Ya Gotta Get It Together-Part Three

Adjusting Your Work Flow

As we continue to organize using Denise Levenick's article in Family Tree magazine, "workflow"will be the hardest element to internalize when organizing. Remember to "go paperless" and keep any more paper from coming "in."

To reiterate, I 
a) scanned or 
b) read and recycled papers/documents,
c) created naming system for documents/emails/text and.
d) created folder naming system.

Levenick suggests the following regarding WorkFlow:

1)  STOP yourself from pushing the PRINT button when you find something online or that might come by email. 

What worked for me:
* Practice cut/paste with non-genealogy email/web material. 

Here was my process:

* I have two Word documents on the desktop. For now, one for each major SURNAME.

* I cut text from email or websites, pasted it in my genealogy software or Word document (remember to capture the email or URL address).

* Levenick suggests to copy and paste to a document, research log, or a Correspondence folder.

2) Keep everything in digital format!

* Which leads to considering "tools"(See step 12 in Levenick's article) that will help you digitize like Evernote, maps, calendars and, other tools.
* I have not yet perfected Evernote.

3) Take a screenshot, copy and paste, or save/bookmark the URL to your favorites.

* I do screenshots, 
* practice copy and paste (see item 1 above), and 
* save/bookmark websites to favorites (to return to).

4) Get books digitized and not in print. Get conference syllabus in .pdf format or on a CD. Get society newsletters and magazines electronically. 

* I have not yet perfected reading a book downloaded from a website for reading.

(I had to literally hold my hand from requesting a print copy of a book to be snail mailed to me OR even printing out the 371 page book.)

* Look on conference registration forms and order the CD of the syllabus. 

* Get the Apps for conferences and take notes on devices.

* Most societies send newsletters electronically. Read and recycle or read and cut and paste.

5) Put your genealogy somewhere! What computer platform and program do you use? Wherever you keep it genealogy software, or genealogy website...keep a master copy. 

_____________________________________

 LOCKSS: 
* Back up not only monthly but keep a copy of your files on three or more locations. 

* Keep it safe and make one of those locations... the CLOUD.

Remember the goal is to become organized and productive by "going paperless." With suggestions from Denise Levenick you can "go paperless" or at least "go with less paper." 

Become a more organized and productive research genealogist.

It can be done. I did it!

___________________________________________

Denise Levenick,  Family Tree magazine, July/August p 21-26.

Glimpses on the Horizon Blog Ya Gotta Get It Together Part 1& 2

See ya down the road...

Copyright @ 2015-16 Diane McClure Lott

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Amanuensis Monday

Death by Run Away Team of Horses

The Death of Winfield Scott Bauer

(As reported in the Miller Press June 24, 1926)

Mr. Bauer was working on his farm when a team of horses became frightened and ran away. In his attempt to hold them, he grasped the wheel of the wagon. The horses did not slacken their speed and as the wheel revolved it carried the unfortunate man with it.

He was thrown to the ground with considerable force, falling on his head and shoulders. Mr. Bauer was still conscious when members of the family came to his aid, but shortly after the arrival of the physician he lost consciousness.  He died Tuesday noon.

The deceased was born in Pennsylvania and was 44 years of age. He has made his home in the county for some years. At one time he was in charge of the municipal light plant before it was taken over by the city.

He was survived by his widow and ten children. 
(My mother Catherine Mae Binder was one of those 10 children but not the daughter of Mr. Bauer.)

Funeral services will  be  held in Ree Heights Friday at 10:00.

Mr. Bauer was the husband of my grandmother Anna Marie Binder Bauer husband and son of Irvin Bauer. 

They lived in Hand County, Ree Heights, South Dakota.

See ya down the road...

Copyright @ 2015-16 Diane McClure Lott

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Throwback Thursday

Unknown Photo...Is it Myers?

Three unknown chldren was the caption attached to this photo.
My guess from clothing is about 1870.

This photo has been kicking around my iPhoto and desktop for several years. 
I keep attaching it to emails sent to surname contacts but no one recognizes it.

It could be surname Myers as it came with a collection of Myer photos. 
The person who sent the photos didn't know who the three children were either.

Do you have an photo with unknown persons?

How did you work out who your the persons in your photo was.  

Does anyone have suggestions as to how to proceed?

I am guessing that the three left to right are about the age 7, 6 and 10 years of age.

The clothing "smacks" of 1870 post Civil War.

If you are a budding Maureen Taylor and can help would you contact me?

Thank you so much.


See ya down the road...

Copyright @ 2015-16 Diane McClure Lott

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Ya Gotta Get It Together - Part Two

Getting Organized—Part Two

or 

Now that I got it what do I do with it?

A  practical approach to getting organized using Denise Levenick's article "The End of the Paper Trail" in Family Tree magazine.

Step One was to get rid of my flatbed scanner and buy a sheet feed scanner.  You can use a sheet feed scanner as a flatbed scanner if this capability is needed. 

Sheet feed scanning will produce an enormous amount of digital documents and NOW to deal with naming and filing.

Step Two was creating a "file-naming scheme" Levenick suggests a system that "you know what is in the file before you open it."

Levenick suggests these two naming options:

1) date first (1930 Smith_ James_census), 
or

2) surname first (Lott_ Cornelius_Jamaica-NewYork 
or even my suggested naming option by

3) type of document (Swiss_Lacapo_lecture)

Creating the file name and folder name system is not hard. It helps you:
*pull it together 
* get some semblance of order

BUT

* Now that you have named it 

where do you put it?

Step Three was to consider the " folder system" on my computer.

I had my own "folder system" and surprisingly it was almost what Levenick suggested. (See detailed example in Levenick's article step 8.)

It is all a matter of getting a file naming scheme in place "consistently" as well as a folder system in place "consistently."

(A suggestion from Nancy Loe and Sassy Jane Genealogy, too.)

This is time consuming work especially if you have not done any organizing but it is even harder when correcting what you thought was organization.

Levenick suggests a cheat sheet with the naming scheme(s) posted near your computer.  I concur Denise.

Personal Note:

Consistency (I fall down here)...I am working on it.  

  
More of my challenges in organizing with comments from Levenick on"Adjusting your Workflow" in Ya Gotta Get It Together — Part Three.

Have you been organizing? 

Please let me know your challenges and solutions.

See ya down the road...

____________________________________
Denise Levenick, "The End of the Paper Trail," Family Tree magazine, July/August, p 21-26.

"Everything Fine..."

Jeffrey Mikeal Lott

Born July 20, 1946

Celebrating 70 years

Happy Birthday Jeff. 

Jeffrey Mikeal Lott age 8 inTucson, AZ

Below is a copy of the original radiogram informing his father Archie V. Lott of Jeffrey's birth. 

His father Archie Lott was serving in the US Navy on the USS Boxer at the time of his birth.

Alice and Archie Lott resided in Puyallup, WA at the time of the birth.

Archie V. Lott was a RM1C—Radioman first class.

Jeffrey's mother Alice Burzloff Lott underlined the spelling of Jeffrey's middle name because of the unusual spelling that she wanted.

See ya down the road...

Tombstone Tuesday-Cornelius Lott 1738-1816

Captain Cornelius Lott

In my research this Cornelius Lott is identified by his rank as there were a plethora (16 by my count) of Cornelius Lotts. 

This can be seen by the inscription on the Lott cenotaph in Gettysburg, PA.

Captain Cornelius is buried in Millstone, New Jersey (previously known as Somerset Courthouse). 

Captain Cornelius Lott worshipped as Dutch Reformed as did most of the Lotts and associated families.

Inscription on the Gettysburg Cenotaph:

In perpetuation of the memory of Cornelius Lott, 1738-1816, and his wife Henrietta Brokaw, 1739-1829, both of whom lie buried in Millstone Churchyard, Somerset County, New Jersey.  

He served his country, 1779-1783, as 1st Lieutenant in Capt. Conrad Ten Eyck's Company, 2nd Batallion, Somerset County, New Jersey Troops, and later as Captain of Middlesex County New Jersey Men.  

The American Revolution.

And Their Son Cornelius Lott, 1762-1831, and his wife Magdalena Brokaw, 1769-1848 And Their Son Jacob Lott, 1808-1892, and his wife Ann Stallsmith, 1806-1888. 

All four of Whom Lie Buried Here.

Also to the memory of Cornelius Lott, son of Jacob and Ann Stallsmith Lott, Born November 15, 1835.  Served as Private and Corporal in Company I, 102nd Infantry Regiment Illinois Volunteers, Killed in the Battle of Auerysboro, North Carolina March 16th, 1865 -- The Civil War

Res:- Millstone, N.J.

* Wife of Captain Cornelius, Henrietta Brokow (1739-1829),  was believed to be a descendent of Bourgeon Brouchard, the Huegenot who came to America in 1645. 

* They were married for 57 years. 

* They attended The Church of Hillsborough which is Dutch Reformed and both their funeral services were performed at this church. 

__________________________________________

*  See: Cornelius Lott in Find A Grave  

*  A.V. Phillips, The Lott Family

Amanuensis Monday: A LETTER TO UNCLE JOHN

Genea-Musings:

The following is from Randy 
Seaver's blog:

Genea-blogger John Newmark started a blog theme called Amanuensis Monday and offers this definition:

A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

The following is a letter to John Myers in Darke County, Ohio from his nephew James M. Elderdice who writes from Stewartstown, York County, PA October 14 @1847.

The letter is included in .tiff format followed by a Word transcription:

NOTES:  Fellow researcher on the Myers surname Elizabeth Duncan sent me this letter and others belonging to John Myers and his uncles.

(The Reverand) John Myers was the GGGG Uncle of my husband Jeffrey M. Lott.

John Myers can be located in the 1850 census at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/darke/census/1850

(current as of 1998).

Information from the John Myers letter:

* John Myers was the maternal uncle of John M. Elderdice.

* John Myers is in the active service of the Methodist Protestant Church in the character of an itinerant (New Market circuit).

* His wife is ill and has had dyspepsia but health is better.

* An infant daughter died a year ago.

* Our cousin Henry Myers has returned from his excursion of 20 western states on a reconnoitering expedition.

"in this part of the country the people are not much disposed to immigrate westward..."

* I now live on a road leading from York to Baltimore 20m from the former and 30m from the latter.

* Crops of grain are good.

* James reports a considerable number of children deaths from dysentery in Pennsylvania.

* The last two paragraphs end much as with a sermon..." to cultivate Christian love...we are laboring and hoping for better times Paul may plant and Apollos may water but God gives the increase[sic].

* It closes with greetings from James' wife with remembrances and love to all and to direct your letter to Stewartstown, York Co. PA.

Other Myer letters, wills, and documents follow in future posts. 

See ya down the road...

Ya Gotta Get It Together - Part One

Getting Organized—Part One

This blog will be referring to the July/August Family Tree  article by Denise Levenick, "The End of the Paper Trail" and how I have applied the guidance of this article to organizing my own genealogy paperwork.


"When your genealogy paperwork isn't organized, neither is your research," Denise Levenick says.

It is that time in my life when  "stuff," all kinds of stuff, needs to be released, streamlined thinned out, thrown out. 

BUT.... Genealogy papers, books, photos and all kinds of epherma were not on my list to be thinned out until I read the article by Denise Levenick in Family Tree magazine. 

I can do this! 
Denise Levenick inspiringly said, "Not paperless, but less paper."

This process is multileveled so when organizing be prepared to

jump from computer, to files, to bookshelves, to in-basket 
and back again.

It is like rearranging furniture...one move leads to other smaller moves or projects or areas with which to deal.

Step One was to look at the files on my computer. Too many to tackle all at once. So I did a basic rearranging of: surname folders. I was organizing to get ready for organization.

See Denise's Article and Step 8 following suggested organized, detailed folder structure. 

BUT I had files in scanning folders, photo folders, email folders 
EVERYWHERE.

I will haveto return and organize folders surnames, photos, general genealogy, and more. 

(See? It is like rearranging furniture!)

Step Two was to look at the overflowing folder of paper in the form of journal articles, speakers handouts, pages torn from conference syllabi, yellow pages of handwritten notes, and what is in my in basket. 

Family files in the file cabinet are next.  This will be an continuation of Step 8 of Levenick's article.

Most of the paperwork in the folder was tossed into the recycle. Others were scanned.

Cute story: In this in basket I found a handout from Denise from when she spoke to the San Diego Genealogical Society about this very same topic. I loved the quote she included on her handout from Hercule Poirot,

"...the world it is drowning in paper."

(For Scanning See: Ya Gotta Get It Together - Part 2

Regarding Research Logs: Religiously I kept a print out of my research logs (see photo above) even though I had passed the goal(s) reflected on them. 
For example: I kept all the Berlin research log information in addition to the letters and replies (See Grandmother Born in Berlin? blog). These are no longer needed. Think LESS Paper. 

This is just the beginning... as refining your folders will go on and on.

Step Three is the preparation for scanning of heirloom documents. I have had success here. 

MY original documents have already been scanned. So I am ahead here.

MY originals are in acid free binders. 

 BUT COPIES OF ORIGINALS 

need to be scanned and these 

copies of originals put in the recycle.

Note: You should use a flatbed to scan delicate heirloom documents or use a camera and take a photo of the heirloom.

 Key words here: BE CAREFUL when handling heirloom documents.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Blog: Grandmother Born in Berlin

* "The End of the Paper Trail" by Denise Levenick July/August Family Tree magazine

* Speaker's notes: Denise Levenick The Paper-Less Genealogist Organizing Your Genealogy With Digital Files

Are you in the process of organizing? 
I would love to hear from you.

See ya down the road...