Oh, the pain of that lie!
There’s a “funny” meme going around on social media.
You know the one.
The one that says: “The biggest lie I tell myself is, I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.”
For some people, that might actually be funny.
For genealogists and — sigh — The Legal Genealogist included — that’s not funny at all.
Here’s just a snippet of advice from somebody who is painfully working her way past that.
No, we won’t remember it. We do need to write it down.
Case in point: the entry in my Ancestry family tree for my third great grandmother Metta (Huthoff) Sievers, born in Arsten, Bremen, Germany on 31 July 18191 and … sigh — my tree said — died before 3 March 1876.2
So… how do I know she died before 3 March 1876?
I mean, seriously, that’s a very specific date. I must have had a very specific reason for thinking so!
So… what do you think the chances are that I can remember what the reason was?
Yeah. Right.
It took me 20 minutes this morning to figure out that it was from her entry in the index for the burial records of Bremen, on the website of the Bremen Family History and Genealogical Society, Die Maus.3
Do as I say.
Not as I did.4
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Snippet: write it down,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 24 Jan 2022).
SOURCES
- Standesamt (Registrar), Bremen-Arsten, Zivilstandsregister Geburtsregister 1819 Nr. 22-b; FHL microfilm 953059. ↩
- No, of course, there’s no source citation. Do you think I’d be writing this if there had been one??? ↩
- “Die Leichenbücher der Stadtgemeinde Bremen von 1875-1975” (Funerary Records 1875-1975); database, entry for “Sievers, Metta,” Die MAUS Bremen: Gesellschaft für Familienforschung (Die Maus – Family History and Genealogical Society) (https://die-maus-bremen.info/ : accessed 24 Jan 2022). ↩
- Well, I did add the note this morning. So I’m not totally hopeless here. ↩
Nods. Oh, yeah. When I was still teaching, my students knew that … if I don’t write it down, it doesn’t exist. I had manilla folder for each class. So when they came up after class, they’d tell/ ask me something and would patiently wait until I wrote it down.
I’m still bad about writing stuff down (with no context) on random scraps of paper, but I’m getting better about that.
Ancestry has lots of blank fields labeled “description” … and I am finding that can be way useful … and that suffix field? Why you can do all sorts of things with that … married names, numbers of matches that this person is MCRA for ….
Don’t just Write It Down ™ … write it where you can see it without having to dig for it … and for Heaven’s sake, include some context!!
My favorite ancient artifact, under “Source”:
IGI
I tell my beginner genie classes. Yes, people have photographic memories but sometimes they forget to load the film. (with digital, I may have to update that statement?)
Love it!
Battery? Perhaps?
I was thinking memory card, myself…