I’ve been using a computer for little publishing projects for as long as I’ve had a computer and back in the good old days (that would be, say, the 1990s) trying to create a multi-page booklet was quite the puzzle. I remember cutting little sheets of paper and folding them into a page-numbered mock-up so that I could see which pages need to print side by side and back to back. And then I’d move the text around in the…
New record access! Oh, yeah. I woke up thinking it would be a good day to work on updating chicagogenealogy.com. I ate a pink frosting-covered sugar cookie that I got on sale at the grocery store yesterday, went to work on the tutorial page for finding death records, and was like, “Wow. Wow! WOW!” I don’t know when it happened, and maybe this is old news, but Chicago death registers, 8 October 1871 to 29 February 1879, are now available…
Every once in a while I come across a wonderful piece of writing that moves me. Tricia Spencer’s essay about her grandfather is family history writing at its best.
I don’t remember who it was that clued me in on the System > Keyboard > Text method of typing long phrases with a few keystrokes, but whoever it was — thank you! I’ve set up a few combinations and it’s saved me lots and lots of typing. I’m not lazy, by the way; I just like to be efficient. So, here’s what I mean. As a genealogist, I have need to type “Family History Center” over and over and…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] I did it. I finished the fourteen-day challenge and I’m a better researcher for it. Every time I do a project like this, I finding myself wanting to do another one because I feel like the next time I can do it better in less time. That’s called “progress.” One of…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] I like the report-writing part of the research process. The precise thinking that it requires suits me. But I find it challenging on two levels — organizing the information in a logical way and choosing words that will make the writing tight. Separating those two activities might, theoretically, make both of…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] Last post, I talked about how I don’t like to plan ahead when it comes to vacations and the like and how I don’t like to plan ahead when it comes to research either. And I mentioned that I don’t think I’m going to try to change that because, actually, I…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] All of a sudden the other night Without thinking about what I was doing I realized I was sitting in front of my computer Pulling together the pieces Of information I was going to need To create a citation For the record I’d just found Before digging Into the information it…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] I don’t like planning ahead. I mean, how would I know, months in advance, that I am going to be feeling like heading out on, say, a week-long trip to who knows where, on any particular day and at any particular time? I’d like it a whole lot better if I…
[I’m participating in the 14 Day Mini Research Like a Pro Challenge. Thanks to Diana and Nicole at Family Locket for sharing their expertise and guiding us through the experience.] Let’s review. Day 1: Research Question Day 2: Objective I took a look at my tree on FamilySearch and decided to see if I could find a death date and place for Nicholas Connolly, my great-great grandfather. In the forty years that I’ve been “doing genealogy,” it never occurred to me…