Over the last 2 days I have been watching hangouts & reading discussions about using Excel for genealogy. I have learnt how genealogists use Excel to make research logs, to do lists, simple timelines & timelines to answer specific questions.
I started to use Excel for genealogy to create databases of baptisms. I have been researching family surnames in Sussex lately & decided to make a database for baptisms for each surname that I am researching. I thought that recording all instances of a surname would be more beneficial than simply identifying events of known ancestors. This will enable me to reconstruct family groups as I continue my research.
I watched Lisa Alzo's webinar Research Recharge: Turning Old Clues into New Leads on Legacy Family Tree Webinars & she discussed using research logs. She showed an example of Thomas MacEntee's genealogy research log, which is a free Excel spreadsheet available at http://www.genealogyresearchlog.com.
DearMYRTLE has been focusing on using Excel for genealogy in her Wacky Wednesday Hangouts on Air this month. On August 12th's Wacky Wednesday hangout, More Excel for Genealogy, +Julie Goucher shared her presentation on how she uses Excel for research logs & to do lists. Julie has made this video, as well as a copy of her Excel research log spreadsheet & her presentation on how she uses them on her blog, Anglers Rest.
I have never used a research log before as I didn't need one, but earlier this year I had a few months when I didn't have the time to research. When I did have the time to continue, I found it hard to pick up where I'd left off. Using a research log would have helped a lot in this situation.
Another potential use for Excel would be in creating timelines for my ancestors. I have found a few good examples of how people have used them for this purpose & I can see how they would be beneficial to me. Jenny Lanctot discusses how she uses Excel for simple timelines & also how she uses timelines to answer specific questions in her blog, Are My Roots Showing?.
How do you use Excel in your genealogy research?
Showing posts with label DearMYRTLE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DearMYRTLE. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Sunday, 27 July 2014
Family Search Indexing
Well, I'm almost a week late but I have contributed to Family Search's Indexing efforts. I have spent the weekend catching up on +DearMYRTLE's GeneaSleepOver - Worldwide Indexing Events. There was plenty of demonstrations of live indexing. In the past I have transcribed for FreeBMD but I found this to be quite tricky. From the demonstrations, Family Search indexing seemed much more straightforward.
I have been indexing Australia,Tasmania - Burial and Cremation Orders - 1873-1986 & so far I have completed 5 batches. Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes!
I have been indexing Australia,Tasmania - Burial and Cremation Orders - 1873-1986 & so far I have completed 5 batches. Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes!
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Accentuate the Positives 2013 Geneameme - Part 2
Here is Part 2 of my response to +GeniAus' (+Jill Ball) Accentuate the Positives 2013 Geneameme:
An elusive ancestor I found - pretty much every ancestor I've found! Before I started researching my family history the only ancestors I knew where my grandparents & one set of great grandparents. I knew three of my grandparents (my maternal grandmother died when my mother was a teenager) & I was very fortunate to know a great grandmother who lived well into her nineties. I find it surprising that my parents know little of their own grandparents, but this is probably because their own grandparents died when they were young.
A newly found family member who shared - earlier this year I joined the Curran DNA Project - although this relies on Y-DNA, my research indicated that I was related to individuals mentioned in the project & my results came back showing that others in the project were cousins. The administrator of the project, Marie, is a distant cousin in the US & she put me in contact with another cousin, Ken, in Australia. He had been searching for information on my g grandfather's family so I was able to help him with that & he has shared some wonderful information with me. Unfortunately, when he made the initial contact he was on his way out of the country for a year & didn't take all of his research with him. What I found ironic about this was that his wife's best friend was the principal of the high school down the street from me, in fact she was the principal when my boys went there & I had a few meetings with her. Not even 6 degrees of separation!
My 2013 blog post that I was particularly proud of - would have to be my first!
A new piece of software Imastered began using - covered in my previous post.
A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy - Blogs, definitely.
A genealogyconference / seminar / webinar from which I learnt something - Every webinar I have attended. In the last year I have watched every webinar on Family Tree Webinars & I've attended several webinars run by the Society of Australian Genealogists. I have also learnt a lot from Dear MYRTLE's Hangouts on Air, GeniAus's Hangouts & podcasts from Genies Down Under.
An elusive ancestor I found - pretty much every ancestor I've found! Before I started researching my family history the only ancestors I knew where my grandparents & one set of great grandparents. I knew three of my grandparents (my maternal grandmother died when my mother was a teenager) & I was very fortunate to know a great grandmother who lived well into her nineties. I find it surprising that my parents know little of their own grandparents, but this is probably because their own grandparents died when they were young.
A newly found family member who shared - earlier this year I joined the Curran DNA Project - although this relies on Y-DNA, my research indicated that I was related to individuals mentioned in the project & my results came back showing that others in the project were cousins. The administrator of the project, Marie, is a distant cousin in the US & she put me in contact with another cousin, Ken, in Australia. He had been searching for information on my g grandfather's family so I was able to help him with that & he has shared some wonderful information with me. Unfortunately, when he made the initial contact he was on his way out of the country for a year & didn't take all of his research with him. What I found ironic about this was that his wife's best friend was the principal of the high school down the street from me, in fact she was the principal when my boys went there & I had a few meetings with her. Not even 6 degrees of separation!
My 2013 blog post that I was particularly proud of - would have to be my first!
A new piece of software I
A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy - Blogs, definitely.
A genealogy
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Accentuate the Positive 2013 - GeniAus' Geneameme
Just watching +GeniAus's latest Hangout On Air - Happy Dances. I haven't mastered it, but I have started using a new software program, Evidentia. I think it's especially useful for problem individuals in my tree. It guides you in applying the GPS process & allows you to assemble evidence from a range of sources for any individual. For example, I've started using it for one of my ancestors. I've examined his Will and extracted all of the information from it. I can now look at that ancestor, choose an event (say his children) and look at all evidence about his children from a range of sources that I examine & add. Evidentia is available as a free 30 day trial version so that you can try it yourself.
I downloaded the trial version but didn't actually get around to using it before it expired. Examining a copy of a Will I recently got from Cornwall gave me a lead on an ancestor's parents, which contradicted everything that I had found online. This gave me the incentive & the opportunity to try out the program. I did need to keep referring back to the Evidentia tutorials & DearMYRTLE's Hangout's the first time I used it, but after that it was very easy. I can see ways I could use it to build up a case using several sources, which I don't think is really emphasised on the tutorials.
Another plus is that it cost less than $25 AUD (cue another happy dance!).
DearMYRTLE has discussed the Evidentia software on a few of her Hangouts & there are video tutorials and examples on both the Evidentia website and on YouTube.
I downloaded the trial version but didn't actually get around to using it before it expired. Examining a copy of a Will I recently got from Cornwall gave me a lead on an ancestor's parents, which contradicted everything that I had found online. This gave me the incentive & the opportunity to try out the program. I did need to keep referring back to the Evidentia tutorials & DearMYRTLE's Hangout's the first time I used it, but after that it was very easy. I can see ways I could use it to build up a case using several sources, which I don't think is really emphasised on the tutorials.
Another plus is that it cost less than $25 AUD (cue another happy dance!).
DearMYRTLE has discussed the Evidentia software on a few of her Hangouts & there are video tutorials and examples on both the Evidentia website and on YouTube.
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