I have been thinking a lot about my family history collection - photos, documents, on-line postings.
My computer crashed weeks ago and after my Wizard Grandson replaced the hard drive he was able to return almost everything to its original order. I lost some important things and some that were kept just because there was a place to dump them.
What I don't have back is my Legacy genealogy software. It has been a wonderful software to use, but the company was sold in recent years and the website has changed a lot. My wizard is coming this week to put that back together. In the meantime, my thinking is about using alternative ways to make useful these collected records.
Computer crashes: I have been queried about why I don't store everything in the Clowd. Do you know what a cloud is? It is an unsubstantial collection of molecules that eventually change and disappear. I don't trust the Clowd any further than I can throw it.
My new plan is this:
Backup Number One: not-digital resources
I have two thick binders of printed, individual, direct-ancestor records. Long - long - ago, that was one of the things I did to make sure that if the digital failed, I wouldn't have lost everything. Besides, I like to sit and turn the pages and read about each person.
After the initial printing, I updated the books as I accumulated more information. The last complete printing was 2016 and, while looking through the books recently, I find that there has been very little to add to the texts that would change the overall thoroughness of my research. I am letting those stand as they now are.
I also have the show-files I have created for my families, as a group. (Also photos are elsewhere in the blog.) I started out with binders and plastic sleeves. But I wasn't happy with them. At an office supply I found what I call show-files, which have fixed pages. These contain all the photos I have of each family and any records of great importance. As you can see, plastic is not an ideal substance.
In the meantime, people who are interested, but not active historians, don't care to have a bunch of papers to shuffle through. That's where the digital version of everything comes in.
Backup Number Two: digital resources
Ancestry.com
My niece asked for everything to be on Ancestry, has loaned me her account, and "everything I know" will be hers one of these days. That also provides access to anyone else who might be interested in a particular family line.
Ancestry charges for access to that information unless your are able to use their library edition at a local library. I never have figured out if the library edition offers a more limited range of records, or if not, why the labeling. Many years ago, I subscribed to Ancestry, but never put my family online - just used the resources. It was a matter of being able to work at home rather than in a library or research center.
I did put my whole family tree on-line elsewhere though. RootsWeb was a wonderful FREE exchange of information, forums, postings, groups of information that were of special interest, and the best of all - WorldConnect. I mention it often in my earlier postings. Unfortunately, it did not survive a takeover by Ancestry.
Find a Grave
When I began working with FindaGrave, it was not owned by Ancestry (!). The information they preferred was just about death and burial and photos of person and grave. That was fine. I added many family members who were not already listed.
As the years passed and it was taken over by you-know-who, the ability to add more, in photos and in records, changed. That was fine with me. I like the database very much, especially that it so visually links families on a single page (provided that the poster of a memorial has linked them). Often, I am able to "submit edits" to link family members that are posted alone and add or correct information. I like that contributions are wanted and appreciated. I think it's a better source for putting families together.
BetweenTheWindows.blogspot.com
I began this blog in 2010. I needed to write and this was a good place to post what I wanted to say. Sometimes I wanted to tell about my travels - almost always to look for ancestors - but, too, just holidays. Sometimes it's about everyday life - reminders to me, now, of what joys I found. I also wanted a place to post photographs and records and personal comments about them.
(That's another thing about FaG that I like; I can post personal notes and comments that apply to a record or person and have that available for any researcher.)
This blog is my favorite place to post and I have had some exceedingly interesting correspondence with others who have read something here. It's a source of personal contact that makes this digital-age more acceptable.
Now, I am working on synchronizing all three on-line resources. Hopefully I will be adding much to this blog as I work on making all three sources filled with information.
I am finding already, though, that I can put more here, visibly, than on either Ancestry or FindaGrave. Still, they are where researchers will look first.
I am adding a notation to my typed text of records, on either of those two, that says, according to whichever place I am posting, a note like this:
OTHER:
---see Ancestry
[or]
---see Find a Grave
[or]
---see BetweenTheWindows.blogspot.com Article dated _________
That's all for now.
