Shoring up the big old tree.

I came online this morning to do some research and our internet was playing up. It made me realise that I have no real hard copies of anything and I am truly reliant on technology to keep safe all my long hard working hours. What a scary thought! So I started thinking about creating an offline version of my tree, but it would be no small task. If I was to do it properly, I would  have to download and print out every census, birth record, marriage certificate, death record, baptism's and burials and all the the other evidence I found along the way. It isn't that I don't want to do this, I would absolutely love to have a hard copy of my tree. It would come in very handy when trying to explain what I have found to other members of the family who have a vague interest. 

It is the way in which to do it which has stopped me.

I don't want to have a folder with lots of bits of paper in that are all higgledy-piggledy. I've tried drawing out certain branches before and have made a right mess of it. My family seems to be one that has 10+ children in each generation and I end up running out of space. I've tried doing boxes on the computer with lines connecting them, and that was one big headache. Then there is the problem of where to start. When starting this project way back when, I'd think mum's side, dad's side. But oh no! Of course you have mum's mum and mum's dad. Dad's mum and dad's dad too. and so on a so forth. 

I started my research with my maternal grandad. Their family name is Edge. Being a man, he didn't seem to know much about the details of his family, (although he certainly knew more than my dad does about his side!) The Edge's lived in Medway; Chatham and Gillingham, and were a big family. I did this research quite a few years ago and did it up to a point where I couldn't really do much more. Or so i thought then. Now the 1911 census has been fully released, I can go back and re check everything. I have a feeling that there are going to be some big gaps in my research, information without evidence etc so I am thinking that as I start the re-climb this branch of tree, I'll make hard copies as I go along. Hopefully keep it in some kind of order. At least it is an excuse to go out and buy some lovely stationary! I'll just have to try different approaches to creating the hard data and see which suits me best. I'll keep you updated.