Those Collaterals Are Worth the Time and Effort

Collateral Research

Early in my genealogy research I added a lot of people to my collateral lines. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Cousins and Cousins. For the most part I did this because they just happened to be there. My direct ancestor would be living next door or on the same block as their in-laws or children etc. They were there, so I added them.

As time has passed, my research time has diminished. That extra time used here and there to add collateral individuals became a hindrance to me. While I would still add the in-laws, I might not add all the cousins especially if I had to put any extra effort into identifying them.

DNA and Collateral Research

Last month I uploaded my RAW DNA data from Ancestry.com to Gedmatch.com. When I started receiving emails from possible matches I saw right away that I need more collaterals! Finding that common ancestor can be tricky and having more individuals to work with will be helpful.

Now, on to add more aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins cousins to my tree.

My SMART Goals for the #genchat challenge

Specific: Review, rename and file documents now in downloads folder

Measurable: 5 documents per month

Attainable: Very

Relevant: Will assist in organizing my research efforts

Time Bound: 5 documents per month for 12 months

I am answering the #genchat challenge and declaring my SMART goals for 2014. You can read about the #genchat challenge here.

Be sure to join us tonight on The Twitter!

My Virtual Assistants - Genealogy Event Curators

Genealogical related events, I love them. I will plan, talk, blog and look forward to them. I am disappointed when I can’t attend one or, even worse, didn't hear about one in time. In addition to face-to-face events, the plethora of online events continues to grow.  Isn't this a wonderful problem to have? It is, but it can drive me crazy too.

I don’t always remember nor have the time to visit each national, regional, state, county or local website to check their event schedule. Let’s face it, we are all busy people. It’s crazy, but it seems my life gets busier every year. So what’s a girl to do?

I listen to Michael Hyatt’s podcast faithfully. During several episodes Michael mentioned certain activities he delegates to his virtual assistant. To make this very simplistic, his virtual assistant’s duties free up his time to focus on other activities. For instance, if he is scheduled to give a keynote address, he needs to focus on writing his address not booking his airline and hotel. While those tasks are important, they take time away from what he actually does for a living, speak to audiences.

I started thinking about what is it I really want to do and what benefits me the most? Do I want to spend my time visiting a dozen different websites, over and over, to look at their events calendar? No, I want to attend the events. With that in mind I've decided to put the power of virtual assistants to work for me: Conference Keeper and GeneaWebinars.

Of course these are not truly my virtual assistants (they are all of ours) but they act in the same fashion. These two sites have taken the time and effort to establish a system to curate and organize genealogy related events and distribute it to me (all of us). There are categories, calendars and directories that allow me to locate events being held across the nation in a centralized location. In doing so, they free up valuable time to do the things I actually want to do, attend and learn.

I recommend bookmarking these sites and visiting often. If you have an event don’t forget to submit it so you can be included as well.