When most people begin their genealogy journey, one of the first things they do is join a genealogy website. There isn’t anything wrong per say in taking this as your first step. However, I always recommend to start your genealogical journey by sitting down and discussing your Cosgrove family line with living family members. Too often, people overlook the fact that some of the most critical pieces of information that they need to build their Cosgrove family branches may exist within their own homes or the homes of their grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. For instance, I discovered that my late grandfather still has five first cousins living today. Some of them I found on social media sites and they in turn put me in touch with other cousins. Each cousin provided clues that helped me at some point along my journey, whether it was pointing me in a certain direction with my research or, just as important, confirming research findings I had already made. In another instance, my paternal aunt and a second cousin both saved family photo albums that contained photos dating back to the 1870s and other various family artifacts that I was able to use to fill out my family lines and confirm existing research findings. Each treasure find was the result of me simply asking each relative if they had any relevant information in their possession!
When the opportunity arises, ask family members for the following types of information(list is not all inclusive):
- Vital information for deceased and living relatives (don’t forget to collect information on current generations!!!!):
- Names to include nicknames (sometimes you may find nicknames instead of their actual names on records such as census records).
- Dates and locations of birth, marriage, and death
- Dates and locations of other important life events (baptisms, communions, engagements, graduations, etc.)
- Locations of birth, marriage, and death (to include cemeteries where families are interned)
- Residential addresses
- Religion and churches they attended
- Occupation(s) and specific names of places they worked
- Education and specific names of schools they attended
- Memberships to professional or social groups
- Military service
- Immigration paths (departure points, arrival destinations, ship’s name, etc) and naturalization dates and locations
- Information on family dynamics:
- Names of parents and children within specific family units/branches
- How many times a person may have been married and the children the ancestor had with each of the spouses;
- Ensure you collect information regarding years and places the children were born or passed away (some families were transient for periods of time and knowing when and where children were born (and maybe passed away) may help you to track them in various records in specific locations.
- Availability of family artifacts such as:
- Family bibles that have recorded information on births, marriages, deaths, baptisms, communions, etc.
- Photo albums (remember to check the back of each photo as it may include names, dates, locations, etc)(photo albums tend to contain other information too other than photos such as letters, obituaries, etc so don’t forget to ask to see them!);
- Certificates (education, training, vital records, etc.) and licenses (driver’s, hunting, occupational, etc).
- Military service records
- Immigration and naturalization records
As you can see, depending on how well memories are and the preservation of family artifacts over the generations, you may encounter a large amount of information simply by talking to family members! Thus, you must prepare yourself on how you plan to manage, store, and use both physical and digital evidence that you will come into possession of during your genealogical research.
For physical evidence, some recommendations:
- Buy a quality three ring binder for each family line (some lines may require multiple binders depending on how large the line is and or the volume of documentation you need to store);
- Store paper documents in plastic sleeves in the binders organized either by record type or by person they apply to (ie, all federal census records are maintained together or you place a copy of the census record under each individual ancestor that they apply to);
- Place loose photos in a photo album;
- Existing photo albums: modern photo albums are a much better option for protecting old photos than the ones they may have been stored in over the last 50-100+ years. However, do not attempt to remove the photos from the old albums if you think it may cause damage to the photos themselves! Regardless of your decision, always TAKE DIGITAL PHOTOS of the older photos for safekeeping.
- Avoid storing physical artifacts in basements and attics. Basements tend to have high moisture contents which could eventually lead to damaged papers and photos, and they are prone to flooding depending on the quality of your foundation or location where your house is built. Most attics lack environmental controls (heating, cooling, etc) and their venting systems allow air from the outside to penetrate the space to help with air circulation. I recommend storing photo albums and binders either on book shelves, totes, or fire proof containers. Try to keep them a foot off the ground if at all possible.
For digital evidence, create a folder system to store the records, spreadsheets, written histories, photos, and other digital materials you will collect or make yourself over time. For my personal technique, I created a master folder called “Ancestry Records” on my desktop. Within the master folder, I created individual folders for each major family line (Cosgrove, Brown, Smith, etc.). Within each family folder, I created sub-folders for each ancestor such as the different sets of great grandparents, grandparents, certain sets of uncles and aunts, etc. In some instances, I created one large sub-folder for descendants of various ancestors (ie, children from one of my 2nd great grandfather’s first marriage) to avoid having a large amount of sub-folders to navigate, especially if I haven’t collected many records on particular family units (I can always go back and make additional sub-folders if the need arises). I further sub-divided each person’s folder into additional sub-folders according to the different types of records I collected for them (each record type had its own sub-folder): federal census; state census; city directories; vital records; baptism records; military records; immigration and naturalization records; etc. An example of the folder system:
- Ancestry Records
- Cosgrove Family Line
- John Cosgrove
- Federal Census Records
- State Census Records
- City Directories
- Immigration and Naturalization Records
- Vital Records
- Joe Cosgrove
- Federal Census Records
- State Census Records
- City Directories
- Immigration and Naturalization Records
- Vital Records
- Military Service Records
- Professional and Social Organizations
- Photos
- John Cosgrove
- Cosgrove Family Line
Naming conventions are important too when you save digital records from websites. Sometimes when you download an image of the 1900 US Federal Census record, the file’s name isn’t “1900 US Federal Census Record”…..its usually gibberish of some sorts. Thus, take the time to think through a naming convention so every type of record you save follows an identical format (when possible). Something as simple as “year record type” may suffice:
“1900 US Federal Census”
“1865 Massachusetts State Census”
“1910 Birth Certificate”
Some people may add a specific ancestor’s name, location, etc to the file’s name. I found this problematic because census records usually contained information on multiple members of a family unit and trying to add them all to the file’s name was too much. Thus, I used a simple naming convention as listed above and filed copies of the records under each individual’s sub-folder according to the record type. After several years of using this technique, its worked well and I have not had to modify it in any manner. Important take away is find a system that works for you and be disciplined enough to use it! It makes storing and retrieving information so much faster and easier!
I will conclude the first blog with an important tip: download digital records you encounter and store them not only on your computer, but back them up as well! Every record I save to an ancestor’s profile on a genealogy website, I also download to my computer as well. I then back it up on a thumb drive and removable hard drive. Thus, I have the file saved on the website, my computer’s hard drive, a removable hard drive, and a thumb drive. Thus, I feel reasonably safe that I am protecting my digital files from potential cyberattacks (directed against a genealogy company), viruses, or other disasters that could cause significant and irreversible harm to my records.
My next blog post will cover specific websites I have used to break down brick walls in my Cosgrove research!
Cosgrove Genealogy 