Clooz-L Archives

From: "Wendy C" <>
Subject: [Clooz] Where do I begin?
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 08:10:17 -0500

All you experts out there - please bear with me. I want to put all your
expertise to work! I've been concentrating on entering my information in
Family Tree Maker, but I think I'm ready for Clooz - or I need to figure out
when & why I'll be ready. Any and all information or opinions will be
appreciated.

I plan to load the software this weekend. Paper is coming close to forcing
me out of house and home. Although I've been getting the Clooz newsletter
for awhile, I'm still confused on where and how to start. I'd like to hear
how people started using Clooz (the mailist has been far too quiet anyway!).

I've seen Clooz referred to as an "electronic library" - is it a receptacle
for the research information that I would normally keep in a file cabinet?
And those copies would no longer be needed (very uncomfortable with this)? I
assume a major advantage of using Clooz is that it makes the information
searchable.

I've been working on my family genealogy for seven years. I have about 500
individuals entered into Family Tree Maker (FTM), and (I think) I begin by
importing these individuals into Clooz. Not all individuals entered in FTM
are related - yet. Should I import the entire list or enter the people
one-by-one as I have information for each person?

Since I don't know what should go into Clooz, I'm going to list what I have:
- Social Security Death Index info (on paper & disk).
- White page listings of relatives and possible relatives (paper and disk).
- Lots of birth, wedding, death notices (paper).
- Handwritten notes from county birth, death & marriage records (paper).
- General and specific newspaper articles(paper).
- Diaries from two of my Aunts (some in a MS Word file).
- Correspondence from queries (paper & disk).
- Source, email, and web addresses that I may/may not have used (yet)(paper
& disk).
- Lots of letters/postcards in Danish waiting for translation. Some will be
scanned.
- Emigration records (So cool! In the Danish Demographic Database, I found
the scanned image of the actual page where my Great-Grandfather handwrote
the names of his family!).(Paper and disk.)
- Maps & demographic information(paper & some on disk).
- County Plat books (paper).
- Old telephone books (paper).
- Scraps of paper with notes that cannot be attached to any one person
(paper).
- Old address books (paper).
- Obituaries (paper).
- Family recipes (paper).
- Cemetary listings (paper and disk).
- Patents belonging to family members.
- Guest lists from prior to 1940 Family Reunions.
- and more. . .

I have entered the specific information from the above mentioned items as it
applied to the individuals already entered in FTM. There is more
information that I MAY need later as people are added.

I realize there are templates in Clooz, so I'm assuming I can import a file
into one of the templates. My next research task is to get Census
information. My census research so far has only given me census by
counties - some downloadable and some not. Will my Census template contain
only the census information directly pertaining to my family? Or the entire
Census obtained for the county?

How do I use Clooz "with" FTM? Does it become "part of" or "backup" of my
FTM information?
Is there duplication of information in FTM and Clooz?

What about photos? I have about 1500 photographs organized and ready for
the scrapbook challenge. About 100 of these have been scanned for use in
FTM, with plans for scanning another 100 for use in printing the family
book. Should I be cataloging the photos (assigning numbers, etc.)in Clooz?

Thanks in advance for your patience and responses.

This thread:

• [Clooz] Where do I begin? by "Wendy C" <>