One of the intentions of this blog was to share with those that are interested my ongoing efforts in researching my family history. In the year or so that this incarnation of the blog there has not been a single post regarding my genealogical research. It’s time for this to change.

I have done research off and on for the past 11 years. However, I have yet to correct many of the careless entries in my family files from my early days. There is a lot of the data that is undocumented and in some cases, just plain wrong. This is as a result of not following sound research practices and being more concerned with going “deep,” rather than accurate. There is quite a bit of criticism regarding some of the “homegrown” data that is published online. So, I want to ensure that my data is correct and well-documented.

I eventually intend to publish a family history. So, this is a good exercise for that project.

I am pursuing the following steps to make this happen:

1. Extract any and all information that I can find on my direct line ancestors. This includes online, as well as, in my own files.
2. Create a “sloppy” data set from this data.
3. Use tools like GenSmarts and The Master Genealogist‘s Audit feature to create an action plan.
4. Follow the advice and guidance of these tools to create a new “clean” data set that is accurate and well-documented.
5. Post the clean findings here and elsewhere online.

If you have gone through a similar exercise, I would be curious to hear about your experience and what strategies you found worked well for you.

Tags: Family, Genealogy, Research, Researchers