Solving Tough Research Problems—Overcoming Brick Walls: Difference between revisions

| valign="middle" | Keep asking why the records show what they show (or do not show) and what that implies. Continue your genealogical education the rest of your life.<br>

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== '''A. Preliminaries''' ==

Use these attitudes (mindsets) in all situations and at all times from the beginning of your research.

== '''B. Fundamentals''' ==

These are the basics. Use these strategies on every genealogical problem, especially really tough ones.

== '''C. More Advanced Research Strategies''' ==

These methods may not be needed for every problem, but often help solve tougher research questions.

=== Force your brain to think about the problem in new ways.<br> ===

14. '''''Draw a time line''''' showing EVERY documented event in John Doe’s life. Include schooling, wars, censuses, births-marriages-deaths of relatives, emigration, everything! Then work to fill in the blanks.

=== Expand the number of sources used. ===

17. '''''Be thorough.''''' Be prepared to search ALL the records of your ancestor, ALL his kin and associates, during ALL periods of their lives, in ALL the jurisdictions where they lived, and ALL possible repositories. For example, use all types of census schedules including local copies where they exist. Analyze all the tax records, land and property records, mortgages, each and every variety of estate probate papers. Study surrounding entries looking for neighbors and associates. Find every document available.¹³ Think about and watch for associated papers created at the same time as the ones you have already found.

=== '''Search records of kin, neighbors, and associates.'''  ===

24. '''''Find John Doe's children.'''''&nbsp;Thoroughly research the children to find clues about the parents.  

25. '''''Research neighbors and relatives.'''''&nbsp; People move in groups. The neighbor often came from the same place as your ancestor. Plat your ancestor's land, and run the deeds of each neighbor. Find out who the witnesses on documents are.¹⁴ [[Research_a_Family_in_Community_Context|Study a family in community context]]. Study people in the area with the same surname, and with different surnames in the same house. Identify census neighbors at least 12 before/after. Near a county/state line, study families over the line. Comb the area for same first names, origins, or jobs.¹⁵  

=== '''Use methodical logic, deduction, inference, and inspiration to shed new light on the problem.''' ===

26. '''''Create a master research plan.''''' Identify a problem. Set a research goal. Figure out which records are likely to contain answers, and which repositories to use. Track &gt;em down. Write up and share the results.

33. '''''[[Sharing:_a_good_way_to_FIND_ancestors|Share]].'''''&nbsp; Give in order to receive. Contribute to the Family History Library’s ''Pedigree Resource File'' (“Preserve Your Genealogy” at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Share/Preserve/frameset_preserve.asp), to Family Tree Makers’s ''[http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/wftonline/ World Family Tree Pedigrees]'', to the [http://www.everton.com/b/magazine.html ''Everton's Genealogical Helper Magazine'']’s Computer Roots Cellar, to Keith&nbsp;A.&nbsp; Johnson’s ''[http://members.ozemail.com.au/~grdxxx/ Genealogical Research Directory],'' and to family group sheet exchanges advertised in ''Everton's Genealogical Helper Magazine''. Send a copy of John Doe’s family history (include your address) to each county library and to each state and county genealogical society where John Doe lived. Publish an article on the family in their local genealogical periodical. Register your address in directories of members of genealogical Internet web sites and submit your genealogy to their libraries. [[Create_a_genealogy_web_page|Put your genealogy on a web page]] and register your site with major search engines and lists. Other researchers will start to contact you and share added details.

== Endnotes ==

1. Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Genealogical Mindset &amp; Principles of Scholarship" (lecture in Course 4 Advanced Methodology &amp; Evidence, Institute for Genealogical and Historical Research at Samford University, Birmingham, Ala., 13 June 2005).

== Related Content ==

[[Rookie Mistakes]]

[[Category:Beginners]]