Legacy LVUG Community

Cousins. The easiest way to turn your family tree into a family Jungle is to start adding cousins. My husband's family has ten kids in about every generation! How do you handle this? I Have made contact with some of my cousins from his side, and it's great. But where do you draw the line in terms of adding names??? Thoughts? Experiences? Please discuss.

I have benefited so much from the #MRIN method of organizing papers and photos! (I used the method described here: http://fileyourpapers.com/legacy/legacy.html ). Since I was revamping already, I saw the value of having the most recent families being at the lowest numbers. So I renamed all of my MRINs starting with my husband and I as number 1, and just went from parent marriage to parent marriage from there. So his parents’ MRIN is 2, my parents’ is 3, his father’s parents are MRIN 4, etc. As a math teacher, I noticed an interesting feature of this method. Actually it may seem a bit obscure, but in my case it was very useful. I have a family tree which was given to me, and it contains records back five centuries. So one part of my tree is really long, whereas most are really short. So what is the MRIN for that long line? I didn’t have to draw a pedigree chart with thousands of name to know the right MRIN – I just did the math! I’m talking too much, so I’ll stop =] b...

I have a teeny tiny hint. If you have census records with poor quality, consider checking Ancestry for its latest version of the document. They have proprietary software that cleans things up nicely.

So in my moments of far-flung fantasy, as I take a break from updating my sources (one by one, eventually generation by generation) I imagine that I find someone who has uploaded a Legacy source file with no real people, but Master Sources for every census, major record source (SSN, etc.) and typical site (findagrave...) I know there are basic source examples out there, but what a great resource it would be. And of course, there are complications (e.g. I found many census records on my local library site, or on microfiche many moons ago) but really, I'd pay for a copy of that base of data.

So that slayer of all documentation efforts, citing sources, is really a drag for me right now. Can anyone direct me to a good reference for cleaning it all up? I really took a hit due to Ancestry adding multiple citations. For example, I have three citations for my grandfather's name, two for his birth and still other facts all from the exact same census. So I have been going through every one, checking to see if any have images or extra details, and erasing all of them except one. But how do I relink all of the facts back to the same source citation? And is there an easier way? Any insights appreciated.

OOPS - I think I figured it out. See end of post. I have a question about changing font colors in the Index, name list etc. I really do not enjoy the red/blue font. I have browsed around and just cannot find the way to change it. Can anyone give me specifics? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was trying to change the color from the index, but I didn't see the option there. But when I went to the family View tab, I was able to choose CUSTOMIZE > COLOR CHANGE MODE ( under 9.1 Main Color Windows) and then choose to change male and female text fonts. =] Feel free to delete if this is just clutter. =/

This is a VERY small thought, but maybe helpful to someone. After watching the seminar on archiving files, I noted that someone used the color coding in Legacy and applied it to their physical files. So I thought about the MRINs. I had already renumbered the first 4-5 generations so that they were in a logical order. I also was thinking about the find your papers method of organizing physical papers. And I realized that the method could easily be applied to my digital history photos. So I set up a master file location, and in that file, I have folders named things like "MRIN-5 Johnson-Smith" where every picture I have for the johnson-smith family will go. I have tried several methods - renaming and name tagging... but this is the best thing I have ever tried. Decisions are easy and file locations easily found.

I have a suggestion for a Tuesday tips or a video. How about an overview of this interesting Picture Center?

Free for a limited time - "How to be your own Digital Archivist" - one hour 45 minutes, so maybe watch it in two parts. =] http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=521 http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=521

So I am prepping to make the best use of my time when I am paying for Ancestry this summer. Cleaning up sources (Ancestry really did me wrong on that score, so there is a lot of cleanup.) But one thing I am planning to do is make sure I have an image for every citation that should have one. The quickest, most effective way for me to do this is to use a placeholder image. When I find a "missing" image, I add a placeholder image/file, named by my conventions (i.e. Vital Records Birth Cornelius Wood Alexander.) This way, I can easily see in my media file which records are missing images. AND when I download the missing image, I can simply replace that image. My new data will be a simple "save as" when I find it. (this image is free to use and share.)

Yippee! So happy to be here! Been enjoying the tutorial videos and all of the posts. Glad to be a part.