Family History Research Notebook | Parish Register Log, Negative Searches (16 Pages)

You have searched those years before. You are almost sure you have searched those years before. Nothing in family history costs more time than searching a register you already searched, because the thing you did not write down was the thing that was not there. A negative search recorded properly is worth more than most of the entries you find. FOLIO is 16 pages of plain, ruled paper for exactly that. Which register, which years, which reference, what was searched and what was not there — the searcher's own working record, kept so that the same shelf is never searched twice. THE FOUR PAGES THAT PAY FOR IT Registers searched, with the reference. Parish, register, the years as the register states them, the reference, where it is held and whether you saw the original, a film or an image. Entries found, copied as written. Folio, page, entry number, the names spelled the way the clerk spelled them, and what the entry actually says. Before you tidy any of it. Searched and not found. Two full pages, because a negative search is the most valuable line in a research log and the one nobody writes down. Which years, what for, and how legible it was. Conflicts, and what would settle them. Two entries that cannot both be true, side by side, with the one record that would decide it written in the last column. WHAT IS INSIDE One — The question What this notebook is trying to settle Two — Registers What you searched, two sheets Three — Found Entries copied as written, two sheets Four — Not found Negative searches, two sheets Five — The other copy Banns and transcripts, compared Six — Conflicts What cannot both be true Seven — Next What to look at, and what came of it Eight — Letters Ordered, paid for and arrived Notes Everything else WHY IT IS A BOOK AND NOT A SPREADSHEET Because it is filled in at a reading-room desk with a pencil, in a room where pens and often laptops are not allowed, with a register open in front of you and a finger holding the folio. The line gets written while the book is still open, which is the only time the reference is certain. WHAT YOU GET Four PDFs, one for each print size: US Letter (8.5 x 11 in) A4 Half-Letter (5.5 x 8.5 in) A5 16 pages each. Print at home or at a print shop, as many times as you like, for as long as you like. Plain paper and a ring binder is the whole kit. Instant download, in your Etsy Purchases the moment payment clears. THE SMALL PRINT Digital download. No physical item is shipped. Colours vary between screens and printers. For personal use. Please do not resell or redistribute the files. A NOTE ON WHAT THIS IS Write the reference while the register is still open in front of you. Fill the register line in before you start reading, not after. Parish, register, years, reference, and how you are seeing it. Two minutes at the start saves the hour you would otherwise spend working out afterwards what you actually looked at. Copy an entry exactly as it is written — the spelling, the abbreviation, the marginal note, the lot. Tidy it later, somewhere else. A name you have tidied is a name you can no longer search on. Write the negative search down properly, every time. Which years, what you were looking for, and whether the pages were legible. It is dull, it takes forty seconds, and it is the single most valuable habit in this notebook.