I installed Evernote earlier in the week and have been playing with it.  I have to say that I am very impressed with this software, and it's free to boot.  I actually prepared the below research plan in Evernote and emailed to my blog as a draft post.  That is way cool. On top learning how to work Evernote, I've also been watching a lot of videos and reading a lot of blogs and articles on using a Research Plan and/or Research Log.  I developed a log first, but felt it too confining.  Then I discovered the below plan from Caroline Pointer.  I made some adjustments to it to suit me better. Since this is my first time using one, it took me forever to fill it out.  I would love your opinion on how I did and if you have any pointers that could help me further.  I'm hoping by using something like this, it will prevent me from going off tract when I'm researching.  I swear, when it comes to my genealogical research it's like I have ADD.  This plan is for my 3rd great grandfather on my paternal side. I do have a question on source citations...on one or two of the censuses I used, an emumeration district wasn't indicated on the sheet and neither was a sheet or page number.  There were also a couple where the NARA film info wasn't given either from Ancestry.com, which is where these came from.  Any ideas? From Evernote:

Research Plan Worksheet: Birth of John Wesley Thompson

Subject Name:      John Wesley Thompson

Research Objective:      Date and place of birth

Date of Research:      26 May 2013

Last Updated:      

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Known Facts:

Source	Results
Find a Grave.com,database and images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 May 2013), memorial page for John W. Thompson (1827-1906), Find A Grave Memorial No. 49404772, citing Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC; photograph by Michael Wong and Dayle Durrer Dooley.	Headstone shows his birth year as 1827.
1850 U.S. Federal Census, Washington 4th Ward, Washington County, District of Columbia, population schedule, Washington City, Enumeration District __, Sheet 151, p. 76 (stamped), Dwelling 692, Family 513, John W. Thompson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2013); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, Roll 56.	John W. Thompson is shown as 23 years old, born in Washington, DC.  The census was taken on 17 Jul 1850.
1860 U.S. Federal Census, Washington 6th Ward, Washington County, District of Columbia, population schedule, Washington City, Enumeration District __, Sheet 27, p. 591 (stamped), Dwelling 209, Family 216, John W. Thompson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2013); citing NARA microfilm publication Roll: M653, Roll ___.	John W. Thompson is shown as 37 years old, born in Washington, DC.  The census was taken 7 Jun 1860.
1870 U.S. Federal Census, Washington 6th Ward, Washington County, District of Columbia, population schedule, Washington City, Enumeration District __, sheet __, p. 134 (penned), Dwelling 963, Family 982, John W. Thompson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2013); citing NARA microfilm publication Roll M593, Roll ____.	John W. Thompson is shown as 43 years old, born in Washington, DC.  The census was taken 6 Jul 1870.
1880 U.S. Federal Census, Washington County, District of Columbia, population schedule, Washington City, Enumeration District 80, Sheet 37, p. 275 (stamped), Dwelling 307, Family 362, John W. Thompson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancesty.com : accessed 9 May 2013), Family History Film 1254124, Page 235A, Image 474.	John W. Thompson is shown as 53 years old, born in Washington, DC.
1900 U.S. Federal Census, Washington County, District of Columbia, population schedule, Washington City, Enumeration District 135, Sheet 11, p. 34A (stamped), Dwelling 189, Family 191, John W. Thompson; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 May 2013), citing NARA Archives microfilm publication T623, Roll 164.	John W. Thompson is shown as 73 years old, birth month and year is shown as May 1927, and born in Washington, DC.  The census was taken 7 Jun 1900.
Carnahan, James Richard. Pythian Knighthood, Its History and Literature: Being an Account of the Origin and Growth of the Order of Knights of Pythias. 2nd ed. Cincinnati: Pettibone Manufacturing Company, 1890. eBook.	John Wesley Thompson was born May 4, 1927 in Washington, DC.

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Analysis / Working Hypothesis:

All of the sources listed above show his birthplace as being Washington, DC.

All of the sources listed above, except for the 1870 Census, agree that John was born in 1827.  The 1900 Census also indicates that he was born in May of 1827, while the book written by James R. Carnahan states that his date of birth was May 4, 1827.

I went back and looked at the 1870 Census again, and John's age is definitely written as being 37.  I know that census records, as a whole, are not reliable when it comes to exact dates, and while the book written about a fraternal organization that John belong to stated an exact date, I don't know where that information came from.

I've checked several obituaries that were published in various Washington, DC newspapers, but none of them list an actual date for his birth.  They only give his date of death and his age.

The earliest that the District of Columbia started keeping birth records was 1872, and state-wide registration started in 1874.  I looked over at FamilySearch.org, and the earliest online records they currently have is District of Columbia Births and Christenings, 1830-1955.  The other collection they have is District of Columbia Birth Returns, 1874-1897 online.  Neither of these collections will help me.

I think he may have be Episcopalian and attended Christ Church.  If I can confirm this, I can contact the church and/or the diocese about any records they may have regarding his birth.

The only other option I can think of is to get a copy of his death certificate.  The District started keeping death records state-wide in 1855.  They did not keep any death records from 1861 to 1865.

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Conclusion:      Since I have five (5) sources that all agree to a birth year of 1827, I am going to assume that is correct.  All of the sources point to Washington, DC being his place of birth, and I am going to assume that is correct also.

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Next Steps:

1. Perform a record search of deaths and burials on FamilySearch.org to see if I can find him on one of the indexes they have for the District of Columbia.
2. Order his death certificate from the District of Columbia Department of Health.

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