Remember a year or two, or maybe three, ago when I got all hopped up about genealogy and family trees? I was so excited at that time when I found a family tree builder website with associated search engines to trace public records, etc., that I just started throwing people on my family tree all willy nilly until suddenly I had almost 3000 people!
That was so overwhelming when I created a family book with all those people in PDF form that I saved it and walked away for awhile because my brain was exploding. This is actually typical behavior for me and my ADHD brain....jump in, get overwhelmed, abandon. Like my husband when he starts assembling something without reading the directions first.
I really do want to get this genealogy research organized, not only for my own benefit and information but for the cousins I am discovering along the way. Therefore, I went to the ever reliable YouTube and searched "genealogy tips" so I could learn from subject matter experts. Side note...that search will also make your brain explode because there are thousands of videos!
I finally found one Amy Johnson who dumbed it all down enough to my level, and through her wisdom I realized that I put the whole grove of family trees into one Tree of Life that was entirely too unwieldy to be of any practical use. I needed to break the great big tree down into smaller saplings. I'm here to tell you, it is a helluva lot easier and faster to add people to your family tree builder than it is to remove them!
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I started with the Prokasky sapling because I have recently re-connected with some Prokasky cousins and have planned a Prokasky family reunion. I think the last one was just after Captain and I got married, so that's 35-ish years ago.
I got all of the Prokasky relatives removed from the Brehmer (and everybody else) tree onto their own tree and ended up with 137 entries. I'm missing a lot but for now, that's manageable, and I was able to create a very nice genealogy print out of those people that I can now share with my cousins at the reunion.
I am now working on removing all of the Benike relations (my dad's mom's family) from the Brehmer tree and will re-create a Benike tree. This will also include the surnames of Schwanke, Laabs, Rabine, and Schacht for starters. So. Many. People!!
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I have started reaching out to people I think may have documents or records that will add to my research, so if I show up on your doorstep someday...don't be surprised!
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