I’ve tried myriad note taking apps in the past, primarily for tracking research in various libraries and findings in source materials. This is where I’ve typically documented my efforts to discover how I’m related to DNA matches as well. Basically, my note taking app does not replace a genealogy database (I use RootsMagic for that), but instead it allows me to document my findings, research a hypothesis, and then make sure I have come to an accurate conclusion before adding to RootsMagic.

I had used Evernote for at least a decade and then became frustrated with the changes the company had made with the product. I tried an assortment of other apps following the departure from Evernote and landed with Obsidian which I LOVE. Here is how I have structured my genealogy work within the vault.

This roughly follows my computer folder structure as well. Here’s a brief summary of what is in each folder. I’m going out of order and starting with the areas I use the most.

Sources

This is probably my most important and most often used folder. I make a note for each source I consult, or online search, whether I find something or not. Below is am image that shows how I use the new properties feature as well to help me find sources related to a certain area.

To make my page content visible, I view the properties in the right sided navigation bar and for each source have:

• Media type (Book, database, manuscript, etc.)
• Format (Paper, images online, electronic correspondence….)
• Film number (primary for FHL films – I use this for FamilySearch online films as well)
• Subject, such as census, town or county history, deed, etc
• Year, if known, such as the 1845 census
• Family surname being researched
• Particular individual researched
• State, County, Town properties are used as well to further filter
• Repository researched, whether a brick and mortar location such as a library, or an online source such as FamilySearch or Ancestry.com
• Date the research was conducted
• Findings – Yes or No

This has been invaluable in allowing me to locate what I’ve already searched and who I looked for in that specific search, preventing duplicate efforts at a later date. These sources are then also available in other notes using Dataview. Below is table of sources consulted grouped by repository.

Person Wiki

This is where my notes are kept on persons currently being research. Using cluster or FAN research, I’m trying to learn the parentage of my 3rd great grandfather, John Mayel Simpson. Those listed are individuals that could be friends, associates or neighbors, and each has their own page where research is documented.

A primary person of interest, neighbor Halsey Rogers, is displayed below showing I use the person template.

After the vital and family details is where I document research completed on him with links to source pages as appropriate:

Places Wiki

The places wiki is where anything related to a certain location is included. Here is the page for Black Brook, Clinton County, New York, with links to resources searched for that region as well as contact info for pertinent individuals.

DNA

DNA is where I research how I match my genetic matches. There is a page for each match I’m researching, and then I created a table with Dataview to better analyze.

For privacy of the individuals I’ve blocked out the file names, but you see the second column determines who the individual matches (me, my sister, or my aunt), the total cMs (centimorgans) shared, known relationship after determined, the MRCA (most recent common ancestor or couple), and then how many cMs my sister, my aunt and I share with the match.

Here is the template I use for my DNA match research. Note below the YAML is listed in the page, and I need to convert those to properties.

Documents

This is really more of a holding space for active documents, and to be transparent, I’d forgotten I’d even placed anything there! The items listed should really in the “Source” folder.

Note and Ideas

My Notes as well as Ideas folders are more like holding areas or Inboxes – not much is in there, but it’s where I temporarily house thoughts that I don’t want to forgot, or research that doesn’t really go in other categories until I figure out where it should “live” in my vault.

So this is how I use Obsidian.Md. What is your workflow or vault structure?