Find Ancestors

Hi everyone I have accumulated quite a bit of paperwork since starting my tree....as you do! But now, I have too much. Has anyone got any tips on how I can organize it all. I never seem to be able to find what I want, when I want it!

I would be open to suggestions as to how to arrange my mountains of paperwork as the more I try to get some kind of order the more disordered I seem to get.

Snap!!!

W.H.Smith have 75% off their A4 Display books they have 40 clear pockets so back to back sheets give you 80 pages. They come in many colour Plastic Covers so you can have one per family group. £1.39 each. Easy to read and easy to store they keep all your papers flat. Other than that put your paperwork in plastic sleeves and fill lever files. Good luck Irene

Thanks Irene. The file per family sounds a good idea!

Hi i am doing 3 trees so i have loads of paper work For each tree i do a folder main line then a folder main line children then i do a folder main line A to Z and a main line children A- Z it works very well hope this helps all the best sue

Hi I have files by family name and then 4 sections within that, one for the actual tree, one for comfirmed data, one for in progress and one for not my line. this seems to work well, I revisit the not my line file every 6-8 months incase something fits that didn't before.. Hope this helps.. Jo

Anyone else got any ideas?

Nudged this one up...well worth a read... Take a look at Lesley's thread on the tips board!!

i had the same problem over 100 certificates didnt know what to do tesco has some plastic display files which i use birth cert in front death cert behind it marriage in the next one its so easy to find everything now good luck though it took me ages to sort it all out

I understand Original Certificates should be in Acid Free Plastic files to stop them deteriorating - available but bit more expensive. Ordinary cheaper files ok for other general paperwork.

Thank you Julie and Janice for your replies.

nudged for Lisa

I have four expanding A4 size folders - one for each of my parents and my partner's parents. Each is separated by dividers with tabs on the top which I label with each main surname. All my paper research is filed in those. They are full to bursting these days so its looking like I'm going to need to buy four more to even things out a bit! I keep all my notes, narrative write ups, various stages of tree print outs, copies of photos, certificates etc in them aswell as any other documents like copies of wills or any other research. Its really handy to keep it all like that as if I ever need to look back on something I just go to the file, open it up, look for the surname and pull it all out! I go through them every few months to discard anything that can go - for instance I have lots of scraps of paper with things jotted on them like certificate references etc - so I often go through my files and get rid of those scraps if I know I have since ordered those certs. Sometimes I will sit down and copy info from all the random scraps down onto one piece of paper to cut down on all the mess and bulk!

I also have a similar system on my computer where I have a folder for my Family Tree - split into my side and my partners side, then sub folders for each parents side and then sub folders again for each surname - with all the census images etc saved there. Then I also have separate folders for all my scanned family photos and for all my scanned certificates. So much easier if I want to find something to check on it - then I know exactly what folder it is in.

I also have a similar situation where on my computer I sometimes use Notepad to jot down information - like details from freereg etc and I save them all over the place sometimes with one bit of info in each - so every so often I go through them and just consolidate them in one file in one place.

I even have the same system when I am doing research for other people - in my folder marked 'Other Peoples Families' lol.

Sorting through my old threads and thought I would nudge this one up for any newbies to take a look.

Well worth a look - fairly new to these boards but not to filing documents - paper or electronic.

Currently I am using a lever arch with plastic folders - front sections all separate for certs Birth /Marriage / Death in date order of event. Then more sections for each Surname for family line in alphabetical order, in these I keep prints of census transcriptions and their original images - I don't want to pay to view again if I cease my subscriptions. End section I call 'relatives relatives' - for example my g grandfathers siblings partners/families - at the moment I am concentrating on more direct ancestors, but may eventually extend it out.

I have a similar set up in my 'Genealogy' folder on my computer, with sub folders for each family line, which has the downloaded census images. Also folder with various notes, research, images that I may want to refer to again.

I keep spreadsheets of the following:

GR Members I have contacted - comparing names in my tree with potential matches in theirs or enquiries relating to witnesses on marriage certs etc- including when I sent the PM, date I get a response (if I do), who is it about and then a notes column to show if it is my ancestor - or not.

Certs I have obtained with a summary of the information on each cert, including GRO Ref

Certs I need/want to obtain - including GRO refs

GRO Refs for B/M/D for 'relatives relatives' or where I have not yet confirmed which preference most probably relates to my relative - saves me searching /sorting through GRO entries again - then I highlight them when obtained, remove them when I know they are not mine.

I also keep summary documents of each family - like a story, who they are, where they lived, who they married, children, interesting info from Census - because anyone looking at my folders will just see loads of documents and may not be able to track it

I can see that eventually I will need to expand my lever arch folders as I get more certs / census records.

I also have hand-written sheets by surname showing parents and relevant dates, listing their children and relevant dates, then asterisk my direct ancestor, so it can be followed backwards and forward - and if the worst happens and my trees (all of them) get mangled I can recreate my direct ancestors again.

Might sound a bit complicated - but works for me - for the time being at least

It is amazing how much paperwork you can accumulate.