Today, December 11th is the death anniversary of my paternal aunt Ella Levon Koonce. She passed away on this day in 1984 at the young age of 27. I was 9 years old but remember the day well. My middle name, Yvette, was inspired by her middle name — hers was supposed to be Yvonne but her father messed it up when he went to do her birth certificate so legally, she was Ella Levon Koonce.
It was at her funeral in Ft. Barnwell, NC that I was struck by knowing there were people in my family tree that came before my grandparents as that was the day I first heard the name of my father’s grandfather. I was also taken when I looked around and saw so many headstones with my last name Koonce. Ella is very much part of my genealogy origin story as the day she was buried helped spark a seed for knowing more about my family. I think it is only fitting that I am named, in part, after her.
This morning, I spent 15 minutes doing some work in my family tree files on her record. Sometimes we have to work our genealogy in where we can get it so I was happy to be able to do it as I do not spend as much time working on my personal genealogy as I should. What did I do in my 15 minutes?
- I checked her profile in FamilySearch Family Tree to see if for sources I may not have yet attached to her. There was only 1 new source – an index to her birth so I attached it. I do have a copy of her birth certificate already but it doesn’t hurt to add this as a source. I then synced the source to my RootsMagic database.
- I checked my profile for her in my family tree on Ancestry.com for hints. There are some there but I added only one, her record in the Social Security Administration Claims Records. I also synced that with my RootsMagic database. The others I will come back to.
- I added her death certificate to the family photo and file archive I am building on Forever.com (love this platform! You can read more about why, here)
- Did a quick check to see that all of my data and files are synced between my RotosMagic database, her FamilySearch Family Tree profile, and my profile for her in my Ancestry Member tree. This means checking that I have all the same sources, photos, and documents in all 3. I noted some discrepancies and have made a note to myself to reconcile it later tonight if I have a chance, or sometime over the next couple of days. I work to keep all 3 in sync for consistency.
- Did a Facebook post in honor of her memory.
I feel like I accomplished a lot in my 15 minutes (okay – the Facebook post actually turned my total time spent into about 25 minutes, but I planned it within that original 15 minutes! 🙂 ).
It wasn’t much, but at least I felt like I did some genealogy today. What are some ways you work in a few minutes of family tree research when you are pressed for time?
You’re a gem! Many happy 15 minutes that revive those deep memories. Your techie representation of those 15 minutes I can match with 5: Today had to upcycle a flash drive for other use and found some docs about Dad’s family on it. I spent 5 minutes making sure I had them already in my folders before I wiped the flash drive! Great blog, as usual.
Great find Deborah the flash drive! Good that you checked to be sure you had them archived too. Thanks for sharing!