Research Paths and Byways
Wings of a Butterfly
by Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG

You've probably heard the theory about how something as minor as the air movements caused by the wings of a butterfly can begin a chain of events resulting in weather changes on the other side of the globe. One such butterfly created a bright, sunny Saturday after Thanksgiving last year. The setting sun in the cloudless sky blinded a driver who ran a red light and hit my car as I headed home from the library, having given myself a day working on my own ancestry for a change. This in turn led to unrelated major surgery in January, which caused a significant volume of paper and books to migrate from my upstairs office to the downstairs living areas.

I'm not sure how a butterfly caused the next event, but in February a light bulb in a downstairs ceiling fan burned out, and when I replaced it, the circuit breaker tripped, so I called in the ceiling-fan repairman. This prompted many, many trips lugging the aforesaid books and paper back upstairs, filling every available surface with unsorted piles. The repairman also determined that the office ceiling-fan needed to be replaced, and we set an appointment to do so.

In the meantime a hyperactive butterfly somewhere in the world (I envision the Andes) had started a meteorological chain that resulted in an East Coast snowstorm that ultimately led to my favorite laptop computer having to go live at the repair shop for several days preceding the return of the ceiling-fan repairman. This computer-free interval seemed like perfect opportunity to organize my office while getting the piles of papers out of his way.

The Problem
I began filing. It wasn't long before I realized that filing was not going to be a solution. There simply was not enough room in file drawers, storage boxes, shelves, and closets for the massive stacks of paper. I had been living with the situation for some time before the November accident, because most of the stacks were categorized as work-in-progress.

Taking My Own Advice
In my lecture, "Time Management," which ultimately appeared in Professional Genealogy, I stated, "Clear your desk of all paper except that related to the top priority item. Put those other projects out of sight. If your eye can see them, your mind will wander from the task at hand. Your to-do list, not the stack of paper, should be your reminder." Hmmm. Somewhere over the years, I'd forgotten my own advice.

The Big Picture
The task at hand was daunting. It wasn't just putting stuff away, it was finding a place to put it. I found it useful to step back--literally--and look around my office, with closet doors and file drawers open. Then I asked myself "What haven't I used in the past year? What haven't I touched in two years?"

I decided that anything in the two-years-or-more category needed to exit my office and either be disposed of or move to storage in the garage or attic. I also decided that anything in the one-to-two-year category could go into storage boxes in the office closets. File cabinets and credenza drawers should be reserved for currently or recently active materials.

Major Problems, Major Solutions
For a habitual "keeper," these were tough decisions. I had grown accustomed to certain things always being in certain places, even if I didn't use them. I would also have to rearrange my storage and filing systems. The back-away-and-look technique proved invaluable in giving me perspective.

At the end of the first twelve-hour day, I had made major progress. Six boxes of papers had been packed up and carried downstairs to be relocated to the attic. Three boxes of my books were now in garage storage. An old printer had gone to Goodwill. A box of books was mailed. A bookcase, the microfilm reader and cart, and the paper shredder that had been in the middle of the floor were now in the closet.

Setting Goals
My major accomplishment, however, related to paper. As I carried the first round of bags of shredded paper and stacks of old periodicals to my recycling dumpster, I weighed them. Thirty-six pounds! Wow! And I wasn't done. Surely I could make it to fifty. I would then call all my friends and brag. I made fifty pounds with plenty over. Was one hundred pounds achievable? I again tried the step-back-and-look technique. I saw a candidate.

Taking My Own Advice (Again)
My candidate for paper poundage was almost four linear feet of syllabi, programs, and handouts from various conferences and workshops. In my lecture, "Winning the Paper War," I present approaches for managing both family files and the myriad of other paper we acquire as genealogists. I'm pretty good at following the family-file suggestion, but haven't done as well on general information.

In the lecture I suggest creating separate file folders for individual localities and for subjects such as court records, immigration, newspapers, religion, ethic groups, and so on. Articles, book reviews, and lecture handouts should then be clipped and filed in the appropriate folder. I have the folders, I just haven't been keeping up my clipping service.

As I began going through the collection, I realized just how wise my original advice was. I spotted several resources in bibliographies that I wished I had remembered to include in resource lists in my lecture handouts and books. They are resources I am familiar with, they'd just slipped my mind. I would have benefited from a quick review of the folder before I hit print. The same was true of several terms I wished I'd remembered for glossaries. I'm sure I will also find items I wish I had consulted during earlier research.

Staying Focused
An important guiding principle was to stay focused on the macro goal of identifying and creating appropriate storage space and not getting distracted by the micro detail of organizing file folders and documents. This got even more difficult when my computer returned and I was tempted to start begin computer tasks related to the paper I was finding.

My poundage goal helped keep me on track, however. After another twenty-four-hour effort, I achieved my goal, putting 117 pounds of paper into last week's recycling collection. Was it possible to recycle my own weight in paper (number not to be disclosed)? I looked for more opportunities to optimize my office space, cleaned out two file drawers, and--just in case--went on a diet so the two numbers would converge more quickly. The final pounds of paper are in this week's dumpster.

Continued Goals
The newly uncluttered office and extra room for future filing is a great help to my productivity. There is more to do. Because I couldn't attack the details, I have many file drawers that need to be organized. But these are each self-contained projects.

If your office space--or your research--seems hopelessly gridlocked, maybe it is time to step back, look at the big picture, and see if it is time for major changes.

Patricia Law Hatcher, CG, FASG, is a technical writer, instructor, and professional genealogist. Her oft-migrating ancestors lived in all of the original colonies prior to 1800 and in seventeen other states, presenting her with highly varied research problems and forcing her to acquire techniques and tools that help solve tough problems. She is the author of Producing a Quality Family History.

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Ancestry Quick Tip
Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree

It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

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Have a great day!
Juliana

Family Pictures
My children (in their 40's) show about the same amount of interest in our family's genealogy that I did when I was their age--polite, but eager to get on with other things.

I have found a way to painlessly distribute some of their heritage to them. I scan and convert old-time family pictures to the .jpeg format to include them into my family tree. (This can also be accomplished with any digital camera with a macro lens.)

I also make heirloom-style note cards using the photos. First, I do my best to remove any bad blemishes and restore them with a photo manipulation program. Then I adjust the size, if necessary, to take up 1/4 of a good matte finish 8 1/2" x 11" photo paper and position them in the upper right hand corner. The next picture or print is made on the diagonal corner by reinserting the paper upside-down in the printer thus making two cards from each sheet of paper. The identity of the person or object in the picture and the approximate date the photo was taken is then printed in place of a logo.

To finish up, I carefully cut the paper's length in half and then fold each half to a finished size of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" for which envelopes can easily be found.

My wife and I limit the use of these cards to relatives and always mention the relationship of the person in the photograph to the recipient in the context of our letter. Our children, grandchildren, and other relatives seem pleased with them and the amount of background each represents. These cards frequently, albeit briefly, whet their interest in our family history.

George Collier

Memories Revive Communication
A recent tip reminded us to "Record Those Memories." My mother and I lived about a thousand miles apart in her later years and we could not visit as often as we liked. We never seemed to have enough to write about either. All I got was "everything is fine, wish you were here."

One day after I started working on my family history, I suggested to my mother that she write and tell me all she could remember from the earliest time forward. After that I received a letter from her at least once a week (for about three years before she got Alzheimer's). She reminisced about her school years, early married years, and even about my brother and I when we were young. She described my grandfather (who died when I was six) and told about what they did, places they lived, and even about the foods they grew and ate.

She also wrote about families of my aunts, uncles, and other relatives, some I had never heard about except by name. She gave me names, dates, and places. When she did not know, she wrote to relatives and got the information for me. She told me in one letter that she was "coming alive again by remembering everything."

Her brothers and sisters thanked me for suggesting this as they had not been hearing from her either. They started calling and writing with other information on their families.

I had hit the right button. I learned a lot that I had not known before and I feel like I made my mother's life happier than she had been since we were apart.

Joyce

Visit Cemetery Offices
When visiting a cemetery check to see if they have an office. Some cemeteries have excellent maps and after looking up your ancestor's burial place, they will mark the site on the map. I found one that will even tell you who is buried nearby, which makes it easier to find the one you are looking for.

Ann Dodds

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Clipping of the Day
A gentleman who resides on Carroll's Manor...
From the Adams Centinel (Gettysburg, Pa.), 05 April 1826, page 1

A gentleman who resides on Carroll's Manor, Elkridge, was in town on Friday night on business, and being at Mr. Cugle's Tavern, where he put up, heard some gentlemen talking of the melancholy death of Miss Miller, by poison from Corrosive Sublimate, and account of whose death is in our paper to day, and recollecting that just as he was about leaving home, he had given some medicine to a neighbor for two of his negro children, and that he had Calomel and Arsenic both in papers unmarked, and warned by the unhappy fate of Miss M. of the probability of an error being committed, procured a horse from Mr. Cugle, and rode to his neighbor's house, a distance of 20 miles, when to his great distress realized--he had given the Arsenic instead of the Calomel--one of the children had died, but the other fortunately was seized with vomiting, and had ejected a number of worms, which, it is supposed must have sucked in the poison, and thus saved the child's life.

--- Com. Chron.

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Fast Fact
Free Search--California Births, 1905-10

Vital records in California have been kept by the state registrar of vital statistics since July 1905. This database is an index to the birth records in California from 1905 through 1910. The database provides such valuable information as first, last, and middle names of those born; birth dates; gender; mother's name; father's name; and the birthplace.

Click here to access this database.

To request birth certificate copies, please visit www.dhs.cahwnet.gov/hisp/chs/OVR/Ordercert.htm to obtain the necessary forms and current pricing information.

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Thought for Today
Robert Schuller

"Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation."