How about a New Year’s resolution? One that’s short and sweet. GET ORGANIZED.

Any genealogist knows that notes, documents and charts — like anything made out of paper — multiply when we’re not looking.

Certainly, a computer program can be highly useful in compiling your information and keeping it collated by generation — with the advantage that all of it is easily reproduced with a printer.

I’m one of those people who has “started” to put a family tree into the computer, but I have a long way to go before it’s all in there.

To be honest, I’ll probably never fully trust a computer not to eat my information — so I’ll want to back everything up with paper copies as well as a computer disk.

When I’m off to a library or archive, I like to take along a binder with copies of my pedigree charts — notebook-paper-size charts with room for four generations of ancestors. With the notebook, I can easily check what I have — and how far I’ve taken each line. If I find new information, I can pencil it in.

More than a dozen years ago, I attended a Maine Genealogical Society meeting where I heard an organizational talk by Kay Trickey, who died earlier this year.

Kay suggested filing family history information by surname — one surname to a page or file card. She used separate notebooks for ancestors, resources, places and other categories, and recommended assigning a number or abbreviation for each resource.

When I find information on my ancestry, I like to photocopy pertinent pages from genealogies, town histories, vital records, cemetery records and the like.

I have a file drawer with folders for each surname in my family, and a second drawer for information on various towns and other places.

I also like to keep notebook sheets — one per surname — listing sources I have checked and whether they yielded anything useful.

That way I don’t end up checking the same town history for the same surname every time I go to a particular library.

The late Agnes Higgins Ames, author of “Ames Ancestry,” kept a good research log, not only listing what sources she had checked and where they were, but correspondence with individuals and agencies.

She was careful to put dates on these various items, so that when she added something new to a family line, she could easily see which sources she might want to go back and check again.

My interest in genealogy got a big boost in 1978, I think it was, when I attended a genealogy workshop Ames presented with other members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Later she mailed me a copy of something with the kind note, “Will this help you? May we?” It did, and she did.

Once I joined the organization, Ames set me to work indexing some of the DAR Miscellaneous Records that were going to be compiled the next year for placement in the Bangor Public Library, Maine State Library, Maine Historical Society and the NSDAR Library in Washington.

I think we were indexing records from Hammond Street Congregational Church, if I remember correctly. That experience impressed on me not just the importance of indexing, but especially how worthwhile it is to copy records so that they can be shared with others.

How you organize your information is up to you. The point is to do it in such a way that you can find what you want. Is all of my stuff filed properly? Not yet. But some of it is, and I have a system if I can make the time to use it.

Even if you don’t think of yourself as someone who does genealogy, do consider whether you have put your family information in one place — with photocopies available for your own use or others’, if you choose.

Happy researching — and happy organizing. I hope each of you finds new and interesting ancestors in the next century.

2930. MOORE-BOWDEN. Searching for name of my great-great-grandfather, whose son was Joshua Moore, b. April 6, 1804, d. February 1885, bd. Prospect Harbor Cemetery. He owned a home there, that was passed down to my grandfather, William H. Moore, d. 1934, also bd. Prospect Harbor. Joshua had two wives: Joan Bowden, d. 1845; Louise Bowden Moore, widow of Welch Moore. Ruth Moore Barker, 28 Thompson Road, Veazie, ME 04401.

2931. DORR-WEBBER. Seeking any information on my grandmother, Ida May Webber, b. Portland, d. July 19, 1908, wife of Ulysses S. Dorr of Aurora. They were parents of Mildred E. Dorr. My mother is 96, but has very little recollection, and records have burned. Dody Green, 16 Saint Charles Ave., Stamford, CT 06907.

2932. SHEPHERD-PRESSEY. Seeking ancestry of Mary Pressey of Alna, md. James Shepherd, who was b. about 1761 Wiscasset, son of James Shepherd. Also looking for wife of first James. The younger James d. July 23, 1818, Jefferson. Mary Pressey Shepherd d. Feb. 8, 1843. Danny W. Howard, DECF Box 428, Machiasport, ME 04655.

Send queries with Maine connections to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangornews.infi.net. Full name and mailing address of sender is required even if e-mail is used.