A loyal viewer named Tamara asked, “Do you have a video about citations, I get my sources from FamilySearch and when I put in on my tree on Ancestry I put a “web link” as a source. Is there a better way to do this?” Experienced genealogists know the importance of citing their sources. However, if you’re building your family tree on Ancestry, Tamara’s asking, how do you add source citations that reference other websites? There are several ways you can track citations for things that aren’t in Ancestry’s record collection databases. Let’s go through a few options one by one. Ancestry Web Links vs. Sources Tamara mentioned weblinks. For those who don’t know about these, discover how easy they are to add to a person's profile on Ancestry. You can click on ADD Link at the bottom of a fact column or in the sources column. On the Fact Tab, click on “Add.” In the drop-down menu, click on “Add web link.” Paste a URL into the first field. Then give the link a name such as, "An Illustrated History of Southern California." Click “Add.” Make sure you’re only inserting links to online records that do not already appear on Ancestry. Otherwise, you’re just cluttering up your tree and you should know from previous videos that I like reducing redundancy and unnecessary data. Now, if you click on this web link, it will take you to that source that you provided the link for. Weblinks appear pretty self-explanatory. They are links to websites. Bu you can not associate it with any facts on the timeline. Additionally, you can't add any details other a URL and the name. However, some researchers have found uses for them including: Save sources from elsewhere on the internet. Mind you, this is not a source citation, just a link to the source. Link to blogs or websites that talk about the person or relevant historical context. Bookmark resources to refer to later. Since the viewer wants to know if there’s a better way to manage citations from other locations (including FamilySearch but not likely not limited to that one), I will recommend not using weblinks for citations. Be aware, this tutorial is better explained via demonstration in this video Adding Sources to the Ancestry Family Tree First, let’s make sure we’re all using the same terms. A genealogy source is a document, article, book, individual, or other artifact that provides information about a person, place, or relationship. Not every source is found on Ancestry. So, to keep track of the sources you use to build your family tree, you’ll want to attach a non-Ancestry sources. Now, while the viewer wanted to know about FamilySearch links, in the video linked above, I attached a link from the Internet Archive. Thus, you can see you can utilize other websites that don't necessarily have genealogy sources on them. To add a source, From an relative's profile page, click the “Facts” tab. In the Sources column, click the “Add” button. Then tap the “Add Source” option. On the “Create Source Citation” page, notice the first option “ Where does this information or evidence come from?” has a drop down menu. If you open that, you’ll see all the sources you’ve used in your family tree. Thus, this list will differ from tree to tree. This is not what you want if you're bring citations over from another website or off-line source. Instead, please click on the words “Create a new source.” You can proceed to craft a new source using this template: A title for your source is required. Ancestry recommends that you use the “full name of the book, source record, census index, etc.” For the entry on the Internet Archive, I used the title “An Illustrated History of Southern California.” Next, notice the author field. Ancestry says this can be a person, persons, or an organization. Not every field applies to the sources you are creating citations for. It’s okay to leave something blank. The illustrated history book does not have an author, it has a publisher. I’ll skip this field. Next, you can enter the publisher which is the entity which created the source. Publishers includes printing companies, universities, or other organizations that produce books. Again, not all sources have publishers. In this case, the Lewis Publishing Company created the source. If you have a publisher, proceed to add the location and place to the appropriate fields. Chicago, Illinois 1890 Finish filling out the remaining fields. You can save your work at any time and come back to edit it by clicking “Save.” To revise the citation, click on “Edit this source” on the “Create Source Citation” page. Adding a Repository to the Citation Back on the “Create a new source” form, scroll to the bottom for the "Repository entry." A repository is the location where the source was found. This can be a library, archive, website, or even a person. If your repository doesn't appear in the drop down menu, click “Create a New Repository link.” This form, again, is fairly self-explanatory, except when you have an online location. The only thing I can add right now for the Internet Archive is the name. I could go to the internet Archive and try to find its “About” page to find the other relevant details here. But for now, I’m going to Click “Save Repository” and call it good. Once again, on the "Create a new source" form, click “Save Source.” Now you're back at the “Create Source Citation Information” form. Now, you have a master source that you can use for anyone in your family tree that also appears in this reference. ↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources? Grab your copy of this FREE Genealogy Research Guide: Editing the Citation Details Next, you’ll complete this form for the specific entry within the source that you found. In section 2 of this form, answer the question, “What are the specifics of the information or evidence provided by this source?” In other words, if you source is a book, a citation references a specific entry and page number within the book. First, add the details. Perhaps you have a newspaper article. You’ll insert the newspaper article here. For birth certificates, you’ll name the specific person within a birth record collection that you’re consulting. In this case, I’m accessing a "Biographical Sketch for Luther Harvey Titus on page 76-78" and this reference number on this item. The remaining fields are also optional for your use. In my case, adding a second publication date seems redundant so I’ll skip that. I could add a transcription or abstract of text here. Be advised, Ancestry allows for cut-and-pasting of text. Finally, I can add a specific URL reference. There's one final step and you're done! Attaching Sources to Events Genealogy sources often provide information about specific events and biographical details. If your source relates to any of the options you’ve already added to the profile, you can select the relevant facts in section 3. In this case, I have selected: Birth Name Marriage year Two residence events. Finally, you can click ‘Submit’ to save your new citation and link that citation to multiple facts and events on Ancestry. If you haven’t added an event or fact mentioned in your source, you can Save the new citation. Add new facts or events to the profile. Click the edit option for the citation Proceed to attach the sources to the fact or event. No matter what non-Ancestry source you have discovered, you can add those citations to Ancestry in the fashion I just showed you. The process is easy once you practice a few times. ↪️ Do you want to dive even deeper into genetic genealogy, writing family histories, and climbing your family tree? Join the FHF Xtra Premium Membership and get a wealth of exclusive content. Other Options for Adding FamilySearch Citations to Ancestry Since the viewer asked about taking sources from FamilySearch to Ancestry, there might be an easier way. If you’re a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and you have a member’s account on Ancestry, you’ll notice these FamilySearch icons on your profile. Click on the FamilySearch icon beside the search link at the top of a person profile page. Sign in. Clink on "Compare Persons on FamilySearch." On the tree comparison page, scroll through the options to important data (including citations) from FamilySearch to your Ancestry tree. I’ve demonstrated this process in this previous video. Otherwise, leverage genealogy software, such as RootsMagic, to transfer your citations from FamilySearch to Ancestry. Discover more Ancestry.com Tips and Tricks 5 Easy Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Ancestry Subscription 6 Ways to Enhance Your Ancestry Family Tree How to handle people posting facts on Ancestry.com that are not true? Stop Adding These Images to Ancestry Stop Making Messes on Your Ancestry Family Tree Are You Carefully Adding People to Ancestry Family Tree? Ancestry Tips: A Trick To Link Photos to Events in Your Family Tree Find and Delete Floating Trees on Ancestry

While census records are the gateway to genealogy research, it can be maddening when our ancestors aren't recorded in this federal document. What can we do when it seems our ancestors weren't recorded in the census. Why isn't my ancestor in the census? According to Findmypast, "experts estimate that upwards of 90% of the population was successfully captured in each census." Therefore, your ancestor might not be found in the census record. Or, you might not be searching correctly. I've previously written about 14 Online Genealogy Search Strategies You Need to Know that could help you find your ancestors. Here are some tips from genealogy experts on finding the unfindable ancestors in census records: "Use various spellings of the surname and don't be afraid to search the census records page by page looking at every name listing. " - Melissa Barker, The Archive Lady. " If you can't locate an ancestor, try different search parameters, use wildcards, etc. And if you know for sure the area where the ancestor SHOULD BE, determine the enumeration district and BROWSE the images!" - Thomas MacEntee, Genealogy Bargains. Also, make sure to look at names a page before and after to see if any family members are living nearby. Many times you can find future spouses just a few doors down." - Miles Meyer Or, you might find someone else you were missing from your previous searches. "Read and study the enumerator's rules and laws pertaining for why the census was taken." - Amie Bowser Tennant, The Genealogy Reporter. The reason is, you might discover a reason why your ancestor was not enumerated. For instance, I have a distant relative living in Brazil during the 1930 and 1940 census records. Her family was not part of the military or a government representative. Her husband worked for a private export trading business. Therefore, US Citizens living abroad outside of a government or military capacity were not included in the census records. I discovered that by following Amie's recommendation. Need help researching your ancestors in Early US Census Records? Grab our free US Census Tracker Spreadsheet. "Often, when you begin to look at a set of census records for a specific ancestor, it may appear they moved around quite a bit. However, keep in mind that, especially if they were recorded in different districts of the same county or a neighboring county. Often county and district borders and numbers changed as new maps were drawn or the population grew or shrunk. So that ancestor very well may have stayed in the same house while borders changed around them. Or you may begin to see a pattern of migration as that individual or family did move around." - Cyndi Harlin, Cathy Hong, and Ericka Grizzard of Trace.com. Ancestry has several search strategies to try, but my favorite is to search directories. Perhaps these alternatives to census records can give you the information you seek. From Family Tree Magazine, Diane Haddad suggests finding the names of likely neighbors. Search for them and then search for your ancestors. Learn more about this strategy in the blog post, A Census Search Trick for Hard-to-Find Ancestors. Need help finding and analyzing census records or any other record you need? Use this link to get a $50 discount off your initial deposit when setting up a project with Trace professional researchers! My final tip is once you have found your ancestor for free on FamilySearch, search for your ancestor on census records on Findmypast, MyHeritage, or Ancestry. Not all indexes to the census records were created equal. Sometimes an ancestor is impossible to find on one site but super easy on the other sites. To see what I mean, check out my genealogy website search engine comparison video. May you have luck working around the lack of census records documenting your ancestor. More Genealogy Record Tips An Overview of Genealogy Research in US Tax Records Using Tax Records to Find Your Ancestors - Genealogy Methodology Probate Records For Genealogy: Basics to Know Before Your Research the Deceased How to Find Family Photos When Your Family Has None 6 Must Follow Steps for Genealogy Research in Cemeteries 5 Newspaper.com Search Tips All Researchers Need to Know

Many genealogists believe they must have action-packed stories to entice their family members to read what they write. When we write about our heroic ancestors, this notion seems easy enough. But how do you add action to the life of an average or boring ancestor? What is Action in a Story? According to Beth Hill from The Editor's Blog, action is "anything that happens in a story." For family historians, any documented event in an ancestor's life that we can place on a timeline is action. All the more reason to make that timeline before writing your first draft. Aye? Now, if you have written the first draft using a timeline as your outline, you may still feel like your story is boring. If we again consult Ms. Hill, we would learn that "readers come to fiction to find something they can’t get in their daily lives." I read historical romance novels to find something I can’t experience daily. But when I read a family history, what should I expect? Truthfully, few people want to read a “based on a true story” book that is more fiction than facts. If it’s about their ancestors, they want even more facts than literary contrivances. They want to read a well-written story with elements of quality fiction that emphasize the truth. This transcript is from this video. Action in a Family Story To learn what to include in our stories, let's look at simple memory to see if it has action. I have only one solid memory of my Grandma Helen, which goes like this. During a rare visit to my grandparents’ pipe tobacco and coffee-smelling ranch-style home in Blacklick, Ohio, in a shaky but friendly voice, Grandma said, “Come to the table!” As I rushed to the table, I saw a stooped-over woman wearing thick orthopedic shoes carrying a glass casserole dish from the galley kitchen to the cloth-covered dinner table. As Grandma slowly shuffled to the table with shaky hands, I wondered, ‘will Grandma make it to the table before she drops the only dish I want to eat on the carpet?’ Does this memory have action? It doesn't have a car chase, but it does have movement. Why? Notice that the scene uses ACTION verbs: visit, rushed, wearing, carrying, shuffled, etc. However, this story only has action because I experienced it. If you were fictionalizing your family history, you could add some action by adding physical activity, dialogue, or both. For example, we can show a farmer plowing a field, a banker speaking to a customer, or a mother or father disciplining a child with words and actions. Unless you have experienced these scenes, writing action into your story is tough. So how can we write action into stories about an ancestor we’ve never met, who did things we've never experienced? You Don’t Know Enough About Your Ancestors First, you have to recognize what you don't know. My great-grandfather Robert Walter Zumstein lived in Ontario, Canada. He was a farmer on Elcho Road near the Elcho United Brethren Church, which he attended. I can’t tell you how he walked, rode a horse, swung a hammer, or pushed a plow. Did he ride well or poorly? Did he walk with a limp, slap his feet along the pavement, or skip in his step? Robert was the son of a German-Immigrant to Canada. His son Robert Victor spoke English and German fluently enough to serve in the Canadian military as a translator during World War I. I know these facts but what I don’t know is, How well did Robert speak English? Or did he speak with a Bayern accent? Was he polite and refined, or did he speak with the crudeness of the lower classes? Was he friendly, or did he bark commands? Did he come across as stressed, anxious, tired, or lazy? Since I can’t describe how either man walked or talked, how could I attempt to explain how they worshiped, farmed, or anything else? In short, we need solid personal experiences or diaries documenting our ancestors to invent their words and actions if we fictionalize scenes to add movement to our stories. However, we may describe our ancestors in such a way they wouldn't recognize themselves in our stories. What can we do instead to have more interest in our stories? CinemaTherapy Tip For Family Historians YouTube offers a wealth of knowledge in the strangest of places. For example, during an episode of Cinema Therapy, playwright Alan Seawright talks about how each scene in a good movie has to have a story arc. "The scene must start in one place and end in another." That’s great advice for family history authors! To implement this strategy, we need to take our current draft and analyze each event in our ancestor’s life in connection with the overall theme of their story. As a quick review, our ancestor’s stories often shape into a few common story types. These include the journey, quest, transformation, rags to riches, riches to rags, romance, tragedy, and more. For my ancestor, Joseph Geiszler, his overall story is a tragedy as he died young leaving behind a wife and three children under the age of 4 after moving to America from Baden less than a decade before. What story arcs can you see using a timeline of events in your ancestor’s life? Break Story into Smaller Arcs Once you know the overall arc of your ancestor's story, it’s time to break down their life timeline into smaller arcs. For Joseph, here are just a few of his smaller story arcs: Childhood in Baden Journey to America Marriage and Family The Civil War Dying as a Young Father Each of these segments of his life have a natural arc. Following Alan’s advice to start in one place and end in another, we would tell these stories: Childhood in Baden - he began as a baby and ended as an adult. Journey to America - he started in Baden and ended in Ohio. Marriage and Family - he started single and ended up married with children. The Civil War - he began in a land of opportunity without revolution and ended with his new country at war. Dying as a Young Father - he started alive and ended dead. Once you know the smaller arcs that will point you toward the overall theme, you revise your story to emphasize these actions. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Incorporate Social Context My final tip to add more action-based details to your story to make the mini-story arcs more successful involves leveraging social context when historical documentation is unavailable. I need more documentation for Joseph's story to know who he traveled with, when he arrived in the United States, and how he traveled from the coast to Ohio. However, I am not without hope. Instead, I can talk about the following: Talk about why a seemingly single young man from Baden would leave Germany in the 1850s. Answers for the push factors came from researching the German Revolution of 1848 and the fallout in Baden after its failure. Discuss the options available during that time for where he could move: Did you know that Canada, England, and Australia were options? Within the US, he could have gone to Ohio, Wisconsin, or Texas. Such answers came from books discussing Germans who migrated to the United States and why they chose these locations. After landing in one of many ports, he had several options to travel to Ohio. I can discuss the most likely options for traveling along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Books about migration routes and trails during the 1850s discussed each choice's various routes, rates, and hazards. Then you can end the chapter suggesting that he would not seem to remain a single man for long. Based on Joseph's marriage record, this detail takes me to where I want to end the story. And now, I have added a story arc in the scene. Joseph went from point A to point B either physically, economically, or in terms of relationships. ↪️ Do you want to dive even deeper into writing family histories? Join the FHF Xtra Premium Membership and get a wealth of exclusive content. Did You Recognize the Story Arc You Read? If you still doubt that story arcs and social context provide sufficient action, let me leave you with one final thought. This post was an example of adding action to a piece of writing. First, notice the story arc that took place. You started wanting to know how to add action to your family history. You read how some methods do not work or change the nature of your final product. I offered some ways to serve you better, no matter your talent for writing. You can now go revise your family stories to have more action. Now that you've learned everything I have to share, it's time for you to go write those stories. Off you go! Additional Writing Tips Continue your learning journey with these posts: Enliven Family Histories With One Simple Trick Avoid Writing Dialogue in a Family History Better Ways to Add Action to Family History Stories Stop Repeating Your Ancestor's Names in Family Histories Stop Overusing Pronouns In Your Family History

What do we do with stuff that we need to downsize but can no longer (or don’t want to) take care of? Amy Johnson Crow shared five fantastic tips on donating your genealogy to archives and libraries. Amy says what we do with our stuff is the “$64,000 question.” We have to ORGANIZE! We don’t like to hear this tip, do we? Just because you know where everything is, doesn’t mean anybody else knows where anything is. When researching, there’s no best way to organize your genealogy files. If you’re thinking about the research's longevity, you need to use a system that makes sense to somebody else. Avoid being so specific that you are the only one who understands the system. With a degree in library science and familiarity with library archives, Amy suggests we arrange the following: paper files, rather than binders by an ancestral couple digital research files, arranged by location For a further explanation of why she researches by location, watch the video linked below. The key to organization is having a logical rrangement for all of the files. And do not donate your genealogy research if it’s a mess. Don’t assume a museum, library, or archive will accept your donations. Archives, museums, and libraries have space limitations. Talk to the library, society, archive, or museum before you drive up and drop off your donations. Make sure they will accept the genealogy research you want to donate. What you want to share with them might not align with what they curate. How do you determine which libraries, archives, or museums would accept your collection? Think about the libraries, historical societies, and archives in the area where those ancestors were. Then, if you have a particular research topic (military, ethnic groups, etc.), find a museum or library that accepts those items. Also, consider donating to Universities and Colleges. Look at their special collections online to see what they are curating and see if your materials fit their interests. ↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources? Grab your copy of our FREE Genealogy Research Guides: You might have to SPLIT UP your collection. Let’s say that your father's side of the family is from Alabama, and your mom’s side of the family is all from Vermont. Unfortunately, those locations are not close. Furthermore, there are few libraries or archives out there that would want both of those family lines together. In short, match what you have to the suitable facility. Tell Your Family Where You are Donating Your Genealogy Research Far too often, the family doesn’t learn that the filing cabinet goes to XYY library until they read the will AFTER they have cleaned out the house and taken it to the dumpster. To avoid those ‘Oops” moments, tell your family your plans. Putt big warning labels on those filing cabinets, “When I die, take to XYZ library.” Amy liked that approach. Amy has a box that is completely different than any other box in her office. It has unique things in this box, so her family can tell this is something they should keep. Plan Ahead to Donate Your Family History Don’t wait until something before you start making these calls and these decisions about where you will be donating your genealogy. You won't make the right choices when you get in that situation where life events happen, and you have to make decisions when stressed. So the earlier you can start planning and getting these things organized and taken care of, the easier it will be for everybody. It’s easier to manage in little bits. You Don’t Necessarily Need to Obtain Archival-Quality Boxes When donating your genealogy, archival boxes are less important than taking your materials out of the garbage bags and grocery sacks. Anything you can do to make your materials more stable will be preferred. Make it easier for the next person to use your research. For more tips on reducing your files in preparation to downsize, order our book Downsizing With Family History In Mind at Amazon. BONUS TIP: Reduce Your Genealogy Collection Before You Donate Archives rarely want your room full of filing cabinets. And there is so much stuff online. So reduce your files before you pass them on. Census records are online, so discard your handwritten transcriptions of the census records. Toss out the printouts of the census records as well. Just be sure you have migrated the information to your genealogy database. So, if it’s online, toss it out. It is amazing how much paper you’ll get rid of just by eliminating duplicates! Support Amy Johnson Crow and Generations Cafe I enjoyed learning these tips from Amy Johnson Crow, be sure to check out her podcast – Generations Cafe (available on podcast services such as Stitcher, stitcher.com/podcast/generations-cafe. Two of my favorite episodes are: Organizing Your Genealogy Research How to Start a Genealogy Blog

Whenever you transition from being a beginning genealogist to an experienced one, you’ll learn that not all documentation about your ancestor is created equal. As such, we need to be careful in what we say we know to be true about a relative and their relationships. Thankfully RootsMagic has a way to help you consider and manage the proof you have for your ancestors. Let me share the evidence analysis tool available on RootsMagic so that you can stop and think about the research you have completed and manage the decisions you have made. Sound Genealogical Conclusions Requires Analysis According to the professionals at Legacy Tree Genealogists, “The purpose of genealogy is to reach defensible conclusions about our ancestors. This is done through proper analysis of the evidence. When we consider the sources, the information, and the evidence, we can reach conclusions which are reliable.” In short, as you discover documents and artifacts about an ancestor, evaluate the source and the information on the source in terms of how it answers a specific research question. The best genealogy research questions, as discussed in this blog post and this video, pertain to relationships, events in an ancestor’s life, or biographical details that differentiate one person from another. Before tracking the quality of a piece of information, we must understand how experienced genealogists classify data. Rating each use of our citations follows the method developed by Elizabeth Shown Mills called the "Process Map for Evidence Analysis." The map reveals why RootsMagic does not offer access to the evidence analysis tool from the primary source tab. It’s important to understand that the accuracy of each source is not universally valid. We must evaluate specific detail within the source at the fact level. And that’s why RootsMagic has the evidence analysis questions in those forms, as you see here. Understanding Genealogy Sources To understand the nature of source evaluation, let’s use this example of Magdalena Fladt listed on a census record. Before we can analyze anything this census record says about Magdalena, we must first understand the type of source we have. We either have an original source or a source derived from an original source. In this case, the physical article or an image of a census record, birth certificates, gravestones, passenger list, tax records, and city directories fall into the original category. By contrast, a derivative source is either an index to an original record, which made and still makes searching for an original record easier. Or it’s a collection of abstracted information from an original. For instance, these contain data extracted from wills in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Notice how this information is derived from a marriage record and a will book. So it’s not the ‘original.’ Watch this video to where to add the evaluation to RootsMagic. Tracking the Quality of a Source in RootsMagic Before you continue reading, if you haven't added a source to the fact, check out my videos on source citations. RootsMagic Citation Templates RootsMagic Free Form Citations Since the 1910 Census for Magdalena Fladt is an original record, we can mark that observation in RootsMagic. To do that, Click on the 1910 Residence Fact. Then click on the fountain pen icon to access the sources related to the 1910 Residence. Click on the relevant citation, in this case, the 1910 US Federal Census. In the Quality Section, click on the box beside “Source.” You can now choose from the following options. Original Derivative Don’t Know - If unsure, leave this default setting as the chosen option. Why would you care whether the record is the original or a derived source? If you have spent ANY time using online genealogy research websites, you have discovered why knowing whether you have access to an original record or a derivative of that original matters. When someone takes information from the original and puts it into a derived format, errors can creep in. Therefore, if you start debating with another genealogist over the spelling of your ancestor’s name, age, or other details, it’s best to know if you’re looking at original or compiled records. The other reason we want to know the difference is that quality genealogy relies on looking at and using original records as much as possible. Sometimes, derivatives are replacements for original documents because that’s all that remains of a particular collection. However, original sources often have additional details not contained in the derivative format. Evaluating Information - Primary vs. Secondary Next, we need to evaluate the information about events, relationships, or biographical details found in or on the sources. Our job is to determine who provided the information and how reliable that informant might be. As we do that, each piece of information on a document will fall into one of the following categories: Primary information comes from a witness to an event or someone responsible for recording it, who recorded or reported the information close to the time of the event. A birth record created at a hospital recording the day and time of an infant’s arrival falls into this category. First, the doctor or nurse provides that information. Then a hospital employee creates the document soon after. Secondary information is a statement by someone who did not witness the event, or an informant records the information after the event happened. If my aunt creates a family tree this year and adds my child’s birthdate to the record, her information is secondary. For one thing, the chart is made long after my child’s birth. For another thing, my aunt was not in the delivery room to witness the event first-hand. With that said, recognize two things: A document may have multiple pieces of information that are not all primary or secondary. Primary information is generally considered more accurate than secondary information. However, that’s not always the case. Therefore, when determining whether something is primary or secondary information, we are not focused on the accuracy of the information. Tracking the Quality of Information in RootsMagic Let’s return to the example of the 1910 Census record. Who was the informant? We don’t know. The 1940 census record attempted to identify the informant, but we do not know who provided the information in 1910. Is the record created close to the time of the event taking place? That depends on which piece of information you’re concerned with. Does the informant have first-hand knowledge of the event? Again, the answer depends on the question asked. Since the answers are dependent on the question you ask, now we can fully understand why RootsMagic has the evaluation of sources at the fact level. Regarding whether Magdalena Fladt lived in Franklin, Ohio, in 1910, this is primary information. Either the census enumerator or one of Magdalena's family members attested that she lived in a home in this location at this time. The enumerator created the record shortly after the visit. However, when and where Magdalena was born is secondary information because the enumerator wrote the fact 23 years after her birth. Furthermore, we don’t know the informant's identity. Therefore, in RootsMagic, we can indicate that the residence information is primary for the 1910 Census citation. We would mark the 1910 census as secondary on the citation for her birthdate. In the comments section, how would you label the information about when Magdalena’s parent’s immigration dates, their relationship with each other, and their occupations? Primary or secondary? Let me know in the comments section. What your fellow genealogists think might surprise you, so don’t be shy to respond. ↪️ Before you continue reading, check out our free family history guides by clicking the image below. Evaluating Research Answers Finally, RootsMagic allows us to finish the evidence evaluation process by tracking or assessing how information on a source answers a research question. The choices are direct, indirect, or negative. Direct Evidence - the information on a source answers your research question by itself. Indirect Evidence - the information on a source only answers your research question with additional details. Negative Evidence - This source lacks information that it should contain. For instance, in the 1910 Census record, The 1910 residence location is directly stated. Magdalena’s name is indirectly stated because the word “Lena” is a nickname for the name Magdalena. The census record indirectly states her birth year since it records her age. We can then infer the birth year by subtracting her age from the census year. If Magdalena had a sibling aged 13 who does not appear in this document, that would represent negative evidence. Researchers would expect a 13-year-old to appear in this document. Negative evidence doesn’t have any connotation other than we expected siblings to appear, but they do not. Further research might reveal what happened. To learn more about analyzing your sources, check out this blog post from my colleagues at Family Locket or watch this video by my friend James Tanner. Implementing the Quality Analysis Intro Your Database Know that you know HOW to stop and evaluate your evidence and where you can track your decisions, you might have a few more questions. The first one is: How do you utilize this genealogy software feature in an established tree? I have a motto that you need to memorize, “Start with what you have and improve as you go.” The next time you add information to your RootsMagic database, make sure each fact for someone in your tree has a source. Then, ensure you have analyzed and recorded your decisions for each reference. Do not stop researching entirely to add the evaluations. Just do better with each person you research. Consider reviewing what you have in your database, starting with yourself and working back through your ancestors. Think of that process as a Genealogy Do Better. If at any time you would like the assistance of an experienced heir hunter or forensic genealogist, check out our friends over at Legacy Tree Genealogists. and tell them Devon Noel Lee referred you. Do the evaluation decisions show up in any reports or charts? As far as I can tell, your evaluations do not appear on the narrative, family group sheet, or research notes reports. Thus, I understand that the analysis is a tool used within the database. Additionally, your analysis will not transfer to other family tree platforms like Ancestry, FamilySearch, etc. With that being said, should you bother using this feature? As with everything, it all depends on a variety of factors. Generally, I would use this feature in three instances, but you will see how they are interconnected. Suppose I’m new to genealogy research. This feature will help you think through the analysis process whenever you add a source to the database. If you’re working on a genealogy research report. The evaluation process will help you see if you rely on too many secondary and indirect sources. Suppose you’re working on a genealogy brick wall. Again, evaluate your sources to see what you’re relying on to make your conclusions. I hope that helps you decide how often you will implement this analytical tool into your usage of the RootsMagic database. If you have more questions about either evaluating evidence or features on RootsMagic, drop them into the comments section. Continue Learning About RootsMagic RootsMagic 8 Fact Types: Improve How You Track Your Ancestor Never Get Lost In Your Tree Again With RootsMagic Color-Coding Free Form Citations (Video) Citation Templates (Video) Track Your Genealogy Research Steps: RootsMagic Tasks

Recently, a client, for whom I was beta reading their project, complained after I marked up their story. I repeatedly asked, "Where's the source for this?" "What is this based on?" Apparently, I asked those two questions too frequently because the client retorted, "I don't want to add those genealogy sources to my family history book. They make my story look stuffy, and no one will want to read it!" Wait, what? As a genealogist, sources are the backbone of our efforts. Without sources, we’re writing fiction. So at first, I was a little shocked to hear the client didn’t want me to question where she obtained her information. But then, her question settled a bit, and I wondered what she was actually saying. In short, she felt anxious about whether anyone would read her story if it overflowed with invitations like an academic thesis. Is her fear of the story becoming a snooze-fest with so many well-founded citations? Are These Books Boring? Typically, when you want a page-turned, you pick up A Woman’s Place by Lynn Austin or The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan The first is a historical fiction set during World War II and follows the lives of three women who are involved in keeping the home front functioning. One woman begins working in a factory to prove that women can do such work. The second is a fantasy novel set in a fictional place that very closely resembles Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavian. The stories have complex characters, fleshed-out story arcs, and tremendous setting details. But they have no genealogical sources. Meaning perhaps these characters are based on someone else, but the actual individuals in the stories were not real. In short, these stories are wonderful reads, but they do not have ‘stuffy sources’ cluttering up their way. Contrast that with Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S. C. Gwynne. This book falls into the non-fiction category and is an informative read about the last great Comanche war chief in Texas. Unlike traditional genealogy books, this well-sourced book does not put footnotes at the bottom of every page or each chapter. Instead, the author has a Notes Section and Bibliography. In the book, Three generations of descendants of Shapley Prince Ross: an early Texas pioneer, Karen Stein Daniel, uses superscript citations. Then at the end of the book, the sources are listed in a section called “Endnotes.” While I prefer one book per person, like the two I have on my shelf, this compilation of several generations offers bite-sized nuggets to whet the appetite. All in all, what results in a stuffy family history is not so much the placement or use of citations but how the author writes a story. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Sources Prove Reality While we should take counsel from Dragnet’s Sgt. Joe Friday, who often requested, "Just the facts, ma'am," we do not have to present those details in an insomnia-producing way. Knowing the sources from which genealogy facts originates ensures that we write non-fiction content rather than fantasy. Sources help ensure you are writing about the correct details. If you have a Gold Rush ancestor who documented his journey west, you need to know the difference between the Pinta Trail and the Gila Trail. A reference source, such as a map, can help keep those paths from crossing when they shouldn't. Perhaps you're writing about an immigrant who passed through the port of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1855. You should know the difference between a frigate and a schooner if you wish to discuss the trials of crossing the ocean. You'll need a source to support your claims and differentiate your boats. Quality references prove that we’re writing about real people. So, where does the boring nature of family histories lie if we can't blame the sources? Choose the Right Format A boring family history is the fault of the writer's chosen format or style. The most widely used genealogy book format is known as Register Style. In this style, you write a brief paragraph for each family member. The paragraph includes details about a person's dates and places for their birth or baptism, marriage, death, and/or burial. The paragraph might also identify the person's parents, spouse(s), and child(ren). All of these items are linked to proper source citations. While this format earns many awards from groups such as the National Genealogical Society, does the average reader like this approach? When I say average, I’m talking about the relatives who roll their eyes when you start talking about genealogy at family gatherings. Do they like this style? Typically, no. But genealogists and family historians like this style. Therefore, you have the decision to make. Are you trying to appease the academic audience or non-genealogist? That’s not to say you can’t make a Register Style book more interesting, the key point is to go back to the conversation with my client. She felt this format was stuffy and boring, which swung her opinion about using sources to the extreme of not wanting to include them. Thankfully, family history writes have numerous format options. I discussed many of them in the post What Family History Books Should You Create? Stop blaming the sources. Instead, choose the format that fits your intended audience. Details, Details, Details Joseph Lucas, born 17 March 1837 in Beaumont, Jefferson, Republic of Texas; died 4 February 1846 in Liberty County, Texas, United States. His burial place is unknown. How often have you read something like that and thought, that’s a great story? When it comes to enjoyable family histories, people want to read something more than bare facts. Readers want to understand the family in the context of their world, their choices, and their family members. For instance: Why did a single man migrate from Baden, Germany, in 1853 to Columbus, Ohio? What was it like to be a Jewish model in New York City in 1945 and have a photographer enter you in a beauty pageant? What was it like to attend a leading music college in Paris at ten? We can piece together the basic details that tell us what happens in an ancestor's life through school records, newspaper articles, passenger lists, census records, and more. Let’s go back to Joseph’s story. Notice that he was born in the Republic of Texas and died a year after Texas became a state. You can add historical context to his story to help us understand those changes. Did you calculate his age at death? He’s about nine years old. How many siblings does he have at the time of his death who will grieve his loss? How old were his parents? How did he die? Did you notice that his birthplace and death place are different? How far apart are these two locations? Did his family move there, or are they visiting? He did in February. While Texas isn’t known for snow storms, February is cold, and winter often causes the spread of illnesses. Did weather or communicable diseases play a role in his death? Also, what else happened to his family that year? Who else was born? Who married? Who died? Who moved away? If we take time to answer these questions, we can turn two lines about a boy who died in Texas at the age of nine into several paragraphs. And I haven’t even added much more social history other than the fact that Texas became a state during Joseph’s lifetime. If this is possible with such a short life, imagine what we can do with an ancestor who lived into their 60s. And you’ll also notice that the answers to each question will require sources to supply the answers. Details make a story more enjoyable to read, so add them whenever possible. For more tips on including details in your story, read Describing Your Ancestor's Physical Appearance and Adding Historical Context, or order my book A Recipe for Writing Family History. Add the Citations Going back to my client, with time, we worked through the process of deciding which format would meet her needs for approachable reading while being supported by references. If you will turn your attention to how you will deliver and package your story rather than fighting sources, you will produce something that your intended audience will find enjoyable. More Writing Tips: Enliven Family Histories With One Simple Trick Avoid Writing Dialogue in a Family History How to Avoid Writing a Boring Family History Tips for Writing a Compelling Family History

Did you know that professional genealogists often find their research getting stalled and need a jumpstart? It's true. So what are we to do to get out of the rut we're stuck in? I've discovered six simple things that help me get my family history mojo back. My genealogy research projects and interest have stalled in the past two years. Last year, I planned to complete a scrapbook for my mother-in-law, write about William Townsend, my Civil War Ancestor, and work on extending my Townley lines. However, my mental health has not faired well with being cut off from friends and family members, moving to a new state, and so much more. As a result, I lost my mojo until I remembered these six simple steps to restart the fire. 1. Pick a Project One of my biggest problems is not realizing that there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything my ambitious mind wants to accomplish. Additionally, I've learned that I become hyper-focused on one project at a time. By contrast, Andy can have multiple projects going at one time and make moderate progress on each. However, even he has to limit how many projects he's working on at one time. Which project management style do you have? I recommend picking only one or two projects or research questions. However, write down all of your possible projects and research questions and keep them in a memorable and safe place. Once you have all of your ideas written down, you free your brain to focus on the one or two projects that are your focus. I like to pick two projects but decide which one is more important than the other. That way, if progress on the top priority project stalls, I can work on the second priority until the first can move forward again. 2. Determine the Tasks Review what you've already accomplished to reignite the fire in a project. For the scrapbook, I have the photos organized and placed on page layouts. For the Civil War Ancestor, I've written about his birth, marriage, and part of his service and injury. For the Townley project, I have created a spreadsheet that identified all the Townleys living in Essex County, New Jersey, in the early 1800s. I have linked each person to a FamilySearch profile. I have recorded all the land record reference information into a spreadsheet. I had started reviewing each and noted which documents pertain to the master list of Townleys. For my Colorado Four Generation project, I have established the research question of, "who are the parents of Louella C Shreve, born 22 June 1889 in Colorado?" While I share these possible projects, I have only selected two to tackle this year. If I finish those two, I'll tackle the next two. Regardless, now that I have reviewed where I'm at in the project, I need to determine the next steps and make a plan. For a writing or scrapbooking project, the next steps could be content editing, researching for more details, or finalizing the project for publication. For the scrapbook, I need to find a way to share the page layouts with my mother-in-law. Last year, the way I thought would work didn't. So, before moving that forward, I have to solve a sharing problem. For the Civil War Ancestor, I need to write about life after the war and his death. For research projects, we should be using a research plan. With that plan, we should identify the records we need to investigate to answer our research questions. We should also be recording our notes or writing conclusions about our discoveries. ↪️ Are you unsure what records you should search next? Grab your copy of this FREE Brick Wall Busting Guide: 3. Make Your Goal Visible Have you made New Years Resolutions but failed to keep them more than two weeks after making them? Last year, my family posted our goals in our dining room, but truthfully, the writing wasn't large enough for us to remember. In the end, one of five persons achieved any of the goals we recorded. However, for the year leading up to my 40th birthday, I had the goal of getting in shape to be Catwoman for Halloween. I made a calendar check-off chart to record the days I exercised. In addition, I had an assessment chart to measure my weight loss and muscle changes. I also had a picture of a Cat Woman to remind me of the costume I wanted to wear on October 31st. This goal was incredibly successful. Sadly, I need to restart that goal again now that I'm finally more stable on my leg after my surgery. But I need to figure out what physically fit woman I want to dress up for Halloween to motivate me to achieve this goal. Any ideas? By sharing these goals, I want to emphasize something important. MAKE YOUR GOALS VISIBLE I neglected to make my scrapbook, writing, and genealogy goals visible last year. Unfortunately, this neglect led me to start the year off making significant progress and then stall out in March. This year, I will post a picture of a finished scrapbook in the two places I work the most in my home. I'll also give myself a deadline. I think Mother's Day is enough time, but it all depends on my mother-in-law. So, maybe Christmas. I'll also make a mock-up of the Civil War Ancestor's book cover. Then, I will post a picture of that on my wall next to the scrapbook. I'm not sure what checkboxes I will make, like the fitness goal calendar. But I'll come up with something. But the giant, visible reminder will go a long way to reminding me that I might not necessarily want to watch a replay of Poldark Season one until I've worked on my goals. 4. Learn Something New and Try it Sometimes we're stuck because we need to learn something new and try it out. For instance, perhaps we need to know how to: use genealogy software create timelines make clue webs write a research report use Google Docs research in tax records find land records and learn what the terminology means leverage descendancy research utilize data mining for a complex research question. cluster our DNA matches Create a Leeds Chart write biographical sketches Whew! What a list. All of these topics link to previous blog posts and videos. Be sure to check them out. Add to your list something you don't know how to do. Then go try it out. That might be the ticket to board a faster-moving research train. ↪️ Do you want to dive even deeper into genetic genealogy, writing family histories, and climbing your family tree? Join the FHF Xtra Premium Membership and get a wealth of exclusive content. 5. Make Dates With Yourself If something is important, you put it on your calendar. My children's doctor's appointments swim practice, and church activities make it to the calendar. My lectures and video releases have space on my calendar. Do you know what didn't have space on my calendar last year but did in prior years when I was more successful in accomplishing my goals? I hope you guessed, time to work on my genealogy projects. This year, let's schedule dates with ourselves to know when we want to work on a project. Of course, things may come up, and we must move that date to another time slot. But, don't be a no-show to your dates. I mean, if you set the alarm to work out at 5:30 am, and you stop the reminder but don't take action, you're as bad as the date who stood you up. Don't do this with your genealogy dates, either. Keep your promise to yourself by showing up to your genealogy date, ready to make some progress. 6. Ask for Help Sometimes we're stuck because we don't know the next step. Or we don't know how to do the next step, and it requires a lot of time or skill to accomplish it. Don't be like a stereotypical male who doesn't stop and ask for directions when lost. Likewise, don't be like a stereotypical female who doesn't ask for help with home or family when they need it most. The most successful people know what they don't know and ask for help when needed. Some ways to ask for help can be: Brainstorm with a genealogy buddy about what to search next Watch a lecture about obscure records Ask a family member to help with a project Hire professional service providers to tackle a challenging research project or write and publish your family history project. Speaking of hiring a professional, if at any time you would like the assistance of an experienced heir hunter or forensic genealogist, check out our friends over at Legacy Tree Genealogists. and tell them Devon Noel Lee referred you. If the Serenity Prayer can help people recover addictions and afflictions, perhaps a Genealogy Serenity Prayer could be. God, grant me the serenity to accomplish the things I can do, the courage to recognize things I cannot, and wisdom to ask for help when needed. May you progress in your projects today and every day as you follow and do these steps to jumpstart your genealogy research. More genealogy tips: Become a Better Researcher By Reviewing What You Know Are You Reviewing the Genealogy Research of Others? How to Critically Read a Family History What Has Been Done on Your Family Tree?

Do you ever write or say something that makes complete sense to you, but to someone else, it doesn’t? Today’s family history writers’ advice question comes from Roma asking: "My biggest problem is clarity. What's in my head does not come onto the paper. How do I change that? " Explain “Niche” Jargon If you want the introduction of the video linked above, you'll hear the terms my daughter told me to move a flag around my body. The instructions she gave me are the opening sequence to the color guard routine for the Los Alamos High School Fight Song Routine if you’re on the color guard line. You'll also see a second example where she does it much better than myself. However, you can imagine anyone giving you instructions to a dance routine or a football play. Some of the terminology may makes sense to you, but each group will have different terms for similar moves. A palm flip or the 'tick-tocks' to one flag line will mean something else to another. When writing a personal or family story, when use terms that people within a certain group would understand, take time to define those terms so others can understand as well. Define Your Terms Have you ever had an argument with someone only to discover that you’re arguing over different definitions of a term? In family history writing, we want to ensure that we are using words that others would understand. Otherwise, we need to define those terms. Hopefully, this experience will provide more clarity. Canadian relatives have written some small stories about our common ancestors. One of my favorites discusses how a Zumstein girl was traveling to assist her sister’s upcoming confinement and delivery of the sister’s baby. The Zumstein girl traveled by train, arrived at the station, and waited for her relatives to pick her up. Apparently, she waited a long time without a way to contact her family to find out the reason for the delay. A neighbor, who happened to be at the station, discovered the young lady’s dilemma and offered her a ride. They got into a bobsled and went over the mountain to the Zumstein farm in Elcho, Canada. The story seems straightforward, so what terms need defining? The first term is MOUNTAIN. When I think of a Mountain, I think of the Rockies or the Adirondacks. For people who have traveled on the escarpment between the two Great Lakes, you might know the ‘mountain’ of which I speak. However, when I traveled to my ancestral homeland, I couldn’t find a single mountain in sight. What the heck were they talking about? When I visited Ontario, I didn’t see a mountain. I saw a hill. The next term is BOBSLED. Whenever I hear about a bobsled, particularly since I grew up in Texas, these are things people use in the Olympics. I particularly am a fan of the Jamaican bobsled team. However, I don’t think the neighbor was using one of those to transport this Zumstein relative down a sled track to the Zumstein farm. So make sure you define your terms. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Clarify Your Meaning Now, if you’re fairly certain that you’re explaining terms, others might not understand, then you have to ask whether you’re speaking clearly. For instance, when I say that I am a one-way American Sign Language communicator, what does that mean? Well, I can speak American Sign Language, but I can’t read it. Wait. What? How does someone ‘read’ sign language? In my mind, this makes sense, but to someone else, it might cause them to be confused and say, “could you explain that to me?” Why, of course! Glad you asked. To me, ‘reading’ signs is understanding what a person is signing to me when they are using their hands. Thus, I’m ‘reading’ the meaning of their hand gestures. Another way to explain this is to discuss my son, who is in Chile and fully immersed in Spanish. He can speak Spanish to people and generally use correct words; however, since he’s so new to the language, he struggles to understand people who are speaking Spanish to him. Now, does that make sense? He has trouble hearing and understanding the language, but he can speak to those in Chile Of course, the next question someone asks, “how come you don’t read sign language? Don’t you learn both?” Then I would need to proceed to explain to someone why I can sign to a deaf person, but I struggle to understand when they sign back at me. But when, I connect my experience to one someone else may have, like my son, clarity occurs in my writing. So, be sure to clarify your meaning when you're writing family stories. Keep People Straight One final thing involves differentiating people in your reader’s mind. For instance, make sure you check out my video about avoiding the Pronoun Game. If you’re talking about three men and use he, he, and he in one paragraph, your reader will quickly lose track of who is whom. So, review your stories for pronoun problems after watching the video. Also, leverage multiple name identifiers for a person to make your story more interesting while increasing the clarity of your stories. We covered that topic in this blog post. GET HELP While I may share with you what to watch out for, namely Explain Jargon Define terms Clarify meaning. How will you know you’re achieving these goals if your story makes sense only to you? The BEST solution is to share your stories with someone else. There really is no substitute for sharing your story with someone else to increase the clarity of your writing. Grammar editors, like my favorite Grammarly, can’t overcome the human eye to improve understanding because it’s a syntax, not a context editor. So, find someone who doesn’t know your family intimately and ask them which portions of your stories don’t make sense. They may highlight words or phrases that need clarification. They may also recommend rearranging portions of your story so that portion flows better. You could ask a friend or family member, find a writing group, or hire a beta reader. I also offer beta reading services, Just remember you want someone who isn’t super invested in the person you’re writing about. They should care about helping you tell the story clearly. If you have other advice for Roma about being clearer with your writing, share your thoughts in the comments below. I know she’ll be reading.

When tackling complex genealogy research projects, we would do well to be organized. Even more so if we're doing F.A.N. Club research. So, how will we manage a research project involving our target person, their extended family, neighbors, and friends? The Question To Ask Before You Begin There are many tools where you could do genealogy research projects, but the first thing to ask yourself is, what is the scope of your investigation? In the previous post, we mentioned that I couldn’t find Henry Zumstein in a Canadian census the following year after seeing him in this one. I noticed his neighbors were named Alanson, Ithamer, and Susanah Comfort. In the next census, I quickly found Ithamer’s name. As I reviewed the page, I found Henry Swimstine, who happens to be my ancestor with a poorly recorded surname. Since the neighbors assisted in finding a record, I didn’t need to do much else with their census records. They were a means to an end. But, if your research project is more complicated, you would need to use different genealogy tools. You would still evaluate the scope of your project to decide which tools match the needs of your investigation. Tool for Simple Research Often, Cluster Research involves a handful of persons to solve a genealogy research question. Research plans help us organize our investigations in organized and methodological ways. And this is perfect for small projects involving the family and neighbor cluster. As such, all you may need to do to track your research is to make a note in your research plan. Search for Comforts in the 1881 Census Record in the same village as they were in the 1871 Census record. Once you accomplish this task, you can add details about the success of the search (and cite your sources). What I just showed you might contradict what I said before. Except that Ithamer Comfort’s daughter married Henry Zumstein’s son. As such, you will want to trace both families throughout a project about the family of the boy who married the girl next door. Two Tools for Complicated Research Projects Genealogy research plans have their limits. You will still need them in a complex research project, but they don’t help you analyze and organize massive amounts of research. When you have numerous persons in each ring of this fan, what tools will work best? Spreadsheets Databases / Online Trees Spreadsheets - Simple A spreadsheet application like Excel or Google Sheets can help you manage brief details about FAN club members. The column headings for your research depend on what you’re trying to track. For a simple project, you might have a spreadsheet that looks like this: The project's primary focus is the Townley family, but we have spouses, neighbors, and so forth. The column headings are Surname Give (or Given Name) Birth (year) Death (year) Relationship, and Notes Notice the hyperlinked given names when I linked each to a profile on FamilySearch. However, John Jay Marvin’s is unlinked. When I discover his profile, I can update this spreadsheet. The purpose of this cluster spreadsheet is to provide quick details about relevant persons and links to the FamilySearch family tree. That way, I can go to the profiles if I need more information (particularly sources). Otherwise, I keep the essential information in the table. Spreadsheets - Complex Other Cluster projects will require more than one table within a spreadsheet. This fact is particularly true with surname projects. For example, I currently have such a project for my Townley ancestors from Essex County, New Jersey. To learn more about my Townley Surname Table, watch the full video on this topic. Watch this video. To learn more about this massive research project, particularly the land record table, check out the link in the description box to the Channel Member Training, The key point is to track the information that will serve you best. You can always create new tables within one spreadsheet, so avoid forcing everything into one tab. Columns for Multiple Name Projects Two other genealogists have shared how they track FAN Club Members. One is from Marc McDermott’s blog post, Cluster Research – Start Your FAN Club! Connie Knox, of Genealogy TV, has another table in a video called Tracking Ancestors FAN Club (Worksheet). Take a momento compare the difference between the spreadsheets Connie, Marc, and I have shared. Which column headings would help you the best? Leave your thoughts and suggestions below. Mind you, I have only focused on the genealogical record aspect of F.A.N. Club research, but you can easily modify this information for DNA matches. In fact, that’s the foundation of the Leed’s Method and other table-based genetic genealogy research tools. ↪️ Are you striving to tackle genealogy brick walls? Grab your copy of our Free Research Guides for such projects. Databases or Online-Trees Spreadsheets can only manage so much information before they are inefficient. Therefore, utilizing genealogy programs or online trees can help you manage an immense amount of data while keeping your key connecting clues in a manageable table. However, we must ask ourselves where to maintain profiles for the ‘non-family’ member profiles involved in cluster research. Here are some options to consider: Genetic Cluster Research If you’re researching potential genetic relatives, use MyHeritage and Ancestry to build your family tree linked to your DNA. Then add DNA matches (and their trees) to this tree to see where things connect. Adding your potential genetic relatives to your family tree can trigger ThruLines or Theories of Family Relativities to connect your trees. If not, you’re still using your DNA matches trees in an attempt to build toward your common ancestors. Brick Wall Research Projects In a previous post, I discussed creating brick wall only databases. By so doing, you isolate the persons relevant to your project in each cluster group. I’ll advise you to LABEL this separate tree so that other researchers (and anyone who inherits your research) will know these persons are not necessarily relatives but essential to solving research questions. Collaborative Brick Wall Research If you are willing to share your research with others, add F.A.N. Club profiles to a collaborative family tree such as FamilySearch, WikiTree, or Geni. You’ll achieve two objectives by doing this. You can leave your research for the descendants of these non-family members for their family members to find. You can leverage the research of others on F.A.N. Club members who may find materials you didn’t know existed. For instance, my Great-Grandfather George Geiszler has a neighbor and friend, Samuel Barton. Someone researching Samuel will find my research which includes the following: The Geiszler Family Bible that identifies Samuel’s death. Pictures of Samuel Barton. Discover that George’s wife was the informant on Samuel’s death record, even though she’s not genealogically related to him. Samuel is the god-parent to George’s son George Barton. By leveraging these collaborative profiles, you can link the profiles to the spreadsheet and minimize how much data your tables have to manage. Be Organized to Find Success Tackling difficult genealogy research questions always begins with being organized. Good luck, and let me know how it goes. Fore more genealogy research tips, check out these posts: A Brief Review of Cluster Genealogy Research (FAN Club) Common Questions About Cluster Research Use Data Mining to Research Online Genealogy Record Sets Find Your Female Ancestors By Researching Her Children Best Tips for Finding Your Female Ancestor in the Newspaper

Do you remember your childhood accurately? Does someone else possibly have some insight that can make your personal history more interesting? The truism that there are two sides to every story played out perfectly in an interview Kevin Jonas, Sr. did with his son Nick Jonas, on the “Legendary with Kevin Jonas ” YouTube channel. Nick’s father interviewed him and asked questions that a traditional podcaster or show host wouldn’t consider. At one point, Kevin said something so profound related to the topic of my video. He said, "I can't wait to ask you about your perception. Because I know my side of it, and we've often talked about all these sides and recollections to our stories." I especially love the statement, “all these sides and recollections to our stories.” In other words, Kevin seems to feel that there are many sides to the recollections of our stories. Nick, his son, will have one view, and he will have another. The interview is a discussion of those varying recollections. I highly recommend you watch it from an eye toward what, as family historians, we can learn from this conversation. Should Personal Histories include stories from our loved ones reflecting on our lives? Thanks to this interview, I have considered the question, “should personal histories include more stories from our loved ones reflecting on our lives?” Thanks to this interview, we can see something pretty interesting. Kevin Sr asks Nick about his earliest musical memory. He says, "I don't remember the moment I first sang or, uh you know, heard music or fell in love with music. But my memory is about a bit of a rebellious streak as it relates to music. And that was like jumping into the pit that the drum kit was in at CF and I [Nick] Bible College that you taught at and went to my mom and all that." Isn't it interesting that Nick is inserting a little bit of context in his setting? He told us the college in which his father taught at! Really great job, Nick! I wish all of our relatives would do that! Watch this video to hear the clips from Nick and Kevin's interview and the full commentary from this blog post. Nick continued, "I went down there, and I was banging on the drums. And I think it was two or three, yeah. And that's my first music memory is, is not like, you know, doing it the right way but just playing and having fun enjoying it." By contrast, Kevin Sr shared this memory, "Our memory is so emotional for us. We would wake up.And when you would wake up, we would hear this Angelic high voice travel through the house." Nick remembers banging on drums. And his father remembers him singing sweetly. As family historians, what are your takeaways? Multiple Perspectives Reveal the Deeper Character Nick likely doesn’t really remember what his father remembers, yet that’s how Kevin Sr remembers his son. Both stories tell you about Nick’s involvement in music from an extremely early age - both the sweet and rebellious aspects of his character. Then, we can consider Nick as a young adult and speculate (since none of us are close enough relatives) how much of the sweet or rebellious streaks are part of his story today. In fact, one would wish you could see pictures of young Nick beating on the drum set and compare it to him banging the drums in Camp Rock 2. Are there any similarities? ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: What Should Personal Historians Learn? Since this is a family history writing channel, what tips do I have for you? First, write your stories with your memories. Then, begin asking relatives to contribute their memories. If you’re writing a personal history, you’ll ask for memories about yourself. When writing a family history, you’ll ask for memories about a shared ancestor. For instance, I grew up far away from my grandma. The memories I have are of a visiting relative who tagged along to several events that I participated in. By contrast, my cousin Boomer has one of my favorite stories about Grannie. When Boomer graduated from Annapolis and was preparing for his Navy assignments, Grannie gave him an odd and humorous present. You'll have to watch the video to learn what it was. The story about her life would be hollow if I only wrote about my grandmother from my perspective. I could also include memories of my youngest cousin, who lived with my Grannie in her home during her childhood, that story will differ even further. She’ll know the day-to-day Grandma, especially at Gran’s end of life. To sum up, learn from the Kevin and Nick Jonas’s interview. Notice how they share other stories, and you gain great insight into both men from the perspectives of themselves and the other person. Apply those lessons to your family histories and see how transformative this tip becomes.

Just how many details should we include in a family story? Is there such a thing as oversharing? If you found yourself asking those questions, then you’re in line with a question submitted by Linda, who asked: "How in-depth should we be when describing our ancestors? I'm thinking parents, etc. Different traits they had, what they liked to eat, falling and breaking a leg, having cancer and being a survivor, even spousal abuse?" I really want to say. ALL OF IT! However, let’s be more specific so that you can answer this question for your ancestor’s stories. Is there such a thing as “too much description?” Draft Everything 9 times out of ten, most genealogists have too little information to work with when writing a family history. For example, I had four documents to work with about my 2nd great-grandfather, Joseph Geisler. I turned that into a 90-page story (in a 6x9 format) with an appendix at the end of the book. I have no photos or physical descriptions of my ancestor, but I expanded those four documents into an interesting story. However, not every detail is necessary when telling a story about our ancestors. In fact, some of our readers might not appreciate all the details. How will you know how to strike the right balance? Every good story begins with a rough draft. Then that draft goes through the editing process where ‘how much is too much” is resolved. Therefore write EVERYTHING and ANYTHING you can while you’re drafting your family story. You will not know how which details matter most unless you give them a chance to shine in your story. In this video, I explain how my father's leg surgery has a deeper connection to me four years later. Watch this video. Revise For Your Audience After processing everything and anything you know about a relative, set the story aside for a month or longer. Before revising your story again, re-read it. Who would benefit from this story? Children Young Adults Adults with a casual interest in genealogy Or adults with a genealogical background Once you make THAT decision, you can use that audience as your goal. Many details about an individual appeal to a child compared to a genealogist. Once you’ve finished your rough draft, that helps you pick your audience. The audience then helps guide how much context is warranted and appreciated. Also, keep in mind the story you chose to tell a specific audience also guides your content decision-making process. For instance, Andy’s family has a large family history book focused on paternal grandparents. There’s a story in here that would make an awesome children’s story. It’s about his grandfather’s trip across the globe to deliver planes to China during World War II. There’s a lot of detail. This trip is full of mishaps that my children love. If the original draft has details about spousal abuse or his favorite food, we should probably leave it out. And then extract that story into a smaller book, rather than this big tome to carry around. Why? For one thing, these details are off-topic of this journey around the world. However, if he received a scar from one of the crash landings the planes had, or he doesn’t like loud bangs because they triggered memories from this adventure, we should include those details. Why? Because these details directly relate to the story. The reaction to the loud bangs could be a great opening to the story as well. In the video mentioned earlier, I share a family history story in Andy's family that sounds like the Gift of the Magi but with Mexican food. Be sure to watch this video. How many details are needed in this type of love story? Any relevant examples of about the silly lovebirds. But this story shouldn’t necessarily go into details about war scars or traveling around the globe in broken-down airplanes. Revise your stories to meet your audience and stay ‘on topic’, and you’ll have the confidence to share the right details. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: How Many Details Go Into a Sensitive Story? Now, let’s talk about sensitive stories - namely abuse, divorce, alcoholism, neglect, racism, slavery, and so on. Would you include a favorite meal in a story about an abusive ancestor? No, and yes. When you’re retelling a story about a specific abusive situation, unless food was involved in the interaction, leaving that detail out is ideal. However, if you’re telling an overall story about someone who abused or was abused, details about their personalities and interests, including favorite foods, scars, and so forth, tells a more well-rounded story. Additionally, since food can play into abusive stories, that detail might become insightful. Let me explain. For instance, if an ancestor’s favorite food is brownies, but they don’t eat them often without feeling regret or remorse, you should discover the story. Perhaps they took a brownie once because they liked them so much and suffered a severe beating. Food memories, including negatively associated ones, can offer gateways to the past and present. Children of abusive parents learn, most violence isn’t constant. Instead, the trauma happens inconsistently between stretches of positive memories. Therefore, including small details that can help show that a parent wasn’t always an aggressor would shine a clearer light on the instability of an abusive home. “They seemed so kind and loving, so how could they have done that,” now becomes clearer through the extra details you provide in a story. While this advice addresses small details in the stories of abusive families, recognize the suggestions apply to all sensitive stories that I referenced earlier. Review the examples I shared and let that be your guide, no matter the topic you must address. Test Your Story After you have revised your draft toward an audience about a specific story, what other resources can help you decide the amount of details to include in your story? Nothing beats sharing your story with someone else, so long as it’s the right someone else. For non-sensitive stories, share them with your family members and gauge how they react to it. For sensitive stories, family members aren’t always the best feedback source. Many want to omit or revise your story to protect the ancestor, the descendants, or someone else. As such, seek out ‘beta readers’ who have handled such topics before. They might give you an outside-looking-in perspective, and they have no stake in the final version of the story. CONCLUSION To sum up, draft every detail available. Select your audience once the draft is complete and revise it to serve them best. Your audience and the stories you have to tell will guide your choices. If you enjoyed this video response to a Write Your Family History audience member, consider sharing your specific questions with me below. Now, go work on your stories. . Off you go!

Question everything. Question everything again. By so doing, you'll build a correct family tree that others can utilize to extend theirs. Genealogists who implement a heavy dose of skepticism tend to build more accurate family trees. Before accepting someone's family tree or the facts listed on a document, we must analyze how pieces fit together to ensure we are not making or passing on mistakes. Question Everything While sound genealogy research is based on quality research questions about identity, relationships, or context, we can not stop our inquisitive nature with crafting our research query. We must question everything regarding the conclusions we and other historians have compiled. It's a genealogical myth to believe, "if it's in print, it must be true." Viewer Debra Larrabee shared her grandfather's truism "paper doesn't refuse ink." This makes me smile. How true that paper will receive any ink that is put on it, but it doesn't make what is written true. When I requested examples of falsehoods recorded in print, Mabel wrote this. Whether you call such fabrications frauds or hoaxes, such inaccurate published genealogies negatively impact family tree building. The FamilySearch Wiki has an article that further explains this topic. When we question everything, we grow as genealogists which leads us to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect. A Forbes article said it like this: When you ask questions, you pave the way for your own growth and development. The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which you tend to think you know more than you do. When you have a little knowledge of something, you don’t know what you don’t know. You can overestimate your abilities. Hopefully you're now persuaded to be more skeptical when building your family tree. Additionally, if someone questions your research, do not become upset. Perhaps you don't know what you don't know. Review your research and see if there's something amiss. You might just uncover what respected research Megan Smolenyak did when she wrote, "Hillary Clinton Family Tree a Wake-Up Call for Genealogy." ↪️ Want more genealogy tips and tools? Check out our FREE Resource Guides Questions to Analyze Your Research Whenever you have a research query or evidence, questions what you gather. Here are a few critical thinking prompts to get you started. What clues does a piece of evidence (such as a city directory, vital record, etc.) provide? Why was a record created? What was the process behind creating it? Who created the record? What knowledge would they have of the event? How do the clues in each record fit together? Are there any conflicts? What overlooked details appear in or with the evidence? Do suffixes and titles provide clues to answer your query? Does a gravestone have a meaningful symbol etched in stone, in a neighboring stone, or via staked signage? How are all persons named in the source related? Is the source the original record or a transcription or extracted version of it? Do I have enough sources to support a conclusion? Does DNA Matching evidence confirm or refute the documents I have gathered? These are just a few questions to ask when you question everything you gather on your journey to building an accurate family tree. Watch this video. Could Clues Be Wrong? Without a time machine or looking glass to the past, we must not believe all documents. Why? Because people lie, make mistakes, or are unclear with their responses. As such, we can trace the wrong path or hit a scalable brick wall. My maiden surname is Geiszler. The German immigrant baring that name died leaving a widow with three small children. She quickly remarried but there's a problem. Her marriage record does not reveal that she is a widow or that Geiszler is her married surname. As such, descendants of the children from her second marriage kept looking for a woman named Caroline Geiszler born to a father with the surname Geiszler. In short, they were researching the wrong name because a record did not clarify the truth. As you analyze your research, ask yourself the following questions: What sources provide the evidence for facts about my ancestor? Are the sources another researcher's family tree or a quality genealogical source? Do other sources provide different answers to your research question? Could those be correct? Can you determine who provided the information on a record and whether they had first hand knowledge of the events? Is the source incomplete and unclear about the answers provided? Regarding Caroline, Her three oldest children in the census record following her second marriage were identified by the surname Billman. Their marriage records and death records were not found with this surname. Instead, when the surname Geiszler (or other spelling variations) was used, you find the vital record for the children. Although you learn that Caroline's surname is Mack, her children’s records conflict regarding the given name of their deceased father. But that is what makes genealogy fun. More questions to resolve. Prove It As a teenager, my brother consistently questioned the answers people provided him. So much so, I frequently heard him say, "Prove it." While I became the genealogist in the family and he developed a knack for finding living persons, I have adopted his "prove it" attitude with genealogy research. Question everything. Question everything again. By so doing, you'll build a correct family tree that others can utilize to extend theirs.