Crooked Family Tree

I’ll be at the Family History Library in Salt Lake for 3 days next week.  The way I figure it, I’ll have about 36 hours in the library … give or take.  I want to maximize my time, so I’ve been prepping.  I’ll be bringing:

• My trusty Macbook loaded with all of my historic documents (no clumsy binders)
• A lock for the laptop so it doesn’t accidentally walk away
• A thumb drive, to copy new scans of microfilmed documents (no printouts)
• A laundry list of microfilms to look at (I’m up to 49 so far)

Start easy

I’ve organized my microfilm reading list by location.  I don’t want to waste time, or energy, running up and down stairs from the British Isles to the United States.  I also try to have some easy wins early on.  It’s a morale booster to start out with a success.  A few years ago, I started out on the International Floor, reading German records from a Catholic Church.  They were all in Latin.  That was a discouraging way to start the week.

To get that list of microfilms together, the Library Catalog is my best friend.  The majority of the films are Vital Records, referred to as Civil Registration in some countries.  I do a Place Search for the ancestor I’m researching and see what’s available.  I start small with a City Search and then expand out if necessary (and it almost always is).  In some cases, like Ireland, Civil Registration is available for the whole country.