File Naming Structure Addendum - Maiden Names, etc.

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been renaming my digital files (both photos and documents) in an effort to reorganize and make sense of my Genealogy Files in my Dropbox account.

At the base level, the file name is SURNAME First Name Middle Name Date of Birth Description Place.  So for example: WHATEVER Samuel b 1840 1870 Census Madison County Indiana.

How to file the documents left by our female ancestors and relatives has always presented a conundrum.  In many records, women get "lost" in the identities of their husbands and those with multiple marriages makes it difficult to keep track of what item goes with whom.

Regarding the file structures, for example, do I file the death record of my grandmother under her married name at the the time of death (Wright) or under her maiden name (Lambertson)?   While I will always know whose record it was, someone coming behind me might not make the immediate connection.

The consensus in the field is to file documents for women under their maiden names in order to maintain consistency, so that is what I'm trying to do.  In the file naming structure it looks like : WHATEVER Fanny b 1840 m_1 JOHNSON Death Certificate 1900 Cook County Illinois.  

I'm using the m_1 SURNAME of spouse to add to the identifiers.  Multiple marriages look like m_1 JOHNSON m_2 SMITH.   This can lead to some rather long file names.

However, by adding the surnames of the spouses and naming the file under the maiden name I can harness the power of the computer to search for the file and find it whether or not I'm searching for records under the maiden or married name.

While I'm trying to utilize full names including maiden names on all of the files, for those that end up being a bit long, I've dropped the middle name down to an initial for identification purposes.  Some of my families really enjoyed using the same naming patterns over and over again.

File Naming Structure

 Ask any two genealogists how they structure the file names of their digital files, and you'll probably get three different answers.  I imagine that determining a proper file naming convention is what trips up most researchers and keeps them from becoming better organized.  I know that I've struggled off and on with how to name my files.

All of my Genealogy files, whether documents, photographs or other images, are stored in Dropbox so they can be accessed across multiple devices.  As I begin to get organized with this new attitude of making sure that my research is up-to-date to pass on to the next generation, I've had to settle on a file naming convention.

My first pass has been in using this file structure to rename the files that are currently in my Genealogy files with names such as "DSC12395.jpg" or whatever the camera or iPhone decided to name them.  Once renamed with a meaningful name, each of these files will be filed under their own Surname file in Dropbox.

After much deliberation and reading about how others name their files, I think I've settled on the following:  Surname First Name birth date Description Place. 

For example - WHATEVER John b 1865 1910 Census Madison County Indiana. 

This way I can differentiate between multiple people who have the same first name and surname.  If I don't know the birthdate, I'll use an estimate or perhaps the death date.  The point is to get like images with like images.

Many of my files had already been named, so I won't go back and rename them just yet - my focus will be on getting the unidentified and unnamed files named and sorted first. Then, once I begin to work systematically up my family tree, I can update the naming conventions on any of the other files.

In going through images stored in my Genealogy folder, I've not only gone down memory lane - I've also found items that had nothing to do with genealogy that were just lumped into the digital pile.  Those items have been either deleted or filed accordingly in another Dropbox folder.

Adding updates to LeMaster & Allied Families tree

Because of my recent AncestryDNA test, I've been adding to my family tree at Ancestry, LeMaster & Allied Families, in hopes of seeing exactly where more of my matches connect.  I have always kept this tree as a "bare-bones" tree, leaving my full tree online at myrootsmagic.com/tjlgenes .

However, knowing that many of the matches would be connecting through my 5-great grandparents and earlier, I've been working on updating those lines by working forward from my 5-great grandparents, including everything I have on the descendants in each generation.  I am utilizing the Vertical Pedigree charts that I have stored at on Dropbox as a guide.

Another side benefit of doing this work is that I can let the Ancestry algorithms do their thing and suggest hints for additional records at the site, which will in turn expand my tree.  Keeping my original work on my Rootsmagic database, I should be able to add many more cousins over the next few weeks and keep myself more than busy with blog post fodder.

In one sense, I'm doing extra work by re-typing the family tree into the Ancestry, but I've also caught a few errors and questionable dates this way.

The Dropbox Experiment

I've been trying out Dropbox, a file sharing utility that will not only allow you to backup files online and sync files between computers, but will allow file sharing with others.  The service gives you 2 GB of storage. The best part about this utility is that it is free.


Once you sign up, you place files in your Dropbox directory on your PC and these files are then accessible from any other computer.  Simply just log into the website and you can access your "home" files from a library or anywhere else.


Another feature that I'm experimenting with is the file sharing feature.  You can designate a directory as "shared" with another user, and that directory is synced each time either one of you updates the files.  So, for example, you could share a directory with family members and each one upload photos from a family reunion, etc.  That way everyone has access to the photos, preventing them from being lost due to hard drive failure, etc.


If you recommend the service to others, and they sign up, Dropbox will give you additional storage space as well.  


Right now I am sharing files with a researcher of the Salamonia, Jay County, Indiana.  I've been copying some of my obituary and tombstone photo files into my Dropbox folder to share with her.