Genealogy Chat

Hi I need help and advice please please. I have been searching my family tree for six months and luckily at this stage its going quite well (knock on wood). The problem I have is learning how to store information and how much do I keep on my pc (hard drive or disk) and how much do I keep on paper, and what filing system do I use. I appreciate that everyone has their own way of doing this, but all I seem to do at the moment is keep trying different ways. So much so that I seem to be doing more of this than searching. Thank you in anticipation. Lin

well Linda, Hullo Myself, on my PC,I have Family tree maker with best part of 600 names on it. these are backed up onto floppies and also I have it on Cd. My wifes PC has almost identical trees plus her own research so we should be ok in case of a small disaster. I have on one wall a printout of the whole family tree, inlaws outlaws and everything., I also have individual family trees, seperately printed. Plus loads of certificates, most of which were scanned, and dropped into the apropriate part of the tree. plus lots of bits of paper, some filed in a bucket, some in folders. There are on this site members that are far more organised than I am. I wish you the best of luck in your quest regards Bob

Linda......try putting your information on the paf files that you can download from Family Search it is free and you can print it all out. Sue............

Lin This is my way of doing things, it sort of works for me - any system falls down if you forget to add the new information!!! 1. I have a paf file downloaded from www.familysearch.org in which I put my tree from GR. 2. I have huge, robust 4-hole punch ring binders for each branch of the family. I fill out rough 1st information sheets, then copy onto individual forms when I've got more info, plus pedigree charts and family sheets [all these forms are from the National Archives getting started pack £10 from the FRC/NA/Past Times]. After all the forms I have all the certs I've collected, plus other things like obituaries from newspapers, letters, Wills, etc in A4 acid-free polyfolders [got in bulk from WH Smith when they were reduced] I also have various maps of different dates which I scrawl all over to help me. 3. I have an A5 hardbacked A-Z book listing all relatives alphabetically with dates of birth, baptism, lists of siblings, marriage, children, death, burial plus where they were on the census. This is a useful summary I can look through and quickly see whose death I haven't got listed, etc. Plus it is easy to take to any records office, so if I find that the archive has info relating to Cousin Fred as well as Auntie Edie, I can get the dates/places without having to rely on my memory or carry bulky files of everyone. 4. I download the paf file and my favourites with all the genealogy sites etc onto a disc which I keep in a fireproof box. 5. I have various photos which I intend to put onto my computer as soon as I have learned how to use the scanner. nell

you make me feel so inadequate I really must get organised but I start to sort it out and I get panicky there is so much stuff already and I have only been doing it for about 6 months , I really have a lot to learn

Hi Sorry to interupt someones thread but can I ask what is a PAF file I am fairly new on here and still learning....what do you do on it? what do you download it onto? is it easy? lol Sorry again Lesley :~)

on familysearch which paf file do I download thanks

Hi Help again, what is a PAF file Lin

Sorry lynn for butting in your thread I hope you dont mind... As I said before...What is a PAF file? lol What do you download it onto? Is it easy? lol Thanxs Lesley :~)

Don't be daft Lesleyyou aren't butting in.

Thanxs I feel very cheeky asking things on other peoples threads....not that I do it regularly lol My names..dates...census's and tons of paper work are in a right mess and Its getting like my housework the more I look at it the more I wonder 'Where do I start' lmao Lesley :~)

Im off to bed But will check back tomorrow to see if any one has enlightened us Linda lol Goodnight Lesley :~)

whats housework Lin

> how to store information and how much do I keep on > my pc (hard drive or disk) I suggest that you put as much as you can on your PC and use it as the primary source for most material. Make back up copies to CD (or whatever media, or other backup method, you can handle) on a regular basis and keep the copies somewhere safe. Any of the good genealogy programs will allow you to print out anything you need in hard copy.... but after you become familiar with using genealogy software, you'll probably find you don't really need to print much at all. > how much do I keep on paper Obviously any 'original' material a such as certificates, letters etc will need to be stored. I use a binder with transparent achival quality sleeves for those. I also make computer scans of them and associate the images with the appropriate individual in my genelaogy software (FTM 2005), so any day to day references to original material can be made through the computer rather than handling the original documents. Cheers, Bill Sydney, Australia

PAF is a family history programme, It is free and basic, There is another one which is free and better than PAF which i use and that is called Legacy. I have my family history backed up to disc plus i keep a copy of it on other family members PC's. i have 8 A4 binders containing the families of my grandparents and my wifes, A binder containing possibles, One with all my certificates and one with general history of the counties my ancestors lived in. i also print out e-mails from people who are researching the same ancestors and keep them in a binder. Any system you use should enable you find very quickly any information that you are looking for. Hope this helps a little. Steve.

Which PAF do you download and where do you get Legacy from? Please help?? Gail.

It doesn't matter which version of PAF you download, I have the latest version which is 5.2. Legacy can be downloaded from here http://www(.)legacyfamilytree(.)com/Index(.)asp Remove the brackets. Any more questions just ask. Steve.