Getting Organized

We had a workshop session on getting organized in January. Family Tree magazine recently posted these tips for organizing your genealogy. (My comments follow in parentheses.) Some of the ideas are a bit different than the presentation. If you are procrastinating yet, these might seem even easier!

1. Every couple on your pedigree charts gets a file folder.  (You could still devise a color system to keep the various ancestral lines in order.)

2. Label the folder with the names of the couple (using the wife's maiden name), such as "Christopher C. GREGORY and Mary STUART."  (Remember to always use the woman's maiden name in your records.)

3. List names of the couple's children on the outside of the file folder for quick reference (optional). (But this would help if several of them have their own folders, and you could indicate a woman's married name.)

4. When a child marries, begin a file folder for that marriage. If a child never marries, his or her documents will remain in the file of the parents.

5. You may want to make a locality folder and put the cemetery transcriptions in it, along with other similar documents that pertain to multiple families living in the same area. (This may be necessary as you accumulate more information.)

Another option: attach a table of contents to the front of each folder and add to it as you gather more records.

And whatever you do, try to keep up!