Genealogy Chat

I prefer to keep my information in a lever arch file rather than just on a website. Whats the easiest and best way of organising certificates, census' etc. Any ideas truely welcome Claire

Hi Claire, I keep my paperwork the same, the only problem I find is keeping it in order. One person would be okay but then you get back to their marriage then obviously you have two lots of families and so on ad infinitum. I find it difficult keeping things in chronological order, do I lump them altogether or try to keep each family seperate, which doesn't work well at least for me. I keep a 'fan' tree at the front of each file and try to slot in the certs at the date they happened along with the census returns. It still gets quite mixed up at times. Any help on this would be most appreciated but I don't think there is a quick fix. Gloria x

how do you save 1837 files? I am too lazy to print each one off,so I save them into a folder 1837 files, then a subfolder for each family name........ie smith BMDs..usually by year, name, event, quarter,.djvu the quarter I prefix with 1,2,3, or 4 for the quarters, keeps them in date order........and IF the page has anything REALLY relevant, I put the name in front of the .djvu bob

I've got a filing cabinet!! (2 drawers.....) One has boring household bills etc in it (hubby's domain!) the other is my family hisitory drawer. It has hanging files for birth certs, marriage certs, death certs and wills - all in alphabetical order. Then the other hanging files are headed up with various surnames. If a file starts to get too fat, I just look at what's in it and if there are items for more than one person with that surname I break it into two, usually by outsorting the stuff belinging to a female and stick it in a new file under her maiden surname! Thing is though, I only put things into the cabinet. I never go back to it, because EVERYTHING is on my computer. (backed up regularly!). Of course, this is why my bum is fat - just sitting here, whereas if I kept going to the cabinet all the time....bending down and opening and shutting the drawer........ I also have 700 sheets of saved census pages. None printed out - think of all the ink saved!! Merry

Oh Dea, thought it was only me in total chaos, brilliant there are at least two of us!!!!! Gloria :-)

Hi, Claire, I have a lever arch file with plastic pouches. A divider between each generation eg me and my parents, a divider, my grandparents, divider, gt grandparents etc. However, I have not got far back, but may need to subdivide after 72, Certs etc are filed as near the person as poss. Any e-mails from other family members etc. I type up a page for each person with relevant details for the pouches, copy on my computer. I intend to do back ups !! These are useful when having to go and look at physical docs etc, as I have the info without having to carry heavy files, or risk losing important docs. Anne

One useful tip I've had is to give each individual a unique reference number. This is invaulable when you get 4 generations or more of John Ramseys! Each surname has a number, and each family member within the surname gets a letter. So, I am 1a, my dad is 1b, my grandfather 1c, and so on. It's up to you whether or not you restrict it to direct ancestors only, or you could also include brother and sisters of your reletives.

I have lots of little piles of scribbly notes on the floor, some things I can't find so I print them off again. The only bit that is organised is my certificates files alphabetically , mind you the other day I couldn't find my own birth certificate!Know where everyone else's is though! Kim

OOh Dea you have 'total chaos' !!! Is that like an 'OLOGY' Gloria x

Organising stuff takes time and you have a choice of not bothering to organise it straight away and then spending time wading through piles of paper OR spending time organising everything so you can find it quickly. I have a paf file which I find really easy to use. Additionally I have 4 enormous 4-hole ring binders for my family and 3 for my husband's lot. I have dividers separating each surname. Within each surname I have all the family groups, pedigree charts & individual sheets, followed by certificates in acid-free plastic hole-punch pockets bought in a job lot from WHSmith. I also have other items in these pockets - old letters, photos, forms, cards etc. I am intending to get them all scanned onto the computer at some point in the future. I regularly go through the paf with my ringbinders on my lap and check they are both up to date. This is a brilliant way of finding out what information I have that I didn't know I had as well as identifying what I need to find out next. nell

thanks everyone for replying with your tips. I must say some of you sound very organised and i feel rather ashamed of myself. I had better pull my finger out otherwise my g g g g grandchildren will never understand my chaos. Claire

just reading through again - Jeannie I don't really think you should be keeping your 4 grandparents in a box file. It can't be very nice!! lol Claire