Crooked Family Tree » Reunion http://www.crookedfamily.com/blog Family History, Technology and other Nonsense Sun, 30 May 2010 20:41:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Citation Overkill!!! http://www.crookedfamily.com/blog/index.php/citation-overkill/ http://www.crookedfamily.com/blog/index.php/citation-overkill/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:41:20 +0000 Michael http://www.crookedfamily.com/blog/?p=33 Like everyone before me, citations and sources weren’t something I was originally concerned about. I’ve learned my lesson now, about a dozen or so times. There are a variety of reasons to document your sources, but my favorite is so that YOU can reproduce it. A common story, that I’ve played out many many times …

I’ve got a great printout of a Passenger List. I can read the names on it. It’s a Great Grandparent and some of her kids. Wow! I forgot I even had this. I want to track down more records like this. How the heck did I find this one? What’s the microfilm number? Did I get it from a Family History Center or from the National Archives? Did I find it first on an index? When did I find it? Did I look thru that whole film and strikeout on other ancestors?

After several attempts, I’ve come up with the following strategy for tracking sources:

  • Detailed source templates in my genealogy software
  • An individual image folder for each ancestor that includes their person ID from my genealogy software
  • Consistant filenames that include details that tie it to the citation: Birth Certificate – Deller, Francis [0018].jpg

Here’s a closer look at one of my source templates in Reunion:

United States Census Citation

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