants (the electronic version of Rose's box files - it is a sensible way to organize stuff). The backup will then just consist of copying the genealogy folder onto the memory stick every week or so, replacing the last week's version in doing so.