I’ve been working with my Genealogy Source Checklist (see previous post here). I’ve made a couple of modifications, and actually combined it with my Ancestry Document Download spreadsheet (see previous post here).  To combine them, I added a column for tracking if I had downloaded all the documents from my Ancestry account for that ancestor, along with a column for linking to the file location where those files are saved.

As an aside: I save all my computer files to a Dropbox account and for the spreadsheet, I went to the web interface and used the URL for the file location for the ancestor in question.  I actually used a bit.ly short url for the spreadsheet so that I didn’t have long, messy links in my file.

As I worked on my checklist here are some additional changes that I’ve made:

I added a hyperlink to each ancestor name that points to the Ancestry profile page for them in my tree.  To add a hyperlink, highlight the cell > right-click and select “Hyperlink”.  Copy and paste the URL of the Ancestry profile page into the dialog box and click OK.

 

I added a column for the surname.  This allows me to sort by the surname if I want to work on a particular family line.  For family members who I don’t have a surname (mostly wives whose maiden names are unknown), I put in the surname of the husband, so I can keep track of those people along with the rest of their family group.

 

I also added a column for tracking if I’ve completed downloading the documents for that ancestor.  I use three options: Complete, Not Complete and None.

 

And as I’m working through downloading the documents from Ancestry, I’m also using that opportunity to clean up my online family tree.  I removed a whole bunch of disconnected who are no longer connected to my family tree as I had eliminated them as being a part of my family.  I also decided to trim down who I include in my collateral relatives.  I realized when I was looking at the profile page for the “maternal grandfather of the mother-in-law of the husband of my great aunt” that I really didn’t want to spend the time tracking, researching and organizing for that distant a relation, who is only related through marriage.  I decided to draw the following line:

1. I will include all siblings of direct ancestors.
2. I will include spouses and children of all siblings of direct ancestors.
3. I will include parents and siblings of spouses of siblings of direct ancestors (because this may be useful for cluster research).

In the end, I ended up with 1130 people in my current tree – which is still a fairly good number of people to research, track and organize!  672 of them are on my maternal side, 444 are on my paternal side and 14 are what I termed as immediate family.

I’ve updated the available templates here (though if you are already using the spreadsheet, just add the following columns:

1. Family Name
2. Doc Download (Complete, Not Complete, None)
3. File Location