Printing Sweden (and Finland)

This week I have, to my surprise (and probably yours) made a small start on the hunt for my Scandinavian ancestors. I printed out family group sheets for all the ancestors on the Swedish side of my family. There are over 50 family groups sheets now placed in alphabetical order in a binder I found in the basement. 


How do I already have over 50 family in my Family Tree Maker database? Because in 1980 a cousin, Torkel Nordstom, published a genealogy of his ancestors in Släkt och Hävd (read a smidgen more here). Ages ago I entered in much of this information into an earlier incarnation of FTM, which means none of it is properly cited. Although I'm not sure this matters because I know exactly where I got the information and we have a copy of the journal. One reason for this particular ancestor-hunting project, is to see if Torkel "got it right" and to see if I can find more than he could since so much of the data is now available on-line.


Those of you who have been with this blog since the beginning might remember that I had planned to digitize most of my data and use Microsoft OneNote (here and here). I do still like that idea, but this project has a time limit - I purchased a three-month subscription to ArkivDigital. Therefore, I thought writing things down on paper might be better than switching screens and cutting and pasting on the computer. Only time will tell if this judgement was correct.


One thing that surprised me when printing out the group sheets is how many of my presumed ancestors lived in Finland. I knew at least one family had ended up there, but I had forgotten it was so many. These ancestors are likely Swedish though, and not Finnish as there was much Swedish emigration to Finland. Additionally, Sweden was a big fish in the European pond in the 17th century and had influence everywhere. At least this is what I remember from reading The Concise History of Sweden (read the post here)


And just to round out this virtual tour of Scandinavia, here is a post from Randall Stephens, an historian at Eastern Nazarene College on his recent adventures in Norway. Stephens is currently a Fulbright Roving Scholar in American Studies in Norway.

Sorting Saturday - What do I do with THIS?

What do I do with this stuff?

Earlier this week I sat down on the floor in my office with my last paper genealogy files piles up next to me. One was 'misc,' another was photocopies of most of my Mamaw's notes and then there was one each for my four main family lines: Epperson, Hood, Nordstrom and Eldridge.

I with the 'misc' folder and it was mostly information on libraries I hadn't been to in over a decade or articles that I could find on the internet.  The old library information went into recycle pile and the articles went into 'find on the internet' pile. That was the easy part.

The family folders were a bit more complicated. There were bits and bobs that weren't need anymore and so joined the library pamphlets in the recycle bin. There was a small collection of handwritten notes, that were put in yet another pile, 'to be typed.'  But what about all the other stuff? There are copies of emails, correspondence, funeral cards, newspaper clippings, my grandmother's hand-written family tree, church bulletins, photocopies from books, copies of death certificates from the Ohio Historical Society, and Christmas cards. Oh, and of course, my copies of Mamaw's notes need to be kept too.

It makes sense to scan the pages I've photocopies from books and then add them to the 'digital documents' folder on my hard-drive. But what about the ephemera and correspondence? I mean I can't simply throw away the funeral card for my papaw or the church bulletin announcing the birth of my sister's first child.  If I scan the copies of ancient emails, do I need to keep the paper copies too? I mean the 'e' stands for electronic, it wasn't originally paper in the first place. Do I need to keep photocopies of newspaper articles?  I suppose, I'll have to take it on a case-by-case basis. Scan and keep or scan and toss.

As for Mamaw's papers and the funeral cards and such, I think it makes sense to scan it all. A digital copy will make it easier to find and share the information. Digital copies can also be put in my OneNote family notebook.

It sounds so easy, doesn't it. And scanning is easy; just not very exciting. Then after everything is scanned I can store all of the originals in an archival box.

But what do I do with the funeral card for one of my favorite professors from college or the one for the mother of a friend from college who recently died? They aren't my family and don't fit readily into one of my family files. But they are part of my history. Do they get scanned? Stored in a separate file or in the Epperson file? Should I attach a note?

It's all such a muddle. Organizing isn't nearly as much fun as searching through the census on a microfilm reader. And in the meantime my 'to type' file has been sitting on the desk, taunting me.

Sorting Saturday or How Organizing Is Like Dieting

Over the winter break I did a splendid job organizing my digital files.They are beautiful and I can usually even remember where I put things. Next project - the actual paper files. For at least seven days running, I wrote on my "to-do" list - sort through one genealogy paper file. Finally, I changed the item to "pick one genealogy file to sort through." This was very easily accomplished, I took two files out from the file drawer and put them on the table and crossed it off the list. The two files I so proudly pulled from the cabinet then sat on said table, collecting dust, for several weeks.

Then on Monday a memory emerged from the depths of my brain and settled squarely on my soul. I remembered that here, on this very blog, I had quoted Lisa Louise Cook's idea of spending just one hour per week on genealogy. I believe I even bragged, "I can do that."  Apparently, I was mistaken.  Apparently, I can not find just one hour per week.  Apparently, I am a fraud.

After feeling pretty sorry for myself all day Monday, Tuesday I picked those two files up off the table and began going through them. I am happy to report that the two files are empty. How did I accomplish this amazing feat in a mere five days? By typing up handwritten notes I had already typed fifteen years ago, by putting some items in other files, by giving an article on some barely related family (Eprosons) back to my mother, and by putting many useless pages in the recycling pile. I did also type some notes that hadn't  been typed and found some things I had printed out on the Internet, so I just put the website address in OneNote.

Do you know why I procrastinated? Because my subconscious mind knew this project would be T-E-D-I-O-U-S. It would require critical thinking and decisions about pieces of paper. I knew I would feel despondent and vexed and talk to myself: "Is this list of cities and their locations which you made in 1991, really necessary to keep? Surely you can look up where Larvik is again?" Or "Do you really need a ancestry file that was printed out in 1997 with unsourced material?" I could go on.... Now that my conscious mind is now fully aware that my subconscious mind is much smarter, I'm not sure if I'll now get through the remaining files.

But if I want to proceed with my quest for ancestors, I must sort through and figure out what I already have. Otherwise, I will spend countless hours finding information that I have already found. This would be worse than typing notes that had already been typed. I suppose this whole organization project is like dieting - you must set obtainable goals, take joy in small successes, and not beat yourself up when you fall off the wagon.

For next week, I think I will sit next to the wagon and sort through a thin file marked "Articles." In between me and the wagon will be tea and biscuits.