Shannon M. Thomas | Mostly Genealogy

Have you looked at your numbers recently? I have not done a statistics post since 2015 {or even looked at my stats}.  In 2015 I had 3,109 people in my Legacy database and today I have 3,397.  In the last three years {probably more like 2.5 years}  I managed to only add 288 people to my database.  I took a break from Genealogy for a few months.  When I did return to researching I found that it would be wise to focus on cleaning up my information and sources.   My focus for the rest of 2018 will be to work on adding Find A Grave information for those in my database that do not have it.  Once that is complete I plan to head to Ancestry.com  to add death certificates.   What do your stats look like?

For most of 2017, I spent my genealogy time cleaning up my database in Legacy Family Tree.  I'm still working on cleaning up messes from when I first started my family tree.  For 2018, I plan to continue cleaning up my database.  I would also like to finish adding all Find A Grave information to my database as well.   Find A Grave is a great place to find leads to research.  Legacy makes it very easy to find everyone in your database who do not have Find A Grave memorials.   Click the drop-down arrow on the Find A Grave icon and it gives you the following options: I selected create a list of people without a Find A Grave Memorial and I got a nice LONG list of people.  From this list, I have been able to find more ancestors to research and add to my database. My other goal for 2018 is to find the people in my database who do not have a source {yes, I said without a source.  Gasp!} Leg...

I was catching up on some blog reading and saw that Randy Seaver recently posted  Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- How Many Trees in Your Database? I thought I would check my Legacy Family Tree Database. To do this go to View and then select Trees.  This will bring up the Tree Finder window.  {The image below shows the Tree Finder window.} A few surprises here.  First, I have 52 total trees.  The largest has 3,191 people and the smallest have 1 person and there are 42 of them.  What!?  {The trees with only one person may have come from a GEDCOM import I did a long time ago.} I see some pruning of some bushes in my future.  Second, there are five trees with the Rutan surname.  I believe these are trees that I started when I was researching a brick wall and trying to see if there were any connections. {I will keep these...you never know when these will come in handy.} There are a few things you can do in this window to make clean up e...

To help keep data consistent in my Legacy database I created a notebook named Best Practices.  Evernote is always open on my computer so it is easy to open it up and find what I need and enter it consistently each time. For example : When adding a Find A Grave event to my Legacy database I open the Best Practices notebook and go to the Event -- Find A Grave note.  I copy the template and paste it into the event and fill in the information. There are notes for events, citations, and templates.  The copy and paste feature makes quick and easy to enter data consistently. How do you keep your information consistent??

January 10th – 16th Data backup : Genealogy Files -- are saved in One Drive [I got a lot of free space when I got my new computer]. From my Evernote Database.  Right click on Notes and choose export.  Make sure you click on the Options button to choose what is included. Evernote – notes are exported as web pages every few months [I have an Evernote Reminder set for this] and they are saved in One Drive. Photos – are saved to my computer and then automatically backed up to Flickr and Google Photos. The backup options in Legacy Family Tree.  This window open every time I close my database.  I just click on backup because my backup location is already in there. Legacy Family Tree – backs up automatically every time I close it; both media files and my database are backed up. Crash Plan – Everything is backed up with Crash Plan and saved to the cloud for easy retrieval if needed.  I review my backup every now and then to make sure all of ...

Last January I did this  post on 2014 Legacy statistics.  This year I decided to do the same thing. What I found was very surprising to me. My numbers did not change from last year!  What?!  I know I added new people to my database. Then I looked at my husbands and I lots 3 from last year!  What?! Looking at my overall stats I added 104 people and 35 marriages. Last year I worked on sources.  Cleaning up sources was my main objective and I think I accomplished that.  {I have a handful that still need some work.} This year I want to find more documentation for the people in my tree and hopefully add some more ancestors.  My plan is to do what  +Russ Worthington  and  +Randy Seaver  do and mine ancestry databases.  First up will be Pennsylvania death certificates. How did your 2015 genealogy go and did you make plans for 2016?

During the A to Z challenge for April I had a few requests to see more about my sources.  For the next month or so I am going to post about some of my sources in Legacy on Sundays. In the source list name it looks like Baptism--Pennsylvania--Columbia County--Orangeville--Zion Reformed Church.  The citation is as follows: Zion Reformed Church (Orangeville, Pennsylvania, USA), Baptism Certificate, Richard Donald Thomas (1923), issued 1 Jun 1923. Cit. Date 4 Dec 2012. I have a copy of the original certificate.  It is for my husband's grandfather.

Sometimes the fonts that we use in our database can make it hard to see.  In the individual information screen if you go to options and then zoom you can change your font size to make it easier for you to see it.   You can also find in under options on the index view, descendant view, and the Legacy home tab.  I'm sure there are other locations to use this zoom feature; if find others please let me know. Thank you for hanging out here at my blog for the A to Z Challenge!  I hope you learned something new along the way!

You can decide if you want the years a person was alive displayed in legacy.  This can be adjusted under Options > Customize > #8 View.  In 8.1 if you uncheck the check boxes the years will not be displayed in Legacy. The image below shows the years displayed on the family tab. The years are displayed in the family view, the pedigree view and on the name list.  The image below shows section 8.1 where you can make your changes. Up next is my last post, letter Z, for the A to Z challenge.  It has been lots of fun sharing my Legacy database and a little of Evernote with all of you.  See you for letter Z!

To get to the Potential Problems Report I go to My Toolbar > Report Menu > Other > Potential Problems. The first tab, Records, allows you to choose what you want to search.  All records, records with previous errors along with new records, etc. and you can also check records with a certain tag# and tag all problems records with a certain tag#.  Tagging your records with potential problems is beneficial because it makes it easier to work with the records to make corrections.  On the warnings tab you can select when Legacy will warn you of potential problems in you database.  You can adjust the warnings to fit your needs. Under the problems tab you can select what problems you want to be notified of.  The warnings und the standardization tab help keep your database consistent.  Under the gaps tab you are able to adjust the gaps that you get a warning for a potential problem. I have a note in Evernote in my B...

In L is for To Do List  I showed you how to access the to do list; this time I want to show you my to do list. The to do list in Legacy really helps to keep me on track and remember where my train of thought was when I was doing research. {My screen shots look a little different today; I had to reinstall Legacy again!} The image below shows what the to do list looks like when you first open it from the family view; it shows both open and close to dos. By going to the sort order tab you can choose how your to dos are displayed. Clicking on the filter options tab will let you filter your to do list.  The one I use most often is under status to show all of the open to do items. The image below shows a to do item for the 1870 Census.  I did not find the family where I thought they would be so I made a note of that and where to search next.  I will continue this process until I can close this to do. In the image above you will see that I use...

I record a story event / fact for stories that I find in text and that are told to me from others. Alvah Rutan has two story events related to his arrest and imprisonment at For Mifflin in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. They are marked with a red arrow in the image below. The image below is the transcription of the story in the story event / fact.  I added my source citation just like I normally would. If it is a story from a family member that added the same way. Do you add stories to your database?? See you back here tomorrow.

 I use a Residence Event / Fact anytime there is an address listed that is not from a Census.  The residence can be found on any number of documents.  The one shown below from 4 Nov 1945 is from Harold's WWII Army discharge papers {shown in the image below.} Individual Information screen showing Harold Elwood Seigfreid {my great grandfather.}  In his Event / Fact list you can see his two residence facts at the bottom {I see I need to add a source to the 2nd one.} This is Harold's chronology view.  You can see where the two Residence Facts / Events fall in with the rest of the Events / Facts in his lifetime {in green above.}  How do you record the Residence Fact / Event in your database? See you back here for letter S tomorrow or later on today!

 {shhh....I'm a little behind but hopefully I can get caught up in the next few days.} Today's A to Z Challenge is all about questions.  When you are researching where do you put your questions??  Do you take notes on paper, do put them in the research notes in your database, do you use Evernote, or something entirely different? I'm an Evernote lover and I use it for all kinds of things {sometimes I still write notes on paper though.}  Event the handwritten notes make there was in to Evernote. The image below is some notes I was taking while going through an obituary.  This note makes sense to me now but if I found it in a few weeks would it still make sense?  What about in a year or two? I used the  Cam Scanner App  on my Android phone and I also have it for my ipad.  Cam Scanner has great editing tools to crop and tune the image.  It took about 2 minuets to snap my pic and make a quick note about the notes and questions that...

  So far I have only found one ancestor {he is on my husband's side}that has gone to prison.  Alvah Rutan  {who I write about often} was arrested on 31 Aug 1864 and then later released and then arrested again in October of 1864.  The October arrest resulted in a trial where he was found guilty of making disloyal comments about the president of the United States.  On 1 Mar 1865 Alvah Rutan was released from prison by the president of the United States. I have several accounts of his arrests and trial and imprisonment from newspapers and a book about the area.  Recently, I got the trial records from NARA and I am working on transcribing them. Alvah's individual information window.  

Obituaries hold a lot of great information in them. I have an Obituary Event/Fact in Legacy.  I record the information from the newspaper and transcribe the obituary in the event. Here is the transcription of the obituary from the Benton Argus on 13 Jan 1927: Death of Miss Hannah Rutan Miss Hannah Rutan died at the home of her nephew, Mr. Ward Vandine, in Bloomsburg on Friday evening at 8 o'clock after an illness of one week.  She was first attacked by a heavy cold but it is thought she sustained a stroke of paralysis on Thursday night that was the direct cause of her death. She was 80 years of age last October and was a godly woman; more than 60 years of her life she has been a Sunday School Teacher and worker in the the church.  She was a member of the Christian church.  For several years past she was the teacher of the Mother's Bible Class of the Bloomsburg Church of Christ. Miss Rutan spent many years of her life as a resident of this Boroug...