A Paperless Genealogy Research Trip

A Paperless Genealogy Research Trip

Whitfield Probate OfficeCarrying on with this week’s apparent theme of paperless genealogy, it is great to have your genealogy records scanned and in digital format, but it is even better to not have them in paper form in the first place.

I came across this great research trip report by Linda McCauley: The Paperless Research Trip Was Succesful. It’s a great writeup of the methods and tools that she used to research family records.

I started last Monday morning in the Probate Clerk’s Office in the Whitfield County, Georgia courthouse with my Android Tablet, Wand Scanner and Android Phone (used to take the photo below). Over three days, I also researched at the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society and the Murray County courthouse. I did not print one piece of paper. I did not write a word on a piece of paper. I copied everything with either the wand scanner or an app on my phone and typed all notes into Evernote on the tablet.

It may surprise you since I have a reputation for being a bit of an Apple fanboi, but one thing I like about this post, other than the paperlessosity, is that all this is done without a single piece of Apple technology. It’s a nice reminder that yes, you can actually get stuff done with Android in general and Android tablets specifically.

Are you into genealogy? Any tricks for doing research without using paper? Let’s hear it in the comments.

(Photo by Linda McCauley)

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 3 comments

DocumentSnap Time Machine | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - December 9, 2012 Reply

[…] A Paperless Genealogy Research Trip I love reports like this. […]

Tessa Keough - December 8, 2011 Reply

I use the To-Do function in my genealogy program (Legacy) and then when I am ready to go to a particular facility I filter by that facility – example Minnesota Historical Society Archives – I upload the to-do list to my itouch via a pdf reader (you can print the to-do list to a pdf) and then I take that to the facility. I can do my look-ups (death certs, birth certs, etc.) with the itouch and then when I find the information I can make notes and add them directly to my program. In most cases I do not need a copy of the certs just the information (helpful for confirming parental information, birth and/or death dates, last residence, cause of death, age at death and burial location). Also I am carrying the itouch with me so I don't have to worry about locking up my notebook.
If I am using my notebook, I have my genealogy program open and also my OneNote program (which has an app for my itouch) and can make notes there. Love using OneNote for my genealogy.

    Brooks Duncan - December 8, 2011 Reply

    Very cool Tessa, thanks for sharing and nice to hear from a happy OneNote user. It seems like a great program.

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