I have blogged about the Genealogy Do-Over a number of times. It is a project started a couple of years ago by Thomas MacEntee. The concept was and IS a great one. For me, starting over, was not something I was willing to do. However, Going OVER what I already have made total sense to me.
Think about it. I didn't know what I was doing when I started. My daughter gave me Family Tree Maker when I started, because she thought I needed something to do. Little did she know. Oh, and little did I know.
In person classes, Genealogy in-person meetings, Hangouts On Air, Podcasts, Webinars are places to learn how to do this stuff. Its amazing how much "stuff" you can learn, listening and learning from and with others. Not to mention new features in Family Tree Maker.
The three terms in the Subject are part of the Do-Over / Go-Over for me.
With FTM2010, the Source Template feature was introduced to the program that was based on Elizabeth Shown Mill's book, Evidence Explained. It is our standard for how to craft citations. The other two items are also standards for our family research.
When the Genealogy Do-Over concept was introduced, I jumped on the bandwagon, but in my own way. I have blogged about that before on this blog, under the Label of GenealogyDoOver.
My goal has been to update my database to meet or attempt to meet the standards of these three items. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been, again, working on getting my 4,500 Citations into Source Templates. It's a slow process, time consuming, but worthwhile.
Remembering that the Genealogy Do-Over / Go-Over was to look at what we have now, and apply what we / I have learned since I started. Focusing on the Citations, makes me do that. I need to re-look at the Information / Claims / Facts that are in the Source of information (like a book or Source) find, where in that book the information is (Citation), Select the appropriate Source Template that best describes What I am looking at, and Where did I get it from. Honestly answering those two questions will get me to the correct Source Template.It define the Container of Information. The Citation Detail (field in Family Tree Maker) helps complete the citation.
Source = Container of Information
Citation = Where in the Container did I find and for who
I am mentioning all of this because I can across information in my database that I had entered a long time ago, but had forgotten about, because I wasn't using a Research Log or To Do List both of which I absolutely use in FTM2017.
I found this problem while cleaning up my Citations and have created a way to track the clean up and have a plan to manage this clean up.
Today, I was working "the plan", found a note that I need to Locate a source. It was from a reference in a Family Group Sheet that I have been working on from a Cousin. That series of Family Group Sheets (FGS) are the basis of my entire database. Been working on them for 20 years. This note, only referred to a database title, Thanks to Google, I found that record in the UK and it was online. (tip of the Iceberg, right?)
The next one was even better. This "locate source" was linked to my maternal Grandmother. This time, I really didn't have a Source Title to Search, so I looked to see if Ancestry had a Hint for her, that I haven't looked at for a while.
There is was, but it was even better then just giving me the ability to cite that source CORRECTLY but it was a page in a 1910 Yearbook, in the town in Pennsylvania where she lived.
West Chester State Normal School, Pathfinder, (1910), Record for Rachel P Johnston, 1910 Staff; Online Image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 January 2019).
Yes, we know that Ancestry has a good Yearbook collection, but she had Graduated from High School in 1906, Her collage was in Massachusetts, where she graduated from, but this Yearbook was from 1910 and in Pennsylvania. Huh? It documented that she was on the Staff at West Chester Normal School, now West Chester University, in 1910. I knew that was the name of the school at the time, but her address was also at the Normal School in the 1910 Census. With this Source, with the information in this entry, I crafted my Citation and linked it to the Facts is that short paragraph.
Which led me to the 1912 Yearbook, where she was a coach. I do not think she it in this picture, but she is listed as Coach.
West Chester State Normal School, Pathfinder, (1912), Record for Rachel P Johnston, 1912 Basketball Coash; Online Image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 January 2019).
I do not believe that she is in this photograph
Lesson Learned: Every once in a while, go back an look at what you have. In this case, I had a Citation that was not using the Template feature and I want my citations in that format, BUT it got me to relook at that record. Nothing new, but I was able to confirm small bits and pieces of data that i already had.
Had I don't learned about EvidenceExplained, the Genealogical Proof Standard, and Mastering Genealogical Proof, AND the Features built into Family Tree Maker, I would not have found these two gems about my Grandmother.
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