This is what I do as I sent out in response to someone awhile ago: I file all of my paper documents in hanging files. Because so many documents can pertain to multiple people and families, it's difficult to file by surname without having multiple copies of the papers.
I file my documents by location and type. For example, copies of birth records from Devon, England are in a hanging file called England, Devon, Birth. The documents themselves are in protective sleeves labeled this way: ENG DEVON BIR 001, ENG DEVON BIR 002, etc. Same thing with Census (ENG DEVON CEN 001), Death (ENG DEVON DEA 001) and so on. For records from the US, they are stored as NY NIAGARA BIR 001, NY ERIE CEN 001, etc. for New York State, Niagara County, Birth, and New York State, Erie County, Census, etc. The individual document labels are used as the FILE IDs in Legacy. That way, any person mentioned on a census, gets the FILE ID in the source detail for the appropriate census record in my file. Same for all other documents for which I have copies. The electronic copies of the documents (whether scanned or downloads from Ancestry.com) have the same names. An individual page from a Census may have multiple families on it so I only need to file one copy electronically or in my paper files. This really works well for me. Mary -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 12:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] Organizing data I have used a simple system for organizing my genealogy for many years. I have 3 notebooks, divided alphabetically by the last 3 consonants of the surname and a number. In these I put copies of my source material, photocopies of information from books, etc., in plastic sleeves. I have a separate notebook for documents (primary records, birth, marriage, death certificates, etc.) again in plastic sleeves labeled with surname and #'s. My family group sheets are filed in a notebook under the pedigree charts. I have an index with columns labeled surnames, first name, spouse, place of birth, place of death, birth & death dates and chart #'s. This makes it easy to find individual family group sheets. The columned index was made using an old Microsoft program, but now can be made using Microsoft Excell. I also have a 2 drawer file cabinet for general information-i.e files labeled forms, libraries & archives, individual states, census, immigration and naturalization, related families, family associations, research logs, maps, etc. Also many different files on information about the computer. I also have a correspondence notebook (not used much now) but contains letters and replies numbered and filed under surnames. M. Nill Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group Etiquette guidelines can be found at: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp To find past messages, please go to our searchable archives at: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup%40mail.millenniacorp.com/ To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/LegacyLists.asp
