Family Tree Rebuild Plan

My previous family tree had 4,309 people in it. After seeing several instances of duplicate spouses and children from lazy online tree matching I decided to rebuild the tree from scratch.

I have also decided to switch from Family Tree Builder, the free family tree database that automatically syncs with the online family tree on the My Heritage site to Roots Magic 5 so that I have total control of what part of my tree is published online.

Here is how I intend to do it:

1. Add the following direct ancestor lines (with their families) from information in the indicated family histories or trees I have gathered:

     Hunsicker (my father's paternal line) from A Genealogical History of the Hunsicker Family (published in 1911) which includes my paternal grandfather, Clifford S. Hunsicker, in the last generation

     Stauffer (my mother's paternal line) from The Stauffer Family which is maintained by my cousin Robert Boyce Stauffer

     Leedom (my mother's maternal line) from Leedom Genealogy Chart, a family tree passed down from my maternal grandmother, Mildred Lefferts Leedom

     Lefferts (my maternal grandmother's maternal line) from Genealogy of the Lefferts Family 1650-1878 (written in 1878 by Teunis G. Bergen)

     I am also considering adding Kolb (the family of the wife of the first Hunsicker in America, Elizabeth Kolb) from A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp, or Culp Family (written in 1895 by Daniel Kolb Kassel).

2. Cite all of the sources I currently have for these people.

3. Plan research (starting with the US Census) to document the other facts that I do not have sources for (other than the family histories).

4. Add the families of the children of these people and their descendants (as listed in the family histories) and plan research to document their facts.

5. Research the ancestors and descendants of these people that are not listed in the family histories. In addition the ancestors of my paternal grandmother, Margaret Mary Smith, for whom I have no information. I have only recently discovered her parents and siblings from the US Census.

The family histories indicated above are sourced (or not sourced) to a greater or lesser degree as listed below:

A Genealogical History of the Hunsicker Family: Not sourced. Information gathered by sending out surveys to family members. Biographical sketches of selected individuals.

The Stauffer Family: Lots of sources but the citations are spotty.

Leedom Genealogy Chart: No sources. Basically a list of names with very little else but with it I can create a structure to build on.

Genealogy of the Lefferts Family 1650-1878: Lots of sources mentioned but few are actually cited.

A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp, or Culp Family: No sources. Biographical sketches of some people.

I realize that this a big job I am taking on but I look forward to many many hours of research and doing the genealogy happy dance over and over again.