Getting Back into My Genealogy

Post date: Oct 25, 2015 3:08:58 AM

The kids are grown and mostly gone, my mom does not require daily care from me at this time, and so I've turned to my genealogy files to rekindle the joy I find in doing genealogy research. I started this process in 1993 in libraries and courthouses and cemeteries around America. I don't want to pay an online company for information I can find for myself elsewhere. And so, I'm dusting off my files, working with Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over and hoping to downsize and digitize my old research as I begin working on my paternal lines. I am excited to learn how technology can continue to help me, while not costing me any subscriptions fees.

I am using Microsoft's OneNote 2013 to digitize my notes. I have emptied one file drawer of maternal lines' hanging files - I digitized the pages that needed to be kept, and put original records/proofs into the color-coded binder system. I am excited by the way this project turned out. I can see how being able to search in OneNote is going to help me rejuvenate all of the old notes I took in libraries.

And so, I am now digitizing my old notebooks. I have completed 3 notebooks. I remove the pages from the soft binding and scan them into good quality JPGs. I batch process them through a photo editor to dark up my handwriting - especially the blue ink and pencil. I have created a ON section for the notebook and then input each JPG onto its own page. OneNote cannot make heads or tails of my chicken-scratch handwriting, so I then read each page and type all of the names and pertinent info I think needs to be searchable. Although time-consuming, this process is also refreshing the research for me. It is fun to see when I made certain breakthroughs, or met some of the people who went on to form my research team network. I've stepped twenty years back in time!

I can see that the digitizing process is going to take a lot of time. But I remain optimistic about what it will mean when I am ready to begin active research again.