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* If appropriate, the approximate time and place of the event. | * If appropriate, the approximate time and place of the event. | ||
= '''Identify | = '''Identify Candidate Families for Further Research''' = | ||
Your genealogical quest has already pointed you in a direction, such as learning when your mother’s family first came to the country. Now identify goals that will advance you towards your quest. Most goals focus on researching an individual or that individual’s family. | |||
Browse through your various family group records. Look for families that would move you toward fulfilling your quest AND be '''''easiest''''' to research first. This would probably be a family closer to you in time—a parent or grandparent family. There is a greater chance living people would recall events, and have records or mementos of more recent generations. Starting research on earlier generations before pinning down the information about more recent generations might cause time consuming errors. Don’t skip any family links.<br> | |||
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'''Search from the known to the unknown;''' | |||
'''recent generations before earlier generations.''' | |||
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<br> | <br> | ||
= '''Select One Goal-Family to Research at a Time''' = | |||
Research is usually more successful when you work on an entire family group (father, mother and all children). Important clues about an individual are found in his relationships to his family. Community and family context helps us correlate and corroborate data, or reveals inconsistencies. Often it is only by learning about brothers or sisters that you can prove parentage. Experienced genealogists recognize the importance of completing work on an entire family before moving to a different family. It may even help to work on clusters of families that married into each other. | |||
If researching two or more families would move you toward your overall quest, start with the family that is already the best documented and has the most complete event places and dates. Leave the families with less well documented events, or events with vague places or dates until later. | |||
A good research goal is to complete genealogical research and document each event on a selected family group record. | |||
= '''Focus on One Research Objective''' = | |||
Within a family you can more freely choose which individual you will research. You can skip around among family members seeking first the easiest-to-document events in the family. The easier to document events will lead to new clues for finding more-difficult-to-document events in the family. | |||
Compare all the events on the family group record. Notice which events are most complete and have the best documentation. Also note the events with missing, partial, or estimated information, or with poor source footnotes. In general, first check on the already-cited sources to verify your own records. Then one event in a person’s life at a time you look up new sources to document a poorly sourced event. Start first with events that have the most complete place, and most complete dates. | |||
You should be able to name the exact person and identify exactly which event in his life you want to document. Stay focused on that research objective. Do not change research objectives lightly. If at first you don’t succeed, continue with the same research objective. Try a variety of records and record types, change the jurisdictions you search, inquire at many repositories, and if necessary research even kin and associates in order to find documentation for your research objective. | |||
As you begin to find things, slowly work you way to objectives involving the least sourced events in the family, with skimpiest place or date information. Sometimes events which are not mentioned on the family group record could be guessed to have happened, and need research. Try to obtain complete genealogical information for each family member. Stick with the same family until work on documenting all the events in their lives is mostly finished. <!--{12077604375314} --> <!--{12077604375315} --> | |||
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= '''Using a Research Log''' = | = '''Using a Research Log''' = | ||