Rainy Days Equals Genealogy Organization

I love rainy days!  I love to be inside warmed by a cozy fire and accomplishing all sorts of projects – and, of course, many of those are genealogy related!

One of my genealogy goals for 2011 is to produce a monograph of the Hardenbrook family line. I have a lot of research written up, but it now needs fact checking, photos, and the next step, a deeper level of research, i.e. land and probate records.  I continue to search for the reason as to why they traveled north to Seneca County, NY.  Was it availability of bounty lands, the rumor of available fertile farmland, or some other reason?

It became evident I needed to better organize the research materials I had put into a three-ring research binder. I took everything out and sorted by individual names, and then filed them back into the binder now separated by labeled tab file dividers.  The first page of my binder is the list of local history/genealogy information sheet for Seneca County kindly sent to me by the librarian at the Edith Ford Library in Ovid, New York.  Next are pages of cemetery listings where I found Hardenbrooks and associated families buried.  At the very back of the binder is a tab labeled, “Related Articles,” which contains items that may or may not be relevant. One woman interested in my Hardenbrook research sent me her article on the Dey Family of Bergen County, NJ and Seneca County, NY. At this point I don’t think there is a link, but one never knows.  I do appreciate her suggestions and interest.

This reorganization project provided me the opportunity to revisit much of the research I had done over the past few years, and can now view from a different perspective. It also allows me to fact check easier – when I see a statement, date or citation, I go immediately to the person’s section in my research binder and double check.

Aesthetics is important to me: the Hardenbrook genealogy resides in a sage green three ring binder featuring a color photo of my Grandmother Laura Wortman Hardenbook featured on the cover with her “famous” saying – “I will never give up the Hardenbrook name.”  The Hardenbrook research binder is white with a clip art tree on the cover sheet and spine labeled “Hardenbrook Family Research Documents.”  When I make a research trip for this family all I will need is the two binders.

I realize now that I should go through this process with each family line – how many rainy days will we have?

Writing Your Family History

Turning research into an interesting and readable format is possibly the most difficult part of the process for genealogists.  At a Connecticut Society of Genealogists seminar in North Haven, CT on Oct. 16, we had the opportunity to hear Leslie Albrecht Huber speak on just that. Leslie’s new book, The Journey Takers is an enjoyable read. Leslie is a gifted writer and determined researcher.  We encourage you to visit her website, www.understandingyourancestors.com


By nature I am a very organized person. But, when it comes to genealogy, keeping information and family lines organized has been the biggest challenge. I now keep my information in three formats: a three ring binder that has all my family lines that have been researched and written up; a binder for each family line, with research material in plastic sleeves for easy on-the-go research trips for that particular line, and then names and dates in the Apple Reunion database file.  I have always felt that genealogy was much more than names and dates. You will never hear me exclaim that I have this many names in my database. That is not important to me. What is important is to fully flesh out my ancestors to learn more about them and what their lives were like. And this is where the Fulton County History website has been so important. By reading newspapers of our ancestors' time, researchers can find out the social and political history that impacted their lives.


I begin each family line with a descendant chart, giving parents names and birth dates, followed by the children with their birth and death dates as known. My direct ancestor is indicated in bold. Each family member is featured with as much information as I can gather for where they lived, who they married, their occupation, etc.
For one line of the Hardenbrook family it looks like this:

Descendants of John Hardenbrook b: 1820 (NY) and Anna E. Crisfield Hardenbrook b: 1824; m: 19 June 1847

Washington Hardenbrook b: 1848 (Lodi, NY) d: 14 Jan 1904 (Willard, NY)

Enoch H. Hardenbrook b: 4 May 1852; d: 2 December 1905[1]

Frank Hardenbrook b: 1853; d: 1932 

John Hardenbrook was a farmer, whose property bordered the Crisfields in the Town of Lodi, Seneca County, New York, and is how he met Anna E. Crisfield. They married on June 19, 1847 at the Dutch Reformed Church in Ovid, NY by Reverend John Liddell.  Their witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Hunt.[2] John and Anna Hardenbrook had three sons, Washington, Enoch, and Frank.[3] 

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[1] For purposes of this genealogy, I will use the name “Enoch’ born 1851 and will call his son,” Enos,” born 1882.  Death date from Interlaken Index compiled by Diane Nelson.

[2] Ulysses Historical Society

[3] 1860 and 1870 Census of Seneca County, NY.  (HeritageQuest)