Wondering How to Organize your Documents?

In the process of researching our ancestors, we create quite a lot of documentation.  What to do with it? First of all, because I have lost my research before, I tend to back up in several places, Dropbox, external hard drive, jump drive and hard copies.

I love Dropbox, because when I am traveling around doing family history work, or as now, living in China it gives me access to my records where ever there is internet.  So if I need to quickly check a document for more information and I can easily do so. The first 2 gb that you use is free and that will hold a lot of data. I have a yearly subscription of $99/year USA but then my husband also uses it for his work we store a lot of material on it. I have been using it for a couple of years now and have found it to be a wonderful addition to my data management. It's one down side that I have found is that the various family history software doesn't change computers well.  If I am working at home on my IMac and I link the documents to a folder in Dropbox, the link doesn't always carry to my laptop or the computers at the family history libraries where I work. So about 2 months ago, I began switching the documents relevant to the individual families to a jump drive so that when working in the software I can see the documents I have linked to the families without any hassle. If anyone has a fix for this I would appreciate the information.

The various surnames on my jump drive

On Dropbox and on my jump drive I create folders to file the information in.  The files are by surname and then by family.

So each line I am working on whether for myself or for a client gets their own folder,

Than within each folder I create more folders for each individual family by the fathers name.

This allows for easy access to the information I have stored on each family.

What good is it to retrieve documents if I can find them?

broken down by family in each file

Individual documents within a family file

I try to find as many documents on a family as I can.  From Military to Census and beyond.  As you can see from the blog I have posted a few here.  I also like to collect as many pictures and stories as I can about the family so that they are more than just names and dates.

I am currently working on collecting the descendants of my great grandfather Buell Tillotson.  Trying to see the effect of when two people fell in love, I know that my own immediate family has accomplished some wonder things and what cousins I know have also done some amazing things.  I felt it would be great to collect it in one spot so that our grandchildren will have an idea of who we were.



For instance, Lionel Tillotson, was a wonderful basketball player and played for the Brookston High School team.  He also had a scholarship to play for Purdue University, unfortunately, the summer after high school graduation on 2 July, he went swimming with some friends as well as his little brother Jim.  He was the first to dive into the swimming hole and unfortunately hit his head on a rock and broke his neck.  His brother Jim, ran 5 miles into town to get help for his brother, but he died 3 days later in Lafayette Hospital. I often think how devastating it must have been for his brother who tried so hard to save him.

Jim went on to be a star player for Brookston high school as well.  In fact, his wife would tell of going to Brookston to see Jim's brother Bud play and they would get standing ovations when Jim walked into the gym.  Guess he was a good player, I know he taught me how to play well.

Listing of the first Settlers of Warren County, Indiana

     I recently came across the website everynameindex.com  that has a listing by state of various books that they have indexed.  So being ever curious as I am, I checked to see if I could find anything on my family lines. I hit the jackpot with a book called Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper and Newton, Indiana: Historical and biographical., Chicago, F.A. Battey & Company, 1883. I had a chance to view the book at a local library in Warren County Indiana but was talked out of copying the pages as so many pertained to my family and it was readily available on line. FamilySearch search results in PDF form. I wish I had more time to read all the great stuff I keep finding.

County Agents

 It's always nice to be able to find out a little about the man that I descend from. From what I can tell, he voted in the elections that were held in Warren County. And he appears to be a leader in area as well.

county officers

Organizing sheriff

1940 Census Results!

Well, it's official I found my family on the 1940 census!  It was very easy to search since I knew where they were living at the time.

1940 Census for Brookston, Praire, White, Indiana

Name	Age	Marital Status	Place of birth	residence 1935	occupation	Industry
Tillotson, Don	44	Married	Illinois	same house	Farm Labor	Farming
Ruby	44	Married	Ohio	same house
Don C	21	Single	Illinois	same house	Research	Psychology
Elizabeth	17	Single	Illinois	same house	Lunch Room	Public School
Rosamond	15	Single	Illinois	same house
James	14	Single	Illinois	same house
Ruth	13	Single	Illinois	same house
Esther (ab)	11	Single	Illinois	same house
Jesse	10	Single	Indiana	same house
Patricia	8	Single	Indiana	same house
http://g.co/maps/92ar5 106, Brackney Street, Brookston,  Prairie, White, Indiana E.D. 91-13 Enumerated on April 10, 1940 Sheet 5A, Population Schedule.

Name

Age

Marital Status

Place of birth

residence 1935

occupation

Industry

Tillotson, Don

44

Married

Illinois

same house

Farm Labor

Farming

Ruby

44

Married

Ohio

same house

Don C

21

Single

Illinois

same house

Research  

Psychology

Elizabeth

17

Single

Illinois

same house

Lunch Room

Public School

Rosamond

15

Single

Illinois

same house

James

14

Single

Illinois

same house

Ruth

13

Single

Illinois

same house

Esther (ab)

11

Single

Illinois

same house

Jesse

10

Single

Indiana

same house

Patricia

8

Single

Indiana

same house

http://g.co/maps/92ar5 106, Brackney Street, Brookston,  Prairie, White, Indiana E.D. 91-13 Enumerated on April 10, 1940 Sheet 5A, Population Schedule.

Ann Wright mother of Epharim Buell

 

By 1920, Don Carlos was married to Ruby Elsie Stultz and they already had one child, Don junior, the census was taken the 10 and 12 of January 1920, Lionel was born later that year in July. The census taker spelled his name as Donald Tillitson.

Year: 1920; Census Place:  Pilot,  Vermilion, Illinois; Roll:  T625_412; Page: 3B; Enumeration District:  200; Image:  553. 

Don and Ruby went on to have 9 children, 7 of which lived to adulthood and to raise families of their own.

We next find Don Carlos again with his family in 1910.  He is still living in Pilot township with his mother who is now a widow and his brothers and sisters.  He is 14 years old at the time of the census.  We can also see that several siblings have moved on or died.  When I find information like this is always causes me to reflect on the strength of the woman, in this case my great grandmother. She was widowed with several children still at home. She must have been an amazing woman to carry on, and to have raised such incredibly strong and capable offspring. They say you can tell what kind of a parent you are by how your grandchildren turn out.  I'd say that alone is a wonderful testimony to both Buell and Lizzie.

1910 US Federal Census Pilot, Vermilion, Illinois Supervisors District 9 ED District 180 Sheet 12 B
Lizzie Tilloton	Head/Widowed	1863 (47)
Don Tillotson	Son	1896 (14)
Harold Tillotson	Son	1898 (12)
Jesse Tillotson	Daughter	1899 (11)
Hosea Tillotson	Son	1901 (9)
John Dougherty	Servant	1884 (26)

Buell Tillotson died  on 22 July 1902.   He died as a result of heart failure, complication: peruiceous anemia.  He was 55 years, 7 months and 25 days old when he died. Buell and Lizzie has been married 17 years when he died.

In 1909 Lucetta (Aunt Sally) married Matt Emery Kinney which is why she doesn't show up with her family in 1910.

In 1904 Fifer Walter died as a result of Pneumonia. The story goes that he was on a hayride and someone swiped his hat, as a result he caught cold and died.  We were never allowed to swiped each others hats growing up, who knows how many great nephews and nieces lives were saved as result of their Uncle Fifer's death.