Genealogy Do-Over: Week 1

Thomas MacEntee (GeneaBloggers) is starting his genealogical research over, following practices that will result in a more rigorous tome of family history research. I am following his 13-week plan, and here is my contribution for Week 1.

1. Set aside previous research

Most of my genealogy has been given to me by my family and is found on my family tree as well as what I have downloaded into RootsMagic. I have printed out my pedigrees in surname binders that also contain some original documents. I will set my family tree and binders aside and begin from scratch with myself. I will set up a new family tree (location yet to be determined) and add only the information I verify through this Do-Over. I will start a separate RootsMagic file. I will, however, keep all original documents that I have previously scanned or acquired, using them when appropriate.

2. Preparing to Research

As mentioned above, I will create a new file in RootsMagic for this research plan. I have Evidentia but only have a few documents entered.I will view some tutorials about using Evidentia, Evernote and Evernote Clipper. I plan on using Evernote for my research log. On my desk I have a copy of Evidence Explained and have a link to the Red Book on my toolbar.

3. Establishing Base Practices & Guidelines

• Time: I am setting aside an hour on both Saturday and Sunday mornings for family history research, as well as an hour daily during vacations (I am a teacher).
• Track all work: all of it, even if it yields no progress; if I have a record of it I know what I've done and I won't do it again! I will do this in my research log (Evernote).
• Cite sources:  Evidence Explained -- check.
• Make the first pass the only pass: take the time to extract all possible information from the document and put the information where it belongs--the first time.
• Use research goals: Write a specific research question and focus on that question until completed before moving on.

Wish me luck!

Week #11 – Illness & Injury

Week 11: Illness and Injury. Describe your childhood illnesses or injuries. Who took care of you? Did you recuperate in your own bed, on the couch in front of the television, or somewhere else?

I was well vaccinated as a child so I did not get many childhood illnesses.
I had a brush with chicken pox. My mother said I only had a few pox on my body. I remember sitting in a hot bath and looking at my itching marks, then putting calamine lotion on them so they would stop itching.

My mother said I also had the measles.

I had my tonsils out when I was 9 because I had recurring sore throats. We were living in San Clemente at the time. This was my first trip to the hospital. The doctor came in the night before to talk about what would happen. He said I would be taking an airplane ride, putting on a gas mask and everything. I didn’t sleep much that night. The next day they wheeled me off to surgery, and I did indeed put on that gas mask. I was so tired from the lack of sleep the night before that when I woke up from the anesthesia I just wanted to go to sleep (but the nurses wanted me to wake up!). I believe I stayed in the hospital the rest of that day, then went home the next day. They gave me pink liquid medicine (amoxicillin?) that I didn’t like, so when the nurse left I would spit it out under the bed. I also put up a fit at home when I had to take that medicine. My poor mother!

Injury: we were at the zoo, and I stuck my finger in someone’s cage. That someone bit me in response. I got to visit the zoo’s doctor to get bandaged up.