"Tracing Our Roots" Newsletter Archive (A monthly genealogy newsletter written by the late Brenda Kellow, dec'd, for the Plano Star Courier newspaper. We've included all the ones we could recover.)
Everyone should research on location at least once. It is a thrill. The adrenaline rush is energizing. Preparation is exhilarating. To insure success, the order of your preparation is of primary importance. Whether or not you are going with Genealogy Friends to Salt Lake in March, to the DAR library in May, or to the local library next week, systematic preparation is mandatory even before airline or hotel reservations.
First, call the library or research facility for hours of operation and to insure any closing dates will not interfere with your investigation time. With this accomplished, reservations are now in order.
Choosing the research target or targets is next on your agenda. Where do you want to begin? Because I hunt complete families or generations, I usually choose a spouse or couple as a starting point. I use a hand drawn T-chart when I first begin to gather together my information on hand. A T-chart is basically a horizontal line across the top of a sheet of paper and another line drawn vertically down the center of the page. On the left side I record what I know or what documents I have in my file.
Once I organize what I have on the target person or couple, the next step is to jot down what I need for reinforcement. I continue with this process of selecting the research targets, identifying information, and itemizing what it is I need to find until my list is much larger than I can possibly handle in the allotted amount of time allocated.
Next I create a To-Do list by entering all my handwritten information on the T-chart into my MS Excel program so that I can sort it in any way I want. Color-coding is handy here because I can select the easiest items to find and color them green. The hardest ones I color red and the intermediate ones in black. The purpose of distinguishing between finding difficulty keeps me from searching long hours during each day without finding anything. This allows for the thrill of finding an easy item while keeping me from becoming discouraged. Maintaining energy and enthusiasm on location is always of prime importance.
Hopefully, the suggestions here will help with your research trip. Only you are responsible for whether or not your time is spent researching effectively on location. By using correct discipline techniques, you can come back home with the same enthusiasm as when you left.
More information on getting ready to research on location is found in the new Betterway Books publication, The Family Tree Guide Book, available at local bookstores for $19.95. Betterway also publishes the tome Your Guide to the Family History Library by Paula and Jim Warren. It is also available locally for the same price as the Guide Book.
Census Finder
If you are looking for census records online, don t forget to use the site listing free census records at www.censusfinder.com.
GOOD SITE FOR GENEALOGISTS
Sources2Go.com appeared last week and it was designed just for family history researchers. The FamilyToolbox.net site offers more than 19,000 digitized records, which is available for purchase on CD-ROM if you just have to add to your collection.
OKLAHOMA CENSUS HELP
Indian Nations Census is new yet already has over 82 links and can be found at www.censusfinder.com/oklahoma2.htm. The Oklahoma census has over 201 links and it is at
www.censusfinder.com/oklahoma.htm.
SURNAME SITES
The top surname sites are available at www.genealogysearch.org/topsites/topsites.html.
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
