Goal-Oriented Genealogy

Looking at my last post, I realized it had been over 8 months since I last sat down to this blog. I've thought many times about posting, but haven't for one reason or another. Well, today is different! (Although I can't tell you why...)

I thought it might be a good idea to write down some of my genealogy goals - some of the things I hope to accomplish that will lead to a better documented, better sourced, and clearer understanding of my ancestors. Here are my goals:

1. Clean up the data I've already entered into my genealogy software, RootsMagic. I've gone back and forth over the years between different genealogy programs, starting with Reunion for the Mac in the 1990's, then to Family Tree Maker, then Legacy Family Tree, and finally RootsMagic. A lot of data has been changed, lost, re-entered, etc. over the years, and I've finally decided to get everything right in RM, then use that to export to other programs such as Legacy as needed. I need to concentrate on event/fact data and sources and citations, identifying what events/facts and sources are missing and inconsistent between family members that share those events and sources.
   
2. Enter the digital data I've collected and stored over the years into RM. Some of it is already entered, but most is not. I find it much easier to collect the data (and more fun!) than to enter the data into a genealogy program. It would be great if collecting and entering was all done in one step! Also, this goal is perturbed a little by storing data in multiple places - I need to make sure it is all centrally located and back up regularly.
   
3. Enter the paper data I've collected and stored over the years into RM. I have 8 notebooks, divided along great-grandparent lines, containing documents that need to be entered. These documents include newspaper articles, wills, funeral cards, etc. Some documents have provenance information. Some do not, and I will have to attempt to establish provenance to make sure my source citations are correctly entered. I'll evaluate each piece to determine whether I will scan it and maintain it as digital information, or leave it in the notebook.
   
4. Scan the photos that I got from my Mom last summer and add them to my Picasa albums, both on the computer and online. There are over 100 photos to scan, and she can provide lots of background information about them. Some of these photos will also be entered into RM and linked to ancestors.
   
5. Interspersed with goals 1-4, keep working on my brick walls and "light" areas of my genealogy research. Brick walls I'm currently working on include: my great-grandfather, Austin W. Leitch, and what happened to him after 1927 (the last date I have any documented information about him); my ggg-grandfather, Elias Todd Sr., and his ancestors (I can find nothing about his parents or siblings). "Light" areas include several family lines, such as the Terry, Harbour, Wash/Walsh, Massey lines.

That's it - quite a set of goals!