Danish Research: Tips for Beginners: Difference between revisions

Remember that we are building family "trees" here.  You cannot hang apples on a tree that has no branches.  Look at the associated information to the problem.  The best clues for any ancestor are usually found by looking at their immediate family members.  For example: If your goal is to find the parents of an individual (who is one of the end of lines on your Pedigree Chart), take the time to look at all the associated clues to the known individual. Do you know the name of a child (learn about the Danish Naming Laws)?  In Denmark, a child's surname frequently gives a clue about the father's given name.  Do you know where a child was born?  This means you also know where the child's parents lived.  It’s a process of understanding the known before moving to the unknown. If you gather everything you know about that individual, and your information is still very sketchy (meaning you really don’t know much) you should probably move your goal:  research the previous generation more thoroughly until you know enough to build on.  

Document everything you do.  If you look through a collection of records and find nothing--document it so you don't look through them again!  If you do find a record, make sure to record everything about the record so you can easily locate the record again, if needed.  Sometimes there will be information on the record which seems insignificant at one time, but will prove invaluable at another time.  Evaluate what you have already checked. This is a lot easier if you have documented your sources during your research activities.