There is danger lurking in Family History – and the biggest danger is thinking it’s been done and that it’s all been found. So says Valerie Elkins, researcher, award winning blogger and owner of Advantage Genealogy.
“Don’t get comfortable with such thoughts. Learn to be uncomfortable, so you can always be thinking of more possibilities,” she said.
Keep an open mind and keep checking. For example, Elkins said one family appeared complete after thorough research. Later, she found a tiny cemetery just for children in a wooded area near an area she had been researching. Among the headstones she discovered stones for five more of the family’s children who had been born and died between census years. There was no record of their birth or death anywhere else.
Elkins suggests several ways that you can become an expert for your own Family’s History methodically.
- Decide to be a better researcher and work to gain skills. Read, study, practice, look at online resources, go to classes and conferences, etc.
- Organize your notes. As a researcher gathers information and receives more from others, the collection becomes scattered and difficult to manage. Elkins suggests gathering everything together and checking for sources on bits of information before filing them. Search out sources for items that don’t list it and verify what others have found. Record all the sources and organize them so they don’t get lost.
- Make a research plan with a specific goal. Ask a question – “Find Grandpa Joe,” – she says, and focus on that. Keep a “squirrel book” to jot down diversions that pop up in sources and come back to later to avoid getting off track.
- People are often eager to build their tree further and further back. This is an error, Elkins said. “Focus on the lower branches making sure they are solid before building on them. Find everything you can to form a strong foundation for future searches,” Elkins said. If an error is made in the foundational research, everything built upon that is also erroneous and much time is wasted on making more erroneous connections.
- Be skeptical about sources. Consider the informant or recorder. Could information be biased or poorly informed?” Did too much time pass between the event and when it is recorded?
- Use time and resources wisely. Don’t be afraid to ask for professional assistance. Professional genealogists can save a great deal of time.
- Keep ongoing research reports and record all results both positive and negative including the family name and sources checked. Take a few minutes to summarize research with notes on where to look next.
- Create your own “help files” on each family name you search and one with helps for each area you are researching.
- Organize and preserve records for the long term. “Someday your children and grandchildren will need to know what you know,” Elkins said.
“Most importantly,” she said, “tell your stories. You are the bridge to the past.”
