In my interviews for Genealogy Do Over Week 2 I returned to when I started collecting my family stories. I went back to my first official family history visit which, coincidentally, involved going back to my first home, Squattleseamere. For my second interview I went back to the time of big shearing teams at Dunmore. I looked again at the transcript of an interview about shearing at the Dunmore shed when the shed was run by my Grandpa Baulch.
In setting my research goals I have tried to select some goals which should be achievable in the time of the Do Over while, at the same time, giving me time to test my new research process as set out in my Genealogy Golden Rules.
CONDUCTING SELF INTERVIEW
For my self interview I reflected upon my first family interview. This interview marks the time when I changed from just listening and absorbing family stories to consciously setting out to answer the question I am always asked but could rarely answer before this visit – You’re a Baulch are you?
CONDUCTING FAMILY INTERVIEW
As a child I absorbed the atmosphere in the Dunmore shed at shearing time and listened, engrossed, to the many stories Grandpa Baulch told me about the men who shore there. This interview is not with my grandfather but with one of the shearers, Bill Meade. It was to be about Grandpa in the Dunmore shed. Or that is what I thought on my way to Port Fairy for an afternoon’s chat.
FAMILY GROUP SHEETS
I rarely use Family Group Sheets. Rather I use Legacy’s Family Group Report in the List Style format. Why I do so means I need to add another rule to my Genealogy Golden Rules:
Keep it simple. I have ONE place, my Legacy database, which contains ALL the information I have gathered about my family.
SETTING RESEARCH GOALS
In setting my research goals I have looked at what reports and/or output I hope to produce by the completion of the Genealogy Do Over, how I plan to go about this and the limitations that might prevent me achieving my research goals. Consequently, I have tried to keep my goals simple and achievable within the duration of the Do Over.
My focus on output will be confined to:
- Reviewing a Family Group Report for my three greats grandfather Private George Watts (1792-1845).
- Reviewing my Family Group Report for my four greats grandfather John Bourke Ryan Esquire (1760 – 1835).
- Creating a timeline for Squattleseamere Pastoral Run.
- Substantiating my connection to John Bourke Ryan and George Watts. After all, this is a genealogical Do Over.
- Creating some charts as I go.
- Maintaining a weekly blog for at least the duration of the Genealogy Do Over.
My research process, or how I am I going to achieve my research goals, is as follows:
- I shall start each piece of research by creating a To-Do Item.
- The completed To-Do Item will then become part of my Research Log.
- To comply with my Golden Rule of Sources First Sources will be attached to my To-Do Item in the first instance.
- I shall set aside some time each day in order to achieve my research goals.
Of course, because family history is my hobby there are many things that may prevent me from achieving my research goals. These are my boundary fences:
- My research should be confined to producing the output given above. In particular my research goals will set aside for the duration of the Do Over for those Individuals who sparkle and say come hither. This applies in particular to two of my great grandfathers, Samuel Baulch and J R Learmonth.
- I have a time limit. I plan to have completed my research by Congress 2015 (to be held in Canberra 26-30 March). This ties in quite nicely with the duration of the Do Over.
- I shall remain involved and committed to my genealogical and computer groups.
- I shall take time out. Often.