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Post by peaceandfreedom on Aug 17, 2015 9:34:09 GMT -5
Several years ago my genealogy cousins settled on a very large family tree on ancestry.com. One person set it up, then she gave several more of us editing privileges, so we all work on scanning pictures and documents and posting them there on the one big tree. We collectively decided that was the best place currently available to preserve our work, and to make it available to anyone else who is interested. We make our own backups of the tree too, and those who want to have the info on their own genealogy programs on their own computers, there is a way to copy the tree (or parts of it) as well. This has worked well for us, and it has resulted in our connecting with many distant relatives too.
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Post by imamess on Aug 17, 2015 18:36:54 GMT -5
More hours working on the paper horde today while it was raining. I'm also writing a short history of two churches in my area and have put it off for several years. I found the paper copies that I needed to finish one and today I finished it and am actively working on the second one.
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oldgold
New Member
Joined: November 2010
Posts: 58
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Post by oldgold on Aug 19, 2015 4:36:41 GMT -5
I've worked a little more on my horde and bought a pack of legal size file folders to sort through some of the historical society material, label it and get it ready to go out of my house Thursday Aug. 27. My hip is not hurting very much now and I feel so much better that I am doing things in the house again. It feels good to feel better. oldgold, I admire what you are doing and wish I could let go. If I had everything consolidated into a couple of books, my dd might want it but I'm sure she will not want the pictures, documents and paper horde that I have collected. After I conquer the historical society horde, I plan to tackle my personal horde this winter. Several years ago, I picked out the best pictures and made all my maternal cousins a scrapbook with pictures, who they were and how they were related to us. They seemed to really appreciate that. I didn't do one for me and I really should. Glad to hear that your hip is not hurting very much now and that you are doing things in the house again. I can certainly relate to that. As for wishing you could let go of things, that may come in time. It took me a long time to be able to do so. What prompted my plan to scan and donate was the realisation that over the many years I have been researching my family history, I have spent a considerable amount of time and money and that all the paperwork I have accumulated will probably just be thrown out when I die. Although three of my children are vaguely interested in their family history, none of them have the time nor the inclination to sort out tons of paperwork. I really hated the thought of giving away certificates and photos at first, but now I feel good about it. I can still refer to all the certificates, letters and photos because they will have been scanned to computer and backed up elsewhere, and I will also have gotten rid of a lot of clutter and the originals can help someone else.
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Post by imamess on Aug 20, 2015 6:50:04 GMT -5
I went with a friend yesterday on a research trip and you guessed it, returned with more paper. This should be the last set of papers for a particular chapter we are researching. It has been raining here all night and is way too wet to do anything outside, so I'm tackling the paper horde today. I unearthed a partial box of letter size file folders and I have 50 legal size to work with. Think good thoughts for me please, I'm going to need them to meet my goal of working up and getting rid of all this paper in one week.
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Post by imamess on Aug 20, 2015 7:57:07 GMT -5
I set up two small folding tables on either side of my chair at the kitchen table, put the laptop on the left and completed folders on the right then started on the letter size papers first and started labeling file folders and putting papers in them. After sorting and filing for 30 minutes I can see several areas of the table. One small stack of letter size deed copies and one extra large stack of deed copies to go. These will be much slower, since each deed has to be read, information noted and keyed into the laptop before filing.
I'm resting my back for a few and drinking another cup of coffee before starting on the next session. I'm really happy with the amount of progress in only 30 minutes. I've been dreading this for a year and putting it off but when I decided to make it a priority and set a goal of finishing it is taking a lot less time than I thought.
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Post by peaceandfreedom on Aug 20, 2015 9:19:40 GMT -5
Great job! You (and the rest of us) can DO this stuff!
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Post by imamess on Aug 20, 2015 9:53:51 GMT -5
Two hours of solid work and I have a nice 3 inch stack of file folders nicely labeled and their respective contents done and ready to leave my house. I've had breakfast and have watched Peter Walsh on Rachel Ray. I used to dislike him very much, but I'm warming up a little. I would still hate to have him in my house though. Ten more minutes and I'll tackle another section of deeds. I have to use magnifying glasses and it's pulling my eyes out to read 200+ year old writing from copies that are not especially clear. I want to get the letter size stack done and filed today and tomorrow, then on to the giant legal stack of deeds.
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Post by imamess on Aug 21, 2015 9:42:01 GMT -5
I worked on the letter size stack for 5 hours yesterday and 3 hours today and I'm still not done. It's going a lot slower than I thought it would, but it's going.
I'm ready to stop, cook breakfast, etc. etc. for a while.
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Post by mynicehome on Aug 21, 2015 10:40:26 GMT -5
Hi imamess! Quite a chunk of time on the genealogy work! Good for you. Do you enjoy historical research? Will you look for another historical building or aspect of your community to write about when this one is done?
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Post by imamess on Aug 21, 2015 17:53:14 GMT -5
Lord no! I have been gathering 'stuff' for this project and the area covers about 10 square miles, a now dead little town and the surrounding area. I enjoy it and I committed to this a long time ago. Life got in the way and now that I'm alone, I need to really get going on this project and at the same time get all this paper out of my house. Filing was slow this morning because I had more deeds to read. I am hand writing my notes and will key those into the computer later. I tried to type as I read, but it really didn't work. I ran out of letter size file folders, so while I was in town this afternoon for a mower gas cap and lawn mower gas, I picked up 20 more at the dollar store and some tabs to separate printed out drafts of different chapters of the book.
When I finish this, I will undertake my personal paper horde and thousands of pictures from several deceased family members (I was designated as the 'keeper of the pictures'.) I did start on the personal genealogy papers last year, every time I went to the laundry mat, I would scan a couple of file folders. When I got home I would transfer the scans to the computer, check them to make sure that they were OK, then toss the papers. That gave me some wiggle room, but there are filing cabinets full to go.
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Post by imamess on Aug 22, 2015 6:05:12 GMT -5
Worked 2 hours (4a.m. - 6a.m.)on paper horde. I now have 99% of the letter size papers worked up and filed. They have been put in a box for transport to the archives next week. Resting my back for a while, then on to a rough sort of legal size deeds.
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Post by mynicehome on Aug 22, 2015 9:55:06 GMT -5
Good work imamess! That'll feel good to wave bye-bye to those boxes.
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Post by imamess on Aug 22, 2015 19:59:26 GMT -5
Did a rough sort of the legal size deeds, then stopped to key in the notes I took from the letter size ones. That is my homework for the meeting on Thursday, so it had to be done too. My eyes were very tired, so I worked outside this afternoon. I don't know if I will have time to do much to it tomorrow. Fence guy is coming to do an emergency job at my house and my dd and sil have made reservations for lunch. It looks like a full day.
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Post by imamess on Aug 23, 2015 18:56:14 GMT -5
Managed to work in a little over 2 hours today. Rough sort of one stack is done. I need to speak to my partner in all this to see what he thinks about my ideas of sorting and labeling.
It's going to be nip and tuck to get this done by Thursday at noon!
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Post by imamess on Aug 24, 2015 5:07:07 GMT -5
My history buddy called last night and we discussed the paper horde. He offered to help and I am going to take him up on it. I'm going to give him a category to be sorted and pertinent info entered into a spreadsheet.
I'm meeting him halfway between our homes this morning to give him some files to be printed for Thursday's meeting. The public areas of my house that are normally OK are a disaster right now. The paper horde has escaped its shelf and run amuck. Today I will start to tame the piles.
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