Friday, March 31, 2017

Month Three Review

Usually I write out a draft and compose from that. Earlier today, I composed this blog in "thin air." After much proof-reading and correcting, with many, many saves, I hit publish. The blog vanished into thin air! I hope this wasn't an omen! Anyway, here we go again.

Early this year, I mentioned printer problems. The final solution, one new Canon to replace the former two printers, is now sitting in a new position next to my desk, and has been set up since about March 24. All the backlog of printing from months 2 and 3 are now printed out and in my Do-Over notebook (except this blog). There are a few auxiliary documents I wish to print out, but they are not of calendar importance. I can print them as I get to them.

As to the rest of the month: I lost lots of time to spring pollen; allergies sent me to bed and nothing got done. I also spent a week on the physical reorganization and electronic cataloging of the nearly 400 hundred books in my cookbook collection. Not a genealogy problem (until I get to my genealogy books) but when you own over 7000 titles, book housekeeping is a major task in the household. And a very time consuming one.

The rest of the time? I think it went well. I continued to follow up on the work I have been doing for the root person on my tree — Carolin (Carolyn) Sue Strickler {me}. As I checked entries and research logs in my primary database and worked to synchronize that data across the three other databases I am examining, I found more logs to develop, more prepare-for-the-heirs steps to be taken. So I developed them and wrote up the processes in the relevant logs.

Later today (or early tomorrow) I will examine the data on Sue; if I find that all the preparation steps have been taken and all the processes have been properly described for my heirs to follow, I will sign off the work on Sue, and continue to the next Dollarhide numbered person in my database(s). In spite of the obstacles, Month Three has been productive.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

No Homework for Month Three!

Well, almost no homework. There are some clerical jobs, but the Self Interview was correctly written up back in 2015. I reread my 2015 self-interview and found that I had been thorough in my writeup.

It's a good thing that I did reread this document. All of my proof points have been entered into my research log; but I found that at the bottom of many of my paragraphs, I had placed a list of words {name story, tornado story, Una story / picture on St. Mary's roof} for one example. This apparent gibberish is a string of key words that remind me of family stories and a photo connected with my birth. I had forgotten that I had included these clues. Obviously, I must locate the photo and include it with my other genealogy media. As for the stories, we must decide whether I will write them up or whether my husband will interview me in a series of digital retellings, but we will begin to get those stories on record.

Family Interviews: I skipped this task back in 2015. When I started doing serious genealogy, I was already the oldest living person in my family, my husband was the oldest living person in his family, and my former husband was dead, his remaining siblings the oldest members of that family and not in my reach. There was no one to interview — right?

Well no. I can do a reminiscence write up for each person, as I study that person's entry. Somewhat like the Self Interview, but on the order of "I remember Grandma Strickler's garden …," "I remember mother telling about the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 …". These "remembrance interviews"  will help me fill out proof points and will point to possible source searches. I do feel that it's too large a job to do immediately. I will do an ancestor at a time in reasonable order.

If you have been following these blogs, you will remember that at the end of February I began to created "task logs" in order to conduct my genealogy-storage overhaul. My Family Interview homework then, list of create an "Ancestor's Log" where I record these "remembrance interviews" with the necessary details so that my heirs can locate what I have done.

The analysis for Month 3 is now complete. There's lots of work ahead!

I mentioned clerical work. This isn't related to the Month 3 homework. All printouts are on hold. This family currently has two wireless multipurpose printers (from two different companies) which aren't working. Therefore I have a backup up of print jobs that need to be completed and added to my Genealogy Do-Over Workbook notebook and to other of my paper files.