An index helps you find the record—it is not the record. Indexes are among the greatest time-saving tools available to genealogists. They allow researchers to locate records that might otherwise take days or weeks to find. But an index is only a guide. Most indexes contain only a small portion of the information found in […]
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Just because you haven’t found the record doesn’t mean it was never created. Few things are more frustrating than searching for a record that seems like it should exist—but doesn’t appear anywhere. After repeated unsuccessful searches, many researchers conclude that the record was never created or has been lost forever. Sometimes that’s true. More often, […]
Two people with the same name can quietly become one—and ruin years of research. One of the most damaging mistakes in genealogy is combining records from two different families into a single individual. When two people share the same name, live in the same area, or are close in age, it is easy to assume […]
Half of your family history may be hiding behind a married name. One of the most common genealogy mistakes is concentrating almost entirely on the paternal line while giving far less attention to the women in the family. Women often changed surnames after marriage, making them more difficult to trace than men. As a result, […]
Every record tells part of the story—no single record tells the whole story. One of the most common genealogy mistakes is assuming that once you’ve found one record, you’ve found everything you need to know about an ancestor. In reality, every record was created for a different purpose. Each one captures only a small part […]
An unusual name may catch your attention—but it doesn’t prove you’ve found your ancestor. One of the easiest genealogy traps is assuming that an uncommon surname or distinctive given name must belong to your ancestor. At first glance, the logic seems sound. If the name is rare, there can’t be many people with it. Unfortunately, […]
Your ancestor’s biggest clue may have been living right next door. Genealogy research often focuses so closely on one individual that everyone around them is overlooked. Yet neighbors, witnesses, godparents, traveling companions, and nearby families frequently provide the very clues needed to solve difficult genealogy problems. Families rarely lived in isolation. They migrated together, married […]
The most important clue in the record may never have been transcribed. Genealogy websites make it easy to search millions of historical records using transcriptions and indexes. These summaries are invaluable because they help researchers locate records in seconds. But a transcription is only a summary of the original document. It may omit important information, […]
One missing record rarely means the answer is lost forever. Every genealogist eventually searches for a record that cannot be found. Perhaps a birth record is missing. A marriage record was never located. A census page appears to have disappeared. After enough unsuccessful searches, it is easy to believe that the missing record has brought […]
When the timeline doesn’t make sense, your conclusion probably doesn’t either One of the most effective genealogy tools is also one of the most overlooked—a simple timeline. Researchers often collect records one at a time without arranging them in chronological order. As a result, impossible dates, conflicting events, and mistaken identities can go unnoticed. A […]