I currently live three states away from Virginia and I was only afforded several hours to research, so my visit needed to be organized. I was also aware of the limitations my genealogy ADD would set for me; my visit would be akin to a kid in a candy store...so many great resources, so little time. And to top it all off I have numerous random family lines throughout the state. In order to get prepared I created a spreadsheet of all of my Virginia lines to take with me. That way, if I found a great resource that may pertain to one or more lines, I had a quick sheet that would help me remember which families lived where.
Click to enlarge |
The spreadsheet includes a column for the county name, surname, dates of residence in said county, notes, the surname chain and notes on the county itself. The surname chain is a way for me to remember the links between myself and the particular surname.
I still had a massive research high while at the Virginia Room, but once I was able to come down I found this sheet very helpful. I started researching my particularly difficult line, the Whites, but when I could find so solid leads I moved on to other lines. This has also been helpful when digging through GenWeb or historical/genealogical society web sites.
4 comments:
I do love Excel and spreadsheets but you've taken them to another level! Wonderful idea and one I shall appropriate (with proper credit given, of course) for my spring travels. Thanks.
Quick question - please share how you put your screenshot in your post and have the ability to enlarge. Thanks in advance and I am enjoying these Excel spreadsheets!
Susan, feel free to appropriate. This was so helpful to my genealogy adventure I had to share.
Tessa, good idea, I will post about it this week.
Thanks for sharing this idea Heather, I love Excel. This will work in the UK for my ancestors. Think I will add it as a worksheet to my existing Certificate & Census workbook.
Tony
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