Doing the Do-Over

It is kinda like doing the hockey-pokey. I feel like I am dancing a jig as I move at a turtles pace through the process.

I had been planning to rework my tree for some time and the Do-Over fit into my life perfectly. After working at the local archives for a year and a half I knew that I had to do something better. Not to say that I hadn’t been good. I had, but after moving twice and having two more kids the genealogy papers were in storage for a few years. Space was a huge issue. I didn’t stop researching, though I felt like a collector. It is time to put it all together in a consist manner.

I have been scanning and entering information for days. It feels like forever but it hasn’t been that long. I am actually enjoying going through my files and ‘finding’ things that have been tucked away for too long. I have not properly analyzed most of the papers that have been passed down from my grandmother.

Right now my new tree doesn’t have 20 people on it. I refuse to add to it until I have done all the steps on the people I have entered so far. I do not enjoy this as much as the hunt but the detective in me comes out when I see the overlooked data contained in a letter or a postcard. It is not a huge things but interesting tidbits, for example, my dad left Berkley, Detroit with his family and moved back to Montreal. I now have a window of months when that occurred. That kind of information helps me to start putting more detail on my family.

I still am struggling with source citation and making it just so, but I will not give up! I am reading when I get a chance and I thank everyone out there who is sharing their ideas, methods, successes and failures for me and others to learn from. It is a great community of people that is slvery willing to share their process and knowledge. 

I don’t know how long I will be at this. It could take me a year or two to get what I have recorded properly. I will continue to scan, cite and sort and in the end my computer, files and office will be conquered. I am thankful to be doing the hockey-pokey Do-Over and turning myself around!