===================================================================== ANCESTRY QUICK TIP ===================================================================== I'd like to add my two cents about filing systems and what to take on a research trip. I read Marilyn Threlkeld's tip from 13 December 2002 on taking descendancy charts and notes on what needs to be on a research trip, and I thought that was great. One of my problems, though, is that as I find more and more ancestors and relatives, the amount of information to be searched widens rapidly, and sometimes I find myself going back over records that I've already searched. In order to avoid making duplicate copies of documents that I already have, I'm developing a master chart of what documents I do have. I use a sheet of graph paper; I like doing some things by hand, even though there's the drawback that in doing this I may run out of space sometimes. That might be reason why a computer spreadsheet would work better. On the left side of the sheet, I list my family names in exactly the same way a descendancy chart would show. I adding the year of birth and death, where known, is necessary, so that a "not applicable" symbol can be put where needed (e.g., you don't need to search census records after the year of death). On the right side, I label one column for each type of document, starting with the three basic (and most important): birth, marriage, and death (these can be subdivided into official records and unofficial records--for example, a death certificate vs. an obituary and/or photo of a tombstone). I also have columns for census records, immigration (ship manifests), naturalization papers, military service (can be broken down into enlistment, discharge, and pension papers), land records, school records (can be broken down into primary, secondary, college), religious life (e.g., ordination, entering a convent), wills/probate, biographical sketches from published histories, work history, newspaper articles, and anything else that pertains (the CCC has records, for instance, among which is discharge papers). The chart can be as simple or as complex as fits your needs. Mine shows me at a glance what I have already found and what I still need to search for. Alternatively, you could list all the documents available and applicable, and give each a code letter, and then just list the letters of "found" documents beside each name. The important thing is to have as complete a list as possible that you are comfortable with and that you can use easily. Miriam Dapra --------------------- Reprinted with permission from "Ancestry Daily News" (Copyright 1998-2002, MyFamily.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.)