3 Questions to Make You a More Efficient Genealogist

A lifetime ago I worked for a company that printed complex direct mail pieces. You know. Junk mail. My job was to help train new printing press operators. With the help of two experienced pressmen, I created training videos and manuals.

What does this have to do with genealogy? I had to learn the printing process myself before I could document it for the training materials. You can do this with the family tree-building process to work smarter and get more done in less time.

There are 3 questions that can help improve your family tree-building efficiency.

Ever since I retired, genealogy has been my full-time job. (That's why I retired.) How fabulous it is to have a job you can't wait to start every day! And I'm crazy-efficient and productive because of the steps I've taken. Here's what makes me so prolific:

1. Professional workspace. My desk, in one corner of my house, has a computer connected to three monitors arranged side by side. On a normal day, I'll have:
   • Family Tree Maker open on monitor one
   • a spreadsheet, desktop search program, and text file on monitor two
   • a web browser and any images on monitor three.
2. Consistent file naming. I do everything digitally, so I don't have shelves full of color-coded binders. I can't even imagine working that way. Years ago, I adopted a file-naming process that makes every file easy to find.
3. Top-notch tools. Some of my computer software is subscription-based, but you can find free alternatives. I use:
   • Adobe Photoshop for images
   • Microsoft Excel for tons of data handling
   • Notepad++ (free) for text files
   • Everything (free from voidtools.com) to locate any file on my computer
   • Family Tree Maker to store my genealogy work, and I synchronize it with my Ancestry tree every day.

With more professional tools, you can be a more professional genealogist.

Set yourself up for success with the right tools and an efficient workspace. Then it's time to examine your family tree-building processes. Imagine you have a day to spend working on your family tree. What will you set out to do? Ask yourself these three questions:

1. What are my goals for the day?

You might want to find all the census records your tree is missing. You might decide to add people and facts to your cousin-in-law's branch because they asked you to. Or you may create a Book of Life to share with family on the 4th of July.

I have a few ongoing projects I can dive into each morning. I know exactly which programs and files to have open when I'm ready to start. I created a computer macro to launch them all with one command: Ctrl + 1.

Whatever you plan to do, think about what needs to be at your fingertips and get it there.

2. What steps will I take in the process?

You can break down most goals into steps. Say you need to use the vacuum cleaner. You have to:

• get out the vacuum cleaner
• put the proper attachment on it
• plug it into a convenient outlet
• begin vacuuming.

When you're done, you need to put everything back the way it was.

Now think about the genealogy process you want to do. Let's use my long-term project to add the missing source citations to my family tree as an example. Once I use my macro to open:

• my tree in Family Tree Maker
• the spreadsheet of everyone with no source citations (generated by Family Tree Analyzer)
• Everything
• the Windows calculator (for calculating year of birth)
• my web browser to the site I need (in my case, the Antenati portal for Italian vital records)
• the Notepad++ file with my source citation templates

…I'm ready to begin creating source citations. The steps in this process are:

• Choose a person from the spreadsheet. I like to stick to people from one town for greater efficiency. Lately I've been working through everyone with a particular last name.
• Find the person in Family Tree Maker to see which citations they need. They'll need some combination of birth, marriage, and death records.
• Click on their father and see if they have siblings who also need source citations.
• All the vital records for my ancestral hometowns are on my computer for easy searching. What I need to do is find the document on the Antenati portal so I can create the citation. I use Everything to locate all the siblings at once. Say their last name is Basilone and their father is Giovanni. I type "Basilone di Giovanni in Everything and they all show up. The file names include the document number I need to locate online.
• On the Antenati portal, I open each collection I need in a separate browser tab. If I need birth records for 1858, 1862, 1865, and 1868, I open those sets of records in different tabs.
• In each tab, I locate the document number I need and grab the details for my citation. I need to edit my citation template to show the right year, document number, image number, and URL.
• When the citation is complete, I add it to my Family Tree Maker file.
• Each time I complete all the citations for a person, I delete their name from the spreadsheet. This way I know the exact number of people left to complete.

I do this until I'm worn out for the day. Then I go through my end-of-day file backup routine.

Whichever task you're planning to work on, think through the steps or take note of them as you do your work.

Knowing the steps and their order helps the whole process become second-nature. Look for efficiencies along the way.

I like to locate the right document in each open browser tab. Then I create the citations one after another. It feels as if the process goes faster this way. I also like to click to highlight all the siblings in the Everything results screen. Then I can deselect each person when their citation is complete. This way I never forget to complete a person. That helps in a family of 12 children!

3. Which part of the process slows me down?

Efficiency is the key to getting more done in less time. Where can you be more efficient in your process?

• Tackling all the siblings in a family at once makes me more efficient. I'm moving around less in my family tree.
• Opening the record collections in separate tabs makes me more efficient. I get the process started in several places instead of one at a time.
• Having a source citation template in an open text file makes me more efficient. I keep separate templates for births, death, marriages, and marriage banns. Plus one more for what's called matrimoni processetti. This minimizes the amount of typing I have to do.

Whatever genealogy site you use, open the best search results in different tabs. Your original search results list will remain there, waiting for you to return.

Picture me, if you will, sitting before my three monitors in the corner of my great room for hours a day. My goal with the source citations project is to complete 100 people a day, removing them from my list. If there are lots of siblings, I can complete 130 people a day.

Pay attention to the steps you take to reach your goal, and see where you can worker smarter. Being more productive will keep you from feeling frustrated in your quest, too.

Why My 83,000-Person Family Tree is Growing Again

When your ancestors come from small, isolated towns, everyone there may be your cousin. Or your cousin's cousin.

I realized this in 2008 while recording every vital record from my grandfather's town. The population hovered around 2,000 over the years, and the people stayed put for centuries. All the families intermarried—with one notable exception. The wealthy families only married into other wealthy families. But the population had far more peasants than wealthy people. And I come from peasants.

This tiny village, a ghost town since 1980, is growing like crazy in my family tree. Find out the steps to this rewarding genealogy project.

Even better, everyone on both sides of my family came from neighboring Italian towns. There was intermarriage within each town, and marriage between the towns. That gives me deep ties to several towns, including:

• Baselice
• Circello
• Colle Sannita
• Pesco Sannita
• Sant'Angelo a Cupolo
• Santa Paolina

I'm the fanatic who downloaded ALL the vital records from those towns. I'm the nut who went through and renamed every image to make them searchable. And I'm the lunatic who published inventories of the towns on my For the Cousins website.

But there was another town called Apice that I was saving for a rainy day. My closest tie to Apice is the 1816 birth of my 3rd great grandmother, Rufina Zullo. I thought I wouldn't find a lot of relatives because Rufina left town early.

Side note: Apice suffered an earthquake in 1980 that made the town uninhabitable. While the buildings still stand, the town is now a ghost town. I'm eager to see it someday.

Starting the Process

The rainy day I was waiting for has come. As I've said before, I've been busy creating the thousands of missing source citations for my tree. I polished off the 9,000 citation-less blood-relatives in my family tree. I'm working through the 50,000 citation-less people with more complicated relationships. But I'm mixing things up a bit.

Instead of striving to complete the citations for at least 100 people a day, I'm setting aside time for Apice.

It took a long time to gain traction on renaming the Apice vital records. The handwriting on the early documents is atrocious! I created a spreadsheet of the town's last names. I checked each name on the Cognomix website to see if it still exists in or around Apice. I also checked the spelling.

When I skipped ahead to later years, the handwriting was fine. (The old town clerk was long gone.) That helped me confirm the names I was seeing on the earlier records. Now, finally, I've renamed every vital record—with one important exception. I haven't gone through all the "wedding packets" yet. These are the required documents a couple must present when they get married. They include such treasures as:

• the bride and groom's birth records. This is very important if they were born before civil record-keeping began.
• the death records for any of the bride and groom's parents who have died.
• the death records of the bride and groom's paternal grandfathers. But only if their father has already died.
• the death record of a previous spouse (there was no divorce; only death).

With the files renamed and searchable on my computer, I can build Rufina's extended family. I started this process last week and have added more than 200 new people to my family tree so far. Each time I add a new couple's marriage, I go through their wedding packets and rename those files, too.

Getting Down to Business

The process of documenting a new town goes like this:

1. Open my family tree to my connection to the town: Rufina Zullo. I added her immediate family long ago, but now I can search for her siblings' families.
2. After I add a new relative and their source citation, I search for their marriage, children, and death. This leads me to research each relative's spouse.
3. For each new spouse, I search for documentation on their parents and siblings.
4. It becomes a never-ending puzzle of births, marriages, deaths, children, and siblings. But this time around, I'm very careful to create each source citation on the spot.

My primary focus for well over a year has been my source citation project. During that time, my family tree hasn't grown. It's only gotten stronger and more valuable to others. I'm beyond thrilled to see the Apice population growing in my family tree now.

When I do rename all those wedding packet files, I'll publish an inventory of the Apice vital records, too. After that, who knows? I have looser ties to more towns in the area, like Pietrelcina (home of Padre Pio) and Tufo. Nothing can stop a genealogy fanatic.

What grand projects are you working on? What's next?

Your 8 Favorite Genealogy Blog Articles

I launched this blog in January 2017. I've kept to a once-a-week schedule, making this my 667th article. This page features an automatic tally of the 8 most popular articles.

I'd like you to help me with an experiment. The following is a list of the 8 most popular articles, in order from most to least. Please click to read the ones that interest you the most—ones you haven't read already or read recently. Then we'll see if we change the rankings.

Does the popular vote reflect your choices? These are the 8 most popular genealogy articles.

Can't find one you haven't read already? Then use the search box or explore this blog to find something that interests you today. It seems to me the most popular articles feature at least one of the following:

• a project to do
• a free give-away, like a spreadsheet
• a new resource to try.

This experiment will help guide me as I create new material for you to enjoy.

1. How to Use the Online Italian Genealogy Archives

I spend so much time with Italian vital records that I dream about them. I started out knowing nothing and have become an expert. This article will help you get comfortable and proficient with Italian vital records. They are essential if you have any Italian ancestors in your family tree.

2. 3 Things to Do with Ahnentafel Numbers

Each of your direct ancestors has an assigned number whether you know it or not. You are number 1, your father is number 2, your mother is number 3. And those numbers continue in a specific pattern as far back as you can go.

This article features a free spreadsheet for you to fill in with the names of your ancestors. Find out how the numbering system works and how to use it to your advantage.

3. How to Create a 'Book of Life' for Your Relatives

If you've seen PBS's genealogy show, "Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.", you know the Book of Life. It's a graphic summary of the genealogy documents and pictures that tell your story.

See how easy and fun it is to create a Book of Life for yourself or someone else in your family. It's an instant treasure. Imagine creating one you can add to with each new discovery.

4. Run This Genealogy Report To Help Clean Up Your Dates

When your family tree reaches a certain size, it's hard to know which of the many people in it need more attention. This project uses the free Family Tree Analyzer program to spot everyone who's missing a key date.

How many people in your family tree need you to go back and search for their death date? How many people have an estimated date that you can resolve with a bit of research? This technique makes it easy.

5. Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII

This article has surged due to a high number of Google searches. I find these Italian military records to be fascinating and overflowing with details. I've made a point of collecting every one I can find for the men born in my handful of ancestral hometowns.

In 2018 I visited the archives in the city of Benevento to see my grandfather's military record in person. What a find! It answered my many questions about his time as a prisoner of war, and gave me so many more facts.

6. Why You Should Be Using the Free 'Family Tree Analyzer'

This introduction to Family Tree Analyzer explores several of its features. At the bottom of the article are links to 4 more articles that go into more detail about different ways to use FTA. This program never stops giving.

7. Free Resource Lets You Plot Family Tree Locations

You can create a custom map for anything you can think of that's related to your family tree. I used Google My Maps to show my grandfather's path through different states once he arrived in the USA. I've mapped all my own home addresses (there are at least 15). I've recreated one or two of my European vacations so I can relive the memories.

Find out how to use Google My Maps. Then check out the related map articles at the bottom of the article.

8. How to Visualize Your Ancestor-Finding Progress

This article revisits the "grandparent chart" I created for Ahnentafel numbers. You'll see how filling in the names of your ancestors gives you a quick visual of your family tree progress.

Notice how I added a row near the top of the spreadsheet to keep track of how many ancestors I'm missing from different generations. That can show you where to concentrate your efforts.

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Thank you for participating in this experiment. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email with topics you'd like me to cover in future articles. (My address is in the footer of this blog until I get slammed with spam.)