Kick-Ass Genealogy

The idea of batching similar tasks together will be familiar to fans of GTD (Getting Things Done). For everyone else, “batching” is simply doing similar activities, such as all your phone calls, at the same time. This has a number of benefits and is actually more applicable to genealogy than you might first imagine. This article will explain the advantages of batching family history tasks, and walk you through the most common items it’s useful for.

Why Batching Is So Awesome

Batching helps you minimize the time, energy, and resources spent by eliminating inefficiencies in the way you do things. When you batch your to-do list, your brain can focus on “single-tasking”. When your mind doesn’t have to switch gears between different kinds of actions, it settles into a pattern and lets you do…whatever it is you’re doing…a lot faster. By taking the time to focus on the task completely, you only need to do it once, saving you time and, likely, money. Batching reduces the number of times you have to go to a website, perform a search, email someone with questions, or visit an archive. It reduces the number of times you have to refer back to a record, and lets you file it appropriately after giving a thorough once-over.

Good Family History Tasks to Batch

Searching for Records

When searching for records, think of all associates or other people of interest who were in the same time and place, or may appear in the same record collection or source. Do searches for them as well as your target person or family. By searching a website only once, you don’t have to worry about bookmarking it or finding it again. By searching a physical reference only once, you save time that would have been spent scanning the index, skimming for information, or trying to find something again.

Whenever possible, use batching on free search or preview services to gather information on all records you might be interested in. A good example is the index to Saskatchewan homestead records. This resource is available to search free online, at any time, for however many searches you like. Despite the minimal information it provides, access to the actual records is free of charge, so you may as well write down all the the likely suspects before you leave your living room. Another example: Manitoba Vital Statistics. The records aren’t viewable online, but searches are free and you do get a limited transcription with the bare minimum of details. Even better is Nova Scotia’s site, which allows free previews of the actual documents.

Of course, sometimes the searches don’t always give you enough information to know you have the right person, and if the search is for a peripheral individual, you really don’t want to divert your focus to check. If the search is inconclusive and records aren’t free to access, just make a note of the results and stash it in that person’s research plan file. (You DO have a research plan page for each person in their file, right? RIGHT?)

Acquiring Records

Batching records acquisition means you visit the repository only once to look for your records, or order them all at once, instead of returning to the archives (or writing to the archivist) every time you remember a new name.

Batching is perfect any time you have free or unrestricted access to records collections. In Canada, this often happens with microfilmed stuff like federal censuses, or Saskatchewan homestead records. Once you’re in the provincial archives building, you are free to browse the premises all day. If you only have to visit the archives once to get all the homestead applications you need, you’ve just saved parking money, confusion, and the time involved in planning and executing second and third trips.

Similarly, if you want multiple record types that are in one repository, it’s to your advantage to try to fit as much into that one visit as you can. Why do just the homestead applications when you can also look through back issues of the local newspaper and check the photo archives too? You are limited only by the amount of time you can devote to the trip and how long you can stare at books and microfilm without getting sick.

You would not want to use batching to retrieve records if, say, your province charges $50 for a BMD certificate. Even at Manitoba’s more reasonable $12/record price tag, doing all available BMD records for one family group sheet adds up. Save paid records for the ancestors you really need them for. (Ordering two or three at once will save you on postage though.)

Copying Records

Make digital copies or photocopy the relevant record as soon as you find it. This lets you spend your time at the archives gathering all the records you need, instead of trying to take detailed notes and interpret each one as you come across it. Not only does this mean you are back in your comfy chair at home sooner, it means that two years down the road when you figure out that Fergus Whipnose was a brother-in-law to Myra Tweedletree, it’s easier to remember that he witnessed her marriage certificate. This is especially useful for a census, where neighbours often turn out to be relatives. Photocopies of records also often contain some residual source information, making citations easier.

Photocopying also means you don’t have to worry as much if you don’t understand a phrase (or the handwriting!) on the document; you can review it over time, at your leisure, or show the copy to someone who knows more and ask their opinion.

If you can’t photocopy the records, try to find out the particular format they use ahead of time. Create a simple form in a word processing or spreadsheet application, and print out some copies to take with you.

Extracting Information from Records

Now you’re at home in your comfy chair with a big stack of photocopies, processing them in batches makes it much easier to gain an understanding of similarities and differences between them. Spotting irregularities in individual records or their conditions, or changes in formats over time, is a breeze. Inputting all the info into your genealogy software at once saves you time.

When entering the information, pick one kind of record (say, all the homestead records you just photocopied) and go through each item individually. Start with the first homestead record, extract and input and cite all the information you can from it, and then move on to the next one. If forced to enter a date and location for an event, choose the most accurate one you know of and continue on. My software (RootsMagic 4) lets me memorize a citation, complete with source text, which is very handy when combined with the program’s abundance of keyboard shortcuts. When you enter data in this way, it’s crucial to include a transcript or extract of the actual text from the record in your citation. Knowing what keyboard shortcuts you can use make it quicker to batch data entry and citation.

Dealing with Individual Ancestors

Here’s where it gets a bit more interesting. At this point you group your “similar” tasks by the person or family they’re related to, not the type of task they are. The first thing to do is examine briefly what you already know, then prepare a research plan to find as many new sources as possible. When going through those sources, keep an eye out for other associates as well.

Then, once you’ve gathered all that information, copied it, and dumped it into your genealogy program, it’s time to focus on the individual’s data and analyze it all at once. Once you have a fair amount of information on someone, print out an individual report with citations (see why including extracts was so important?) and start going through each event, looking at what data you have and how it fits in together. You have effectively “batched” together looking at all of Fergus Whipnose’s reported occupations, or all of Myra Tweedletree’s marriage dates, and so forth. This makes it a lot easier to analyze the data and come to some sort of useful conclusion. There are a number of tools you can use to do this; using timelines to create custom-written individual narratives happens to be one of my favourites.

So there you have it: a systematic way for gathering, inputting, sorting, and analyzing your information. I hope this method will inspire you to find ways to save some time on your own family history, without sacrificing quality.