Beginnings : Building A Timeline

Begin with the beginning.  Work from what you know to what you don't know.  

How many times have I heard or read regarding the genealogical journey?

As I begin to re-examine my previous work to make sure that I'm leaving the best documentation behind for future generations, I'm discovering some anomolies.  Facts missing documentation or gaps in the timelines.

My family tree data is kept offline in Rootsmagic, and variations of my tree are shared online at Ancestry and other sites.  When I look at an example of a Rootsmagic timeline for an ancestor, I can quickly see not only items that have missing sources (green check marks), but also notice substantial gaps in years that might suggest further avenues of research.

Settling on a research question wasn't hard in this case, although there are so many I want to explore.  For now, it will start with a question of identity - myself.

Lineage Society - SUVCW

In what seems like an eon ago, back in January 2020 (before the pandemic), I posted about how I had attended my first meeting of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and postulated that perhaps 2020 would be the year that I finally get around to preserving my research and joining those lineage societies.

I can report that in 2020 I did join the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War through the service of my paternal 2nd-great grandfather, Pvt. Luman Walker Lemasters (1842-1931), who served with Company C of the 39th Indiana Infantry (later 8th Indiana Cavalry).  Luman is just one of six direct line ancestors who served during the Civil War.  Four are on the paternal side, and two on the maternal side.

The Civil War has always interested me, ever since I was a youngster and we visited the many battlefields in Tennessee and Georgia while on vacation.  Knowing that my ancestors fought in these places makes me want to get back there as an adult now that I'm studying the family history.

Not only have I enjoyed being a member of the organization, but I was named as Camp Commander for 2021 of the Orlando A Somers Camp # 1 which meets in Kokomo, Indiana.

It has been a challenge to meet and grow the local camp during the midst of a pandemic, but we are still able to meet in person.  In 2020 I attended the National Encampment virtually through Zoom, and the Department of Indiana's recent Mid-Winter Encampment was held via Zoom as well.  Technology is allowing the larger organization to meet, while fortunately our local meeting space has been open for business and allowed us to meet.

We are looking forward to a COVID-free spring and have plans to complete a Last Soldier project in Tipton County as well as other projects to keep the memory alive of the Boys in Blue.

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.