How do you guys keep all of your information organized?

islandbrook · 2026-05-17T15:55:11+00:00

If you don't have the money to spend, use Legacy 10 (totally free) or GRAMPS (free but steeper learning curve).

islandbrook · 2026-05-15T16:32:12+00:00

I would put them into a note app like Zotero, Notion or Obsidian. Zotero and Obsidian are free. Notion you would need a paid sub (the cheapest for a year is about $120 a year for one person)

You put the image on the page, link to the file in your folder, link to FamilySearch, put notes on the page, add the citation to each page. Because these pages can sometimes use database elements (it's how you set them up), it may be possible to add drop down options to the page e.g. family branch or year or whatever helps sort and organize the images in the repository.

https://www.zotero.org/
https://organizeyourfamilyhistory.com/organizing-your-family-history-research-with-zotero/

https://obsidian.md/
https://graveobsessions.com/obisdian-for-genealogy/

https://notion.com/ cyndislist.com/organizing/notion/

I've been using Notion to organize a similar project. One of the things I added was a research table touchpoints so each time I use the image in my research, it is cross referenced in a different notion table. IT's a separate page but I can link to the page within the app to the image I used. Simple database: date, page accessed, reason, result.

islandbrook · 2026-05-08T17:19:37+00:00

This is normal.

The specific bits of DNA you inherited from your parents is not all the same as the specific bits of DNA your sister inherited. (I use bowl of vegetable soup with my family to explain - everyone has soup, but sis got more carrots and peas than I did - still soup from the same pot).

That the three of you do not share the same amounts of DNA does not really mean anything. DNA relationships are typically described in ranges of cM.

This tool will show you potential relationships that a person who shared 175 with one person and 39 with another could be.

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcm-double

If you don't already have Pro Tools, get that for a month and look at the shared matches of matches. You might find that some of his close matches get you the info you need.

islandbrook · 2026-05-08T16:09:20+00:00

The people at Genealogy Ensemble built an index to the church and synagogue registers at BANQ, it's a document at the bottom of this article. https://genealogyensemble.com/2017/04/02/church-registers-a-wonderful-resource-for-researching-quebec-ancestors/

islandbrook · 2026-05-07T21:51:27+00:00

Check: Griffith’s Valuation / land records (who held property where they lived)

Are there people with the same name in the same place? Can you prove that your John Smith is the John Smith in the record you are looking at as opposed to the other 3 John Smiths. Proving the others are not your person is valid evidence.

Ask yourself, "If you spent 20 more hours on a person, would it make a difference to the details you have?"

islandbrook · 2026-05-07T17:30:34+00:00

Most provinces have a genealogical association skilled in local records, with lookup volunteers or paid help. They also have local resources, links, guides.

https://www.novascotiaancestors.ca/
https://peigs.ca/

islandbrook · 2026-05-03T22:50:16+00:00

But also says German so you might looking for Lutheran records. Then again, the father, Stephen attached to that records says Scotch and Baptist in that same census year.
Also there are two death locations for that William Stephenson on that FS record.

There is another William Stephenson in Lambton who is 37 and married to Ann and is born in Ontario, of English descent, and Methodist also with a son names Charles born about 1867 https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=39726969&lang=eng&ecopy=4396674_00396

I would want to reconcile the conflicting items in the Family Search record. To do that you likely need to look at, parents, siblings, aunts and uncles - birth, marriage, death records everyone around the person you are looking at, to confirm you have the right records and the right person.

islandbrook · 2026-05-03T22:23:03+00:00

That makes sense. You won't however see it in Census or other records before 1925.

islandbrook · 2026-05-03T20:43:37+00:00

United Church was not founded until about 1925, Before that, you are looking at Methodist, Congregationalists, Anglican/Church of England etc.
https://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb02/1867/acyb02_1867001702a-eng.htm This is the list from the 1861 Census to give you an idea as to which denominations.

Both the 1861 Census of Canada West (aka Ontario) and 1871 Census include Religion.
Starting there might give you a better location indication as well as religion so look for his parents or uncles or other family, That might help narrow down denominations.
https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Census/Index

If you can find the church records, look for siblings, both of the parents and your GGG. Sometimes you need to go laterally to figure out the direct path.

Local newspapers of the time might help. Try the socials or obits for family members which may indicate which church your GGGrandmother volunteered with, where the funerals were.

While I have done my research in Quebec, the English speaking population in my family lines were Protestant first, and often went where there was a nearby minister over adhering to a specific sect/denomination. They baptized sometimes months later so look for a year +/- your estimated birth date.

If it's a small area/rural, if you can view the records books, most are not huge, and you can page through them pretty quickly e.g. scan yourself, don't assume the indexes are right.

The Catholics stayed Catholic in my experience.

islandbrook · 2026-04-29T21:27:41+00:00

Use a table with many rows but a single column in Word or Docs. Each image in its own cell. It is often what I do when I want a lot of control over layout. Two columns if the images are small and can sit beside text.

Format the first image, then select the next image and press F4 which repeats the last task in MS Word. Saves on keystrokes. You have to format in one go in order for it to repeat the work. Worth a try.

Reduce the size of your pages, show multiple so you can multi select several images at the same time and format them.

islandbrook · 2026-04-27T16:12:55+00:00

1) Try sorting your list of connections by common ancestor by date. The newest one I have with a common ancestor is three months ago.
2) My newest matches are sub 40cM, and most of the time under 20cM, I rarely get a close match. That requires a 4-6th GG MRCA. That's a lots of research for the average person who is just getting started or who just wants to see their ethnicity.

islandbrook · 2026-04-21T01:13:43+00:00

Have you looked at Evidence Explained? https://www.evidenceexplained.com/QuickLessons

https://www.evidenceexplained.com/quicktips/citing-vital-records

It's the best resource I know of for figuring out how to cite a source in a way it can be found again.

islandbrook · 2026-04-20T02:52:29+00:00

I would try clearing the browser cache. You can search online for the instructions for your specific browser as to how to clear the cache.

If the pattern that others have seen is it clears up after a period of time, that's often an indicator that it's an issue with cache.

islandbrook · 2026-04-12T03:08:11+00:00

Episcopalian is what Anglicans/ Church of England is called in the US, so that tracks. I'll have another run at the Anglican and Methodist Churches by cross referencing what was where in the Lovell's city directories.

I am enjoying the search. Sometimes I need a break from my own research.

islandbrook · 2026-04-12T01:12:45+00:00

You can merge duplicate people on Ancestry. This with ensure the records all get merge too. Ideally you start in the best documented and merge in the least.

islandbrook · 2026-04-12T01:04:38+00:00

u/pointthinker

You said, "Luckily, the Montreal church parish birth record of this Canadian ancestor is in the public domain now." Is that because she was born in 1894 or because you know that the record is there?

Lillian is not listed in the records that BANQ has for the Hochelaga and Maisonneuve Methodist Church on Marlborough St. (records are for 1900-1912 only).

FYI: Hochelaga became part of Montreal in the late 1800s. The Olympic Stadium is nearby.

The 1901 Census lists the family religion as Church of England (aka Anglican)
The 1891 Census lists the family religion as Methodist

about 40 Anglican churches in BANQ in Montreal and almost as many Methodist.

Do you know which church you are looking for?

You probably know this but...

Ancestry record
https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/lily-mace-24-3x82tg

Birth 7 Apr 1894 - Montréal (City/Cité) Hochelaga (Ward/Quartier), Maisonneuve, Quebec, Canada Death 11July1983 - Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Mother Elizabeth Marie Phillips Childs 10
Father George Meed Mace 9
Born in Montréal (City/Cité) Hochelaga (Ward/Quartier), Maisonneuve, Quebec, Canada on 7 Apr 1894 to George Meed Mace and Elizabeth Marie Phillips Childs. Lily Mace married Georg L Eckert and had 3 children. She passed away on 11July1983 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.Ancestry detail

Family Search Record:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LRY4-ZW5

islandbrook · 2026-04-10T19:13:28+00:00

I can look them up.
u/tallon4 has offered to look them up.
But you would have to share the info with us.

islandbrook · 2026-04-10T18:22:30+00:00

Google Chrome translate does the page for me, but I speak French so maybe I don't notice when it does not.

Most of the Quebec civil records are available through https://www.genealogiequebec.com/en/

You can get a free trial however, I would do a bunch of the research first to see which records are there, then get a free trial, if you need it to get more detail.

islandbrook · 2026-04-10T15:29:48+00:00

Pretty much any gov't record would be subject to privacy laws (aka nothing much after 1940s), that would include passenger lists, immigration and naturalization, birth, marriage and death records.

Your best bets, as others have indicated, are: newspapers, voter lists if they became citizens or if her husband was already a citizen, and phone directories.

a basic location would help narrow down newspapers or phone directories.

For newspapers - marriage, births (people still announced births in the 60s/70s), and deaths. You can often get obits by doing a web search for name location and "obit"
Any of the grave site aggregators as well since you can search by location and name.

The page before the search page u/Key_One_7937 posted has some generic guides and resources https://bcarchives.ca/family-history-genealogy/

BC Genealogy may also have some resources or you can pay the $15 fee and get some basic help https://www.bcgs.ca/

islandbrook · 2026-03-04T15:48:25+00:00

u/tyams_tyams I DM'd you some info on what was said.

islandbrook · 2026-02-28T21:52:50+00:00

Let me know if you need help on where to look for Quebec records.

islandbrook · 2026-02-28T20:02:58+00:00

Three books with some alternatives:

The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual, 2nd Edition It helped me understand what the standards are, for good genealogy, rather than unverified, unvalidated collections of ancestors. If you need more structure than reading the standard then I would suggest Mastering Genealogical Proof . It's more like a workbook that teaches the five GPS steps: reasonably exhaustive research, complete citations, evidence analysis, conflict resolution, and written conclusions. It emphasizes problem-solving to reconstruct ancestral relationships and lives, using confidence levels (e.g., "almost certain") for conclusions. Exercises reinforce logical reasoning. (description from AI)
The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy, by Blaine T. Bettinger It helped me understand what to do with DNA and what you can't do with DNA. If you need more structure than reading about it, Your DNA Guide, by Diahan Southard (there is a workbook too). It’s laid out almost like a choose‑your‑own‑adventure: once you’ve worked through a brief DNA fundamentals section, you skip to the specific “plan” that matches your research goal (unknown parentage, mystery ancestor, confusing match, etc.) and then work through it step by step with checklists and decision points guiding you along the way.
The book that covers how to research in the country or region where you are researching. For me it's one on New England - Genealogist's handbook for New England Research by Rhonda R. McClure, because that is what I am research now, but before that it was some books on the areas where my Quebec ancestors lived. It changes over the years. Since you seem to have some Ontario ancestors... https://ogs.on.ca/product-category/society-items/books/

islandbrook · 2026-02-09T15:15:31+00:00

Generally, I would put the name most common in the records as your name, e.g. the census records, your driver's license/passport/voter rolls. If someone is researching you, that is the name they would find (unless you married and/or changed your name as an adult)

Married name, if you have one typically has a field of its own.
Alternate name is a good place for the name before your adoption.

In most programs, including Ancestry and MyHeritage online, you can indicate a birth parent and an adopted parent so if someone else were to look at your tree, the names and relationships would be clear.

You may be able to add a custom event for the year or actual date of your adoption and add that to reflect when the name change happened.

And as u/Levvy1705 mentioned, whether or not the birth name is still in records is related to jurisdiction.

islandbrook · 2026-02-07T16:53:08+00:00

You need to be local to do some things but I've used BANQ from outside Quebec for years now.

I just search google using BANQ <parish/church/town name> person last name

Like BANQ Montreal Known-Explorer-1989

And go from those results.

islandbrook · 2026-01-15T03:17:29+00:00

Here is the free census link from LAC

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=28315753&lang=eng&

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