Make 2019 Your Most Organized Year Yet: Episode 128

Get the key genealogy organization tricks to make 2019 your best year yet.



Ep. 128: January 2019





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In this episode:







You’ll love all of the genealogy organization tricks and techniques contained in this podcast episode, designed to help you make 2019 your best year yet.







This Month in Family History



Editor Andrew Kock shares a brief history of Ellis Island



This month in 1892: Ellis Island opened its gates for the first time. Irish teenager Annie Moore became the first immigrant to pass through the port. Over the next 62 years, Ellis Island processed more than 12 million immigrants, making it the largest port of immigration in the country.



Ellis Island served as a replacement to Castle Garden, which had been used by the New York State government to process immigrants since 1855. The federal government recognized Castle Garden’s facilities were inadequate, and so set out to build a larger station to meet the demand.



Ellis Island closed in 1954. Now, the immigration center is a museum operated by the Liberty Ellis Foundation. Visitors to the museum can view the island’s facilities and learn about the immigration process, plus find records of their ancestors who stepped off ships in the island’s port. You can also search a database of Ellis Island passengers at LibertyEllisFoundation.org



Sources:



Ellis Island HistoryHuffington Post articleCastle Gardens



Get more tips for searching New York passenger lists.







Feature



Author, Family Tree University instructor, and genealogical researcher Gena Philibert-Ortega discusses why research logs matter, how they can keep you organized and why they aren’t as boring as you think!



Tools mentioned for research logs:



* Excel* Evernote* Trello







DNA Deconstructed



Randy Majors walks us through his website U.S. County Boundary Maps.



Family Tree University instructor Shannon Combs-Bennett guides you on how to simplify and organize your DNA test results. Organizing your DNA results really is not complicated. Just like all other forms of organization for genealogy research, it simply takes time, patience, and the commitment to keep it up.



It helps to understand that being organized will help you with your analysis and keep you on track for your DNA research goals. Most of you will want to organize and track the same types of items. For example:



* Testing information* Matches* Contact information



Your project — or what you want to do with the DNA results you are collecting — will determine how you...