TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2001-02 > 0982027340


From: "Carol Simpson" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Using TMG for research -- best practices
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:22:20 -0900
References: <LPBBJNIOBJEJOGJFMDGJCEBLDGAA.deannaburghart@earthlink.net>


DeAnna,

Just a "few" questions, huh? <g> I think it's a great idea. You organize
the notes into categories and send to Lee, who will happy to post it on his
tips page. (Hope it's OK that I am putting words into your mouth, Lee!)

I know that Lee has already stated here that he is working on re-organizing
his tips page. This is a big project and will no doubt take a long time,
but I am sure looking forward to it. When I had my first baby, my very
favorite book was called "Babysense." It was compiled via a questionnaire
and consisted of tips from "real people" divided into subjects like feeding,
diapers, sleeping, crying, etc. We have, as a culture, lost the sense of
community that our forebears had, when the older women helped the younger
with the babies and passed on their advice, born of experience. Though I
think I am quite clever, I know that there is always much more to learn. My
very favorite part of this forum is when there are a variety if DIFFERENT
answers to a question. I sometimes find one that works for me, and
sometimes come up with my own due to the variety, which helps me to think in
new directions myself and consider options that had not occured to me
before.

Lee, this is what I am hoping for: Your site to be organized by TOPIC, with
either links to pages with notes from lots of different people, or links to
off-site pages, where appropriate. Anyone with a suggestion that they are
willing to share can send it to you to be added to the appropriate page.
For instance: Category CENSUS RECORDING can have links to Diane Bergman's
page, Terry Reigel's page, etc. Maybe also suggestions from others.
Another example: recently on this list there was some discussion of
recording WAR information. That is a category. One could click on that
link and then see something like this (and others): Q. In what way to most
of you indicate which of your ancestors were Revolutionary War Soldiers?
Maybe this question could be a link to a list like this:

I have tags for all the wars and simply mark it yes or no. Great way to
keep track of who fought in what. -Phil Rhoton

I have a Flag for REV_WAR people. -Marilyn DeVries

I use flags for RevWar, CivilWar, Kings_Dau (Filles du Roi) and Car_Regt
(French Carignan Regiment). Under RevWar I can use Y or N and under CivilWar
I have U, C and N. -Bob Evans

Have a flag called Military... default is No which I set to Yes when there
is military involvement. In the Person View *Reference* field, I indicate:
CSA, RW, 1812, SAW, W1, W2, or VN. I can use the Picklist to filter or sort
these individuals based on the Flag setting and contents of the Reference
field. -Rae Jean Hay

I first of all have a flag for war service, so that I can set accents for my
War Heros. Then I have a war tag, with the role of enlisted. The sentence
reads "During the [M1], <[W] signed up with the [M2]> <[D]> <[L].> <[M3]>"
Where M1 is the
War name, and M2 is the unit. So for my Civil War guys I have, "During the
Civil War, John signed up with the Confederate army 14 JAN 1862 Lynchburg,
TN. He rode his horse into Lynchburg..." My war flag has F:French and
Indian, R:Revolutionary, C:Civil War, 8:War of 1812, 1:WWI, 2:WWII,
P:Possible Civil War, M:Mexican War. I also use Mil Pen and Mil PenDen for
Pension applications. And MilDis for Military Discharges. -Teresa

Mine is a Military tag. F-French Canadian War; R-Revolutionary; E-1812;
C-Civil War; S-Spanish American; 1-WWI; 2-WWII; K-Korean; V-Vietnam; Y-in
Military; - No military service. -Patt Ricketts

Etcetera, etcetera. I know, one can use the rootsweb archives to look these
up, but that is so time-consuming and I sometimes can't find what I am
looking for anyway. Right now, I am using KeepHere to save and organize
some of these postings here. I am not really so much thinking of these
little notes....but perhaps if your site had an "outline" on it, people
would write up what they do in certain areas and send them to you for
posting! I actually use a method of my own to record censuses which I am
quite pleased with, a compilation of tips received from others and others I
read via Lee's page. While I do not have a website of my own, I would be
willing to write up an explanation if it would go onto yours. I have not
yet because (besides the fact that there are good suggestions there
already!), there is not clear place to stick it! I, for one, would mail you
a small fee (say, $5?) to contribute towards any additional web space you
would need to post these things. You could post a plea here once a year or
every 6 months or so.

Of course, this would all mean that you would have no time to go actual
genealogy anymore, but that's OK, right???? I volunteer to assist with this
project. Any other ideas?

Carol

*********************
Carol Simpson
Homer, AK

*********************

----- Original Message -----
From: DeAnna Burghart
To:
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 3:39 PM
Subject: [TMG] Using TMG for research -- best practices


Now that I've got the rudimentary basics of data entry and such, I'm eager
to start using TMG to help guide, track, and interpret my research, instead
of the mere data collection I used to do with FTM. I've picked up some bits
and pieces here and there from Lee's tips page (thanks, Lee!) and other
places, and I am getting really comfortable with Diane Begeman's census
methodology (very helpful; thanks Diane, if you're out there <g>). What I'm
looking for at this point is a list of "best practices" that others have
invented over the years, so I don't have to re-invent the wheel.

What suggestions/recommendations do you have for using features like
exhibits or the research log? What recommendations do you have for using the
citation detail as opposed to the Memo field (or vice-versa) to create
properly annotated reports? What incredibly useful techniques have you come
up with for managing sources? Using repositories? Recommended Accent
configurations? Flags you've found particularly useful? Custom tags you
wouldn't do without? You get the idea.

In case there's anyone out there who thinks like me, I'm a Dollarhide
organizer, BIG into binders, and keep hard copies of everything. At least
one tree has already given it's life for my project. <bg> Organization isn't
really my issue. Correlation of data is something I'm just getting good at.

Any ideas or suggestions welcome, no matter how small. I'll be happy to
collect and publish them somewhere online if the group thinks it's a good
idea. And thanks in advance. :)

Cheers!
DeAnna

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