Oklahoma Genealogical Society Skill Building

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Go to Mid-America Speakers for more information about Carrie Ann Cook, Speaker.

Strong Roots: Smooth the Way to Success at All Levels
Hosted by the Oklahoma Genealogical Society
Saturday, August 6, 2011, Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Select Bibliography, Further Reading, and Web Resources

Scottish Proverb: He who has in his family neither thief, knave, nor whore was begat by a stroke of lightning.

1. Introduction

a. Instructor

b. Presentation Standards/Assumptions

i. Interest in history and genealogy – can’t have one without the other

ii. Some research experience – term paper, life learner, etc.

iii. Stop me if you haven’t heard this – ask for definitions

iv. Patience and perseverance

v. Dedication of time, storage space, $$

vi. It takes a village - networking

vii. Goal to find and preserve/share

viii. Expect to repeat every step many times

c. Summary of Research

i. Genealogy

ii. Family History

iii. All boiling down to 5 phases or steps

1. Background

2. Survey

3. Research

4. Evaluation

5. Preservation

iv. Lots o’data – seven common US record types from most accurate, complete and accessible to least

1. Civil

2. Church

3. Family

4. Single (obituary, applications, etc.)

5. Multiple (preponderance of evidence)

6. Census

7. Probate

2. Prepare for the worst

a. Judge not…

b. Keep an open mind – don’t assume

c. Embarrassment of riches – TMI

d. Don’t believe everything you read

3. First things first

a. Designate your genealogy space

i. Box(es) of file drawer/cabinet(s)

ii. Electronic device(s) with or w/o cloud, and file folder/system

iii. Optional/Suggested – dedicated genealogy working/office space

b. Start with the easiest first – you: Be the test subject as you practice your new skills.

i. Full, Legal name

ii. AKA – include nicknames, previous married/adopted/family names, etc. – date as possible

(i.e. Care Bear – high school nickname 1986-1988/WHS mascot Bear)

iii. Birth – full geographical place, time, further details or stories

i.e. Baptist Hospital (Intgress Baptist Regional Hospital-2011), Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, USA, February 18, 1970, 12:03 AM – middle of a blizzard

iv. Parents – names and ages at time of your birth

v. Your siblings (begin looking further) living and deceased

vi. Family traditions – including any naming conventions, heredity, etc. “We come from a family of…”

vii. Other Vital Statistics: marriage, spouse, children, divorce, etc.

viii. Your personal history (autobiographical) – stories and memoirs

ix. Keepsakes – recipes, diploma, photo albums, membership cards, credentials of any kind, etc.

x. Ephemera – tickets, brochures, name tags, news clippings, etc.

c. Prove your own genealogy as you outline steps for parents, and older ancestors, etc.

i. Gather records

ii. Search out supporting proof – newspaper, eye witness, alternate records, etc.

iii. Seek help, as needed

iv. Record, organize and evaluate

v. Begin work on other generations

4. Record all family information already known and begin to gather documentation and new ideas.

a. Evaluate and establish the best way you should do this – Standards

Knowing what you will need will assist in choosing paper charts/system or software.

i. Not all data is created equal

1. Primary (created by source ancestor or professional – minister of wedding, birth parent, etc.) or Secondary (reported by others or after the fact – reconstituted birth record, staff written news article, many times census, etc.)

a. Original (data/format – funeral card, audio letters, home videos, etc.)

b. Derivative (copied, compiled, transcription/extract – technically everything in electronic format not produced originally in that format)

2. Preponderance is not current standard, but never hurts and sometimes leads to ideas on where to find GPS evidence.

GPS – Genealogical Proof Standard

ii. Basic starter charts

1. Ancestor Chart (Pedigree) - Generational Overview

2. Family Group/Record (at least 1 for each couple) include

a. Title

b. Numbered Individuals (4aii, etc.)

c. Life Events - Vitals

d. Preparer

i. Who – include contact information

ii. Dates

iii. By the numbers

1. Chart Numbers

2. Numbering systems

iv. Record Keeping: Old school or computer

v. Naming Conventions - consider

1. Surnames in all caps: John Wayne HENRY

2. Continuity: Treat all nicknames the same

3. Continuity: Treat all maiden names the same

4. Will standardizing names help you when searching or hurt (confusing)?

5. Realize name standardization is one of many factors that may cause name variations. See also Soundex

6. Looking for family members named Unk (unknown), Nil (no information listed), or Na (not applicable) – bad abbreviations!

7. Stickler for place name comma strategy:

Miami, , OK, USA
shows Miami is a town, not a county
also reminds data still needed

vi. Beware abbreviations

1. States

2. County vs. Company

3. Date generally month dd yyyy: 6-1-10, is that last June 1^st, or January 6, 1510, etc.

4. Will people in 2121 be able to read “texting”?

vii. Don’t leave anything out

1. Research Log/Calendar

a. Where you’ve been and where you are going

b. Trail of breadcrumbs in case discarded items require another look later

c. Plot your progress

d. Jump start to citing your sources

2. Incomplete recording:

“Springfield”

Missouri or Illinois, or is it possibly a county?

3. Items not “vital” needed for clues later

viii. Keep your standards/key to your work easy to understand and locate

b. Begin/continue charting your progress – include research log

c. Interview all living family members, record and begin to document

i. Interview Preparation – pays compound dividends

ii. Focus – don’t expect everything handed to you at once, but be prepared to organize it if you are inundated with information

iii. Format – some people work best face to face, others work easily through correspondence, etc.

iv. Record

v. Repeat

d. Review/evaluate body of research to determine next steps

5. Readily available resources – just a few

a. Home/Personal

i. Announcements

1. anniversary

2. birth

3. birthday

4. death

5. divorce

6. engagement

7. funeral

8. graduation

9. memorial cards

10. new home

11. new job

12. professional

13. travel

14. wedding

ii. Books

1. atlases

2. foreign language

3. prizes

4. textbooks

5. treasured volumes

6. vocational

7. yearbooks

iii. Certificates

1. achievement

2. adoption

3. apprenticeship

4. award

5. baptism

6. birth

7. blessing

8. christening

9. confirmation

10. death

11. divorce

12. graduation

13. marriage

14. membership

15. ministerial

16. mission

17. ordination

18. transfer

iv. Citizenship papers

1. alien registration

2. denization

3. deportment

4. naturalization

5. passport

6. vaccination

7. visa

v. Employment records

1. apprenticeship

2. awards

3. citations

4. graduation

5. income tax

6. pension

7. retirement

8. severance

9. social security

10. union

vi. Family records

1. bible

2. books of remembrance

3. family bulletins

4. family group sheets

5. family histories

6. family traditions

7. genealogies

8. local history

9. pedigrees

10. printed history

11. temple record books

vii. Financial records

1. accounts

2. bills

3. check stubs

4. estate records

5. receipts

viii. Health records

1. hospital

2. immunizations

3. insurance

4. medical

5. X-rays

ix. Household items

1. clothing

2. coat of arms

3. dishes

4. engraved jewelry

5. friendship quilt

6. insignias

7. memorial rings

8. needlework

9. sampler

10. silverware

11. souvenirs/keepsakes

12. tapestries

13. tools

x. Legal papers

1. abstracts of title (may not be held at home)

2. bond

3. contract

4. deed

5. guardian papers

6. land grant

7. lease

8. loan

9. mortgage

10. subpoena

11. summons

12. tax notice

13. will

xi. Licenses

1. business

2. driver

3. firearm

4. hunting

5. motor vehicle

6. occupation

7. professional

xii. Membership records

1. award

2. card

3. certificate

4. program

5. publication

6. uniform

xiii. Military records

1. bounty award

2. citation

3. death notice

4. disability

5. discharge

6. firearm

7. National Guard

8. pension

9. ribbon

10. Selective Service

11. separation paper

12. service

13. service medal

14. sword

15. uniform

xiv. Newspaper clippings

1. announcement

2. home town paper

3. obituary

4. professional

5. special event

6. trade

7. vital statistic

xv. Personal records

1. autograph(y) album

2. baby book

3. biography

4. book plates

5. diary

6. funeral book

7. guest register

8. journal

9. letter

10. patriarchal Blessing

11. personal knowledge (written, oral, audio, video)

12. photograph

13. scrapbook

14. seal

15. travel account

16. wedding book

xvi. School records

1. certificate

2. class picture

3. diploma

4. report card

5. yearbook

b. Public (general)

i. Courthouse

1. Records

2. People who work with said records

ii. Library/Archive/Museum

1. Ready Reference

2. Finding Aids

3. Published history/genealogy/record

4. Unpublished history/genealogy/record

5. Newspapers

6. “Trade" Magazines: i.e. Everton's, Family Tree, Ancestry, etc.

7. Newsletters

8. Other periodicals

9. Vertical file

10. Audio recordings

11. Video recordings

12. Copy/transcription/abstraction record

13. Genealogist and/or reference specialist(s)

c. Family/Private – see also Home/5 a

i. Individuals – genealogists and not

ii. Library/Archive/Museum (see 5 b ii)

iii. Organizations

iv. Church

v. School

vi. Business (funeral, medical, etc.)

vii. DNA

1. Individual/family tests

2. Projects

3. Different levels – deluxe to economy

4. Types

a. Mitochondrial (female)

b. Y-Chromosome (male)

d. Network (Query)

i. Good citizen

1. Don’t be totally informal, even via email

2. Personal? Offer to share

3. KISS

4. USPS? Include SASE

ii. Don’t Forget

1. Ask for small, specific amount(s) of data

2. Provide basic background/context information

3. Don’t try to squeeze several questions in a single query

iii. Where?

1. Periodicals (Electronic & Traditionally published)

2. Personal/Business letters

3. Email

4. Organizational sites

5. Online networking sites

a. GenealogyWise – genealogy centered

b. Ning

c. Facebook

d. YouTube

e. MySpace

f. Twitter

g. Plurk

h. iVillage

i. Google+ (new)

j. Etc.

6. E-Lists/Newsgroups (Usenet)

e. Internet

i. Overview – Barbara Renick’s 7 R’s

1. Resource – amount, accessibility, storage

2. Research – some of the world at your fingertips

3. Reference – tools, compilers and converters

4. Reasonable – not everyone can hop the metro to take advantage of their free Boston Public Library card…

5. Retail – shopping for tools, services, out of print family history books…

6. Reachable – alternative to USPS: email, chat, phone, etc.

7. Roaming – Personal assistant on the road – what are the hours of the library, what is the policy on photography or scans, is my train on time, weather conditions, turn airport wait time into research time…

ii. More specifics - sites, blogs, social networks

1. personal

2. library

3. sites/services

a. Ancestry

b. books.google.com (over 200 google products)

c. scholar.google.com (over 200 google products)

d. Cyndi’s List

e. Genweb

f. Rootsweb

g. FamilySearch (Research Outlines)

4. Email

5. E-Lists (Usenet)

6. Review & Research – know the battlefield for best results

a. What information was recorded in this resource

b. How was the resource compiled/recorded

c. Read any finding aids

d. Ask assistance and follow up anything “out of the ordinary”

e. Copy all

i. Actual entry

ii. Index entries

iii. First page of chapter where mentioned

iv. Forpages (title page, verso, table of contents, preface, introduction, forward, abbreviations, etc.)

f. Cite All

i. Author/compiler/recorder

ii. Title/item

iii. Full publication information or description of item

iv. Where found on a particular date, contact information of repository (or URL), where possible, as well.

v. Further details – page number, where on page, alternate known sources (cross reference), did you take a photo or copy (where in your records), etc.

7. Guessing Game Examples – Based on history, trends, and types of proof found

a. Approximated Date: Tombstone gives death date and exact age

b. Estimated Date: Census gives age at time of recording (2 years for birth)

c. Recording Guesstimates – pick your poison but stick to it!

i. Estimated

ii. About

iii. Circa (generally considered within a decade)

iv. 1943/44

v. After/before/between

vi. Calculated

vii. Your own symbols – be extra careful with keys during data entry

8. Random facts/rule of thumb that will help your skill set

a. Few European records survive prior to 1500s.

b. 1890 US Census did not survive as a whole (fire)

c. State and Alternate Census schedules should not be bypassed

d. Many US researchers count themselves lucky to fully realize their research to the Revolutionary war.

e. Every document online (recorded prior to 1976), are at least electronic primary Derivative. Even images from the original documents are electronic copies of originals.