A conversation with an Ancestry user led me to download several vital records for my family tree. Most of my relatives lived in New York City, so I'm a frequent user of the NYC Municipal Archives website. I knew the drill:
- Use the search form to locate the birth, marriage, or death certificate I need.
- Download the PDF and rename it.
- Use Adobe Acrobat to extract the images.
- Use Photoshop to crop and enhance the images.
- Add metadata to the images including a title and the source citation.
- Add the images and facts to the person in my family tree.
- Create the source citation in my tree and attach the images to it.
- After adding them to my weekly computer backup process, file the PDF and images away.
While going through this process, I thought I should share it with you in detail. Here's how can make your genealogy documents searchable, verifiable, and reusable. Once you locate a document image for your family tree, here are 7 steps to follow:
1. Follow Your File Naming and Folder Structure
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| Once you make this genealogy checklist a habit, you'll never misplace another document image. |
Follow logical rules and you'll always know what to name your digital genealogy files. And you'll know where they belong. As I downloaded my first NYC death certificate, I knew what I had to name the file. The format is LastnameFirstnameEventYYYY, or, in this case, BasiloneAngeloDeath1929.pdf.
I also downloaded Angelo's marriage certificate (BasiloneAngeloZeollaAngelinaMarriage1919.pdf) and the bride's birth certificate (ZeollaAngelinaBirth1902.pdf).
2. Save the Source Citation Immediately
It's valuable to store a source citation within your document images as well as in your family tree. First, copy the source citation before you leave the website that has the document image. You can copy it to a temporary text file. Many times the website will have a citation you can copy. For these NYC documents, I have my own template:
New York City Municipal Archives; NYC Department of Records & Information Services; YEAR BOROUGH TYPE certificate #; URL
Add the citation to the image's metadata. Metadata is information that stays with the image no matter where you put it. To do this, right-click the image on your computer and choose Properties. That will open a small window. There, click the Details tab. You can paste the source citation in the Comments field.
Note: Fill in the Title field in the image's metadata, too. My titles start with the year so each person's document images arrange themselves by date. For example, "1891 birth record for Adamo Leone".
3. Extract All the Important Facts
Examine your new document image. Which facts from the document do you need to enter in your family tree? At very least, you've got a person's name, an event date, and a place. Does the document also confirm parents' names or a spouse's name? There may be more there than you expected. See "27 Key Facts to Extract from a Death Certificate".
Whatever you learn from the new document, add those facts to your family tree.
4. Add the Image to Your Family Tree
Add your new document image to the primary person in your family tree. That person may be the:
- newborn
- deceased
- bride or groom
- head of household
- passenger, etc.
Your family tree software may let you drag and drop the image into a person's media collection. If you saved a Title in the image's metadata, that title should appear in your family tree.
In Family Tree Maker, I always edit the image to include its exact date and assign it to a category. My categories (some are custom) include Vital Records. I choose that category for all birth, marriage, and death records.
If you need to attach this document to more than one person, don't drop the same image into your family tree twice. Instead, link the second person to the same image. Let's say you dropped the marriage certificate image into the groom's media collection. Now you want to attach it to the bride. Go to the bride in your tree and choose to add an existing image. Then navigate to the husband and choose the existing document image.
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| It isn't difficult to create source citations for your family tree. But you need to make it part of your genealogy routine today! |
5. Add the Source Citation to Your Family Tree
Now your family tree has new facts and a new image. It's time to create a source citation for all those facts.
You'll create a single source citation, then attach it to each fact you learned from the document. All the facts, even if they belong to more than one person, will share a single source citation. Find out "How to Share Documents and Citations Within Your Family Tree".
When I have a document image that goes with a source citation, I attach the image to the citation itself. They belong together. Anyone who finds your family tree online with find everything they need to verify your facts.
6. Note Any Conflicts of Information
Sometimes a document has different information than you had in your family tree. For example, my grandfather's World War II draft registration card says his date of birth is 28 May 1894. No it isn't. His actual date of birth is 30 May 1891.
Early on in my family tree efforts, I saved that incorrect 1894 date and used his draft card as the source. That was the correct thing to do. Years later I saw his birth record and his military record at the archives in Italy. This was better, more official information.
I removed the draft card as a source for his date of birth and corrected the date. I used his birth and military records as the source for the correct date. I added a note to his draft card image and facts, saying it has the wrong date of birth.
Some documents are better than others. A town official recorded my grandfather's date of birth the next morning. People can lie about their age. And in some cases, long ago, they may not have known the correct date. Always try to find the document that is by definition the most reliable.
7. Make Sure the Image Gets Backed Up
I work on my family tree every day—often in marathon sessions. I can't afford to do file backups monthly or less often than that. It'd be too risky. That's why file backups are part of my Sunday morning routine. Without fail, I hold new document images in a special folder until it's time for my weekly backup routine. See "This 3-Step Backup Routine Protects Your Family Tree".
Yes, this seems like a lot to do. But I guarantee your family tree research is worth the effort. When you've followed this checklist enough times, it will become second nature. Is it time to revisit your existing document images?