In preparation for my first WMGS DNA special interest group meeting, Johanna Christina Carlson’s binder was a good place to start my binder organizational re-do. This is a first step in determining if Johanna’s father is Karl Johan Andersson Molin (1854-1895).

Johanna is my maternal grandfather’s mother.

Currently the spine label on Johanna’s genealogical binder reads, “Ancestors and descendants of Johanna Christina Carlson (1876-1956)”. Because the label starts with ‘ancestors’, it would make sense for the outside front pocket to contain Johanna Christina Carlson’s Pedigree Chart.

The second part of the genealogical binder’s label is ‘descendants’ of Johanna Christina Carlson.
Johanna was married twice; in 1908 to James Walton who died 10 December 1911, and then in 1919 to Harry Robert Flood who died 14 January 1936.

Family Tree Maker’s Family View Report offers a ‘blended families’ option. This will be the best way to display Johanna’s descendants in her binder. I descend from her marriage to her first husband James Walton.

The nine children that Johanna had prior to marrying Harry Flood do not fit on one page, but one of the nine may not descend from her first husband James Walton. Raymond Charles Walton was born in March of 1914. Because of the dates involved (James died in 1911/Raymond was born in 1914) and family lore, I suspect that Johanna was assaulted, likely by her sister’s husband. This will not be verifiable by DNA because Raymond died in April of 1914.

But I digress, back to the binder.

I printed a Family View Report on colored paper and put it into a protective sleeve at the back of Johanna’s binder.

It would be logical (wouldn’t it?) for the interior of the binders to follow the format on the outside of the binders; Johanna’s ancestors in the front, her descendants in the back, and then information specifically about her in the middle. To test this theory, I applied removable adhesive labels that peek out from the top of her three-ring binder, labelling them ‘Ancestors’, ‘Johanna’ and ‘Descendants’. Then I started putting the existing pages in chronological order.

I encountered my first speed bump with the 1930 death certificate of Henning Molin. Henning is either Johanna’s brother or her half-brother. Karl Johan Andersson Molin is Henning’s father, but the jury is still out on whether or not Karl fathered both siblings.

The family story was that as a sailor Henning had been lost at sea. However, further research determined that Henning actually settled in New York, married, and had a daughter. In 1930 Henning was involved in an argument with a neighbor. The neighbor stabbed Henning who later died as a result of his injuries.

But I digress, back to the binder.

I would like to see Johanna’s siblings represented, even in a somewhat abbreviated fashion, in her binder. Since they are of the same generation, perhaps the place to file their information would be in the center of the binder. So the generation that precedes her will be in the front of the binder, generations that follow her will be in the back, and her generation will be in the center.

With this in mind, it occurred to me that someone looking at this binder for the first time might not know how Johanna fits into our family tree. Or how she is related to them/us/me. Maybe I should start with a Relationship Chart. I printed one and put it in the front of the binder, to be followed by ‘ancestors’, then ‘Johanna and siblings’, then Johanna’s ‘descendants’.

A newspaper article about Karl Johan Andersson Molin’s involvement in a murder was filed in the ‘Ancestors’ section because my working theory is that Karl is Johanna’s father. Johanna’s brother Johan is also mentioned in the article, but I think I’ll file the article in Johan’s digital file rather than add more bulk to the three-ring binder. Obviously, this is a document to which I’ll want to return at a later date.

But I digress, back to the binder.

The next speed bump occurred when I realized that I also have records for multiple generations of Johanna’s maternal ancestors. Should the oldest records come first or last? I pondered for a moment and decided to put the records in chronological order starting with Johanna’s mother, followed by her grandparents, and then her great-grandparents. If/when the Johanna Christina Carlson binder becomes too bulky, Johanna’s most distant ancestors will be moved to binders of their own.

Most of what was in the binder belonged there with a couple exceptions; a letter from my mother’s cousin, which I scanned and filed digitally, and two Chicago death certificates for men named John Carlson.

Johanna’s youngest brother Johan (later called John) was involved in the murder of his father(?) / mother’s husband Karl Johan Andersson Molin in Sweden. After serving time in prison, John immigrated to the U.S. in 1901 and then promptly disappeared. He didn’t actually disappear, but he has been quite difficult to locate in records. The two death certificates were ruled out (not the right John Carlson), so I scanned them and created memorials for the two men to Find A Grave.

I searched the Find A Grave database first to avoid adding duplicate John Carlsons. Neither of these men had memorials, but I did find a new possibility for my John Carlson! So of course I did a little research. And then a little more.

But I digress, back to the binder.

I printed Family Group Sheets for Johanna’s direct line ancestors on colored paper to act as page dividers. Behind each Family Group Sheet, I added the respective pages for that family member. Then I printed Family Group Sheets on a third color for Johanna and each of her siblings and added their pages.
Details about Johanna’s descendants will be kept in their fathers’ binders, but I’d like to add a bit of information about them to follow Johanna’s Family View Report at the back of her binder.

Am I done? For today, yes, but of course there is more to do. I feel timelines coming on, matching digital files to physical files, and then researching to fill in gaps. But gosh, it felt good to accomplish this much.

So, for my future reference, my binders are set up is as follows:

1. Pedigree Chart in the front cover sleeve
2. Relationship Chart explaining my connection to the person named on the binder spine
3. Family Group Sheet (on color paper) for each like-surname-named ancestor on the Pedigree Chart
   a. Documents pertaining to each filed behind their Family Group Sheet
4. Family Group Sheet (on color paper) for the binder’s subject and each of their siblings
   a. Documents pertaining to each filed behind their respective Family Group Sheet
5. Family View Report (on color paper) for the binder’s subject and their descendants
   a. Documents pertaining to each filed behind their respective Family Group Sheet

If you’ve read this far, thank you for following along. It actually helped to write down the process as it was unfolding and now that there is a process, the remaining binders don’t feel quite as daunting.