The Three Ring Notebook

The problem with asking so many questions is that you have to do something with the answers. How do I remember them? For that fact, do I want to remember them? For the true genealogist, documentation becomes a major activity or a major frustration depending on how good you are at keeping score. Having a very large family has its advantage, especially at Christmas time, but it also adds to the task of recording the families' history! When I started writing things down, there were no computers, very few cameras, and even fewer folks who had an interest in helping. Let's see, where to begin?

I thought the first place would be to build a family tree. Hum...I would be number 1, my folks number 2, my grandparents number 3,...no, no, there would be 4 grandparents, then 8 great grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, then 32, 64, 128, 264.... man - o - man, what a mess. It would certainly be easier to forget the whole thing. Somehow I could not let it drop. It must have been that infection everyone who does genealogy recognizes : "The sicker you get, the more to like it." At any rate, I began by drawing lines on a blank sheet of typing paper turned side ways. One straight line, a branch to two straight lines, branch to four straight lines,... etc. etc., ... It did not take long before I taped a second sheet to the first, drawing lines and branches, taping more sheets to this. I then asked myself, what did I know? I started adding the names to the lines on the pages one by one. It soon became clear that I really did not know a whole lot! Some names, very few dates, and very little about their lives. Who were they really?
Wow, I had a lot to learn. I folded my taped pages...now what? A notebook I thought! I will put everything together in a notebook. Typing paper turned on its side does not fit a three ring notebook! Oh man! I will have to start over with larger pieces of paper! I started to laugh, a little better planning would be needed in the future for my three ring notebook. As I write this blog, I now have in my genealogy library more than 250 three ring notebooks!