Methodology Monday-Reasonably Exhaustive Research

You've read about it. Know it's part of the Genealogical Proof Standard, but do you understand what it means?

Reasonably Exhaustive research means we look for all the information that would help to answer a specific genealogy question. 
Once you know exactly who or what you are looking for, you can brainstorm what type of records may contain the answer and where you may find them. Then you need to begin looking for the documents on your list to see what they can tell you about your question.

For instance, you may have the question "Who were the parents of "John Doe" who was born in "Some Year" in "Some County, Some State, Some County." You know which John Doe you are looking for. Add more information if you know it to fine-tune your research subject even more if needed.
This approach is much more successful than "I want to find out everything about my great grandpa, John Doe."

What types of records may give you the answer? Make a list. It may contain those below and others. What is on your list will depend on the area and laws for creating them.
This is an example, but many more could be added.
1-Death Certificate
2-Birth Certificate
3-Obituary
4-Church Records
5-Census Records
6-Bible Records
7-Probate Records

You get the idea!
Now list where you could find them and make a plan to begin researching.

Should you celebrate when you discover an answer on the first or second record and call it quits? After all, the death certificate you just found records the names John Doe's parents and wasn't that the answer to your question? Unfortunately, no.
Reasonably Exhaustive Research means locating ALL records that may be available that may shed light on your research question.

Why? Records of any kind may be incorrect. A wide variety of documents can help ensure you have the most correct information. You may discover you have records with conflicting information. If that happens, you need to figure out why if you can. 
Was there a transcription error, or did someone accidentally recording a wrong name? There could be many reasons why your records have differing information. 
What if the name of one or both of the parents is wrong on that newly discovered death certificate? If you hadn't continued researching until you were confident you had looked for anything that would give you the facts you need the chance of a mistake is high.
You could end up researching the wrong line or building your own brick wall.

When do you know you've done enough? When you have found as much as possible to help answer your question. There is no magic number of documents needed to come to a conclusion.
Simply do your best to discover as much as you can from various record groups.

Reasonably Exhaustive research means being reasonable in your efforts. There will be documents that were never created or records that have been lost or destroyed.
Making sure you have exhausted all the possibilities will give you confidence in your answers and your help you move up your family tree. If and when other records are found that weren't available to you during your research process, chances are your conclusions will be upheld instead of crumbling in light of a new source. 

The first step in the Genealogical Proof Standard, Reasonably Exhaustive Research is meant to help you produce the most reliable results you can by collecting everything available to answer your research question.

What has Reasonably Exhaustive Research helped you to discover?

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Helping you climb your family tree,

Tuesday's Tip~Gettin' By With Help from Our Friends~Eileen Souza

Today's tips come from Eileen A. Souza owner of  Old Bones Genealogy.

10 Tips for More Accurate Research

Genealogy is not something that can be done from start to finish in a weekend or even a year of weekends. It is, however, an enjoyable activity that is done by millions of people. While you enjoy doing your family research, I am sure you would like your family tree to be as accurate as possible. Here are 10 tips to avoid genealogy’s most common mistakes:
1. Talk to your family. You relatives know more about your family than the Internet. Write down what they know. More information acquired before hitting the Internet increases your chances of making good selections about what you add to your tree. And while you are doing that, you are helping to preserve their knowledge.

2. Use caution in your research. Genealogy records found online or elsewhere that are not original documents may have errors. Abstracting or transcribing old documents can introduce typos and other transcription errors. In the case of abstracting, there may be other important information on the original. Knowing whether family history books are accurate without proper citations (as footnotes or endnotes), can be difficult. It is important to try to use the original documents, if available.
3. Unless you have a very rare surname with a unique spelling, you will need to do more research to determine if you are actually related to another person with the same name.

4. While not impossible, it is unlikely that you are related to a Royal family since they tended to be inbred.

5. Another popular myth has immigrants’ names being changed at Ellis Island (or earlier officials). Your ancestor may have had their name slaughtered at the port of departure where the passenger list was created or they may have decided to become Americans by changing their name themselves, but it was not changed by officials at the port of entry.

6. Spelling was standardized in the US and UK during the 19th and 20th centuries. Yet today British English and American English still have dissimilar spelling standardization. Do not assume because it is not spelled the way you know it that it is not your line. Confirm a fact/relationship using more than just a name.

7. While sometimes you must guess, either keep your guesses in a separate tree and only move the fact into your real tree when it is no longer a guess or note that the fact is a guess. Otherwise, no one will have confidence in your research.

8. Everyone can make mistakes. Periodically check your data for these common errors: parents born before their children, people living more than 125 years and a child linked to more than one set of parents. Fix all the mistakes that you find as soon as you discover them. You want to avoid inadvertently tracing entire lines of people that have no relationship to you.

9. When using other people’s family tree data, it is safest to treat it as a clue and do further research. Even the best research may change if new data surfaces since the original data was uncovered.

10. Lastly, there is a principle in genealogy research known as a “reasonably exhaustive search”. This means that you must keep searching for all documents that may apply to the facts you are researching. All documents are not online. While new records are added frequently, if not daily, online records are still the tip of the iceberg. You need to extend your research to libraries, societies, archives and other repositories to ensure valid results.

Thanks for sharing your tips, Eileen! 


Bio

Eileen Souza, PLCGS, owner of Old Bones Genealogy, is a professional genealogist who specializes in Maryland research. She is president of the Carroll County Genealogical Society, a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, the Maryland Genealogical Society and other local business and genealogical societies.
Eileen is a graduate of the National Institute of Genealogical Studies, earning a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies; a graduate of the National Institute of Genealogical Research; and a graduate of the 18-month ProGen Study Group (for the book Professional Genealogy edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills).  
She is the author of Research in Carroll County, published in the August 2012 issue of the Maryland Genealogical Society Journal. Her presentations include “Getting Started with your Genealogy,” “Dig Up Your Ancestors Online,” “Finding Beaver Dam Levell” and “The ABCs of DNA for Genealogy.” 

What suggestions do you have to be more accurate with your genealogy research?
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Helping you climb your family tree,

Tuesday's Tip~Gettin' By With Help From Our Friends-Lisa Lisson!

Today's Tips come from Lisa Lisson from the blog Are You My Cousin?.

Rabbit Trails, Dirty Laundry and Second Looks

Genealogy Tips to Move Forward in Your Research

Genealogy can be a solitary pursuit. We sit behind our computers or in quiet archives silently tracking our ancestors.

But it doesn’t have to be!

Getting together with genealogy friends is just plain fun. Who else understands our excitement over an 1811 tax record?!

Besides the comradery, the tips and skills I learn from my genealogy friends are invaluable.

Today I’m sharing three tips I find many of us (myself included!)  sometimes overlook.

1. Avoid the Rabbit Trails - Write Out Your Research Plan.

Before sitting down to research your ancestors, do you know what you are looking for? Specifically?

Are you searching Wake County, NC marriage records of George Harward and Elizabeth Sugg? Are you searching the estate records of George Harward for evidence of his wife’s name?

Or….

Are you searching for Harwards in North Carolina? 

You will be much more successful in your search if you know specifically what you are looking for and where you have already looked. This will help you stay off those interesting rabbit trails you invariably find in the records.

2. Read the Court Records – Better Than Reality TV!

Court records are frequently not online, so I go after these specifically when I research on-site. Some cases may be too long to read in their entirety on-site, so get a copy to take home.  If your ancestors were litigious (as mine seem to have been!), they will air their family’s “dirty laundry” in court.

For example, Marion Talbot of Halifax County, VA along with his siblings sought to sue their father Langley Talbot for land that was their mother’s (Sarah Blanks).  At her death, the siblings believed they were entitled to it as their inheritance.  (The court agreed.)

That one 70-page court record provided the following information on the Talbot family. This was one brick wall that was obliterated!

·       Langley Talbot & Sarah Blanks never married.

·       Sarah’s first (and only legal) husband and child from that marriage were named

·       Sarah’s death date was given

·       Sarah and Langley’s children were named including three previously unknown children who had left the area.

·       Clues for Sarah’s maiden name were provided

·       Oh yes, and the discovery of insanity in the family.

Have you searched for your ancestors in the court records?

3. Take a Second Look at Previously Researched Databases

This sounds counter intuitive, but let’s think through this genealogy research tip. 

Much of our genealogy research is done on the computer.  We are so fortunate to be able to have such a plethora of resources online.  But, you have heard it before….

Not everything you need to research your ancestors is online. In fact, most is not!

The good news is more and more genealogical records are coming online.  Older databases are being updated and new records added.  After a year of checking, the above Halifax County court records mentioned above became available online. Since the project of digitizing all of the Halifax County court records is not completed, I continue to check back and search any newly added records.

Periodically, go back to previously researched databases and see what is now online.

Yes, sometimes we need a little help from our genealogy friends! What are your best genealogy tips?

Lisa Lisson is the genealogist and blogger behind Are You My Cousin?. Lisa believes researching your genealogy does not have to be overwhelming.  All you need is a solid plan, a genealogy toolbox, and the knowledge to use those tools. Passionate about genealogy research and helping others find resources and tools to confidently research their genealogy, Lisa can be found at LisaLisson.com, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Thanks for the tips, Lisa! 
I once found a child on a census that I missed the first time!
What have you discovered when going back over your previous research? We'd love to hear from you!

Are we kin? Need help with your research? Please contact me.

Together we can find our people.
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday's Tip~Gettin' By With Help From Our Friends-Melissa Corn Finlay

This time our Tuesday's Tip comes from Melissa Corn Finlay of www.finlayfamily.org and littlefamilytree.com.

After a quarter century of genealogical research, I have noticed there are a few fundamental activities that lead to more effective and thorough research with less backtracking or duplication. Now who doesn't want that? These aren't research tips, per se, but they are an important part of my research process.

1. Make note of all the clues in every document you find, even if they don't seem relevant at the time. Those clues may be key in future research! How many times has a census record listed a person in the household that "wasn't family"? Or a death record has an informant that you do not recognize? How many records contain addresses which we gloss over because they are not a vital detail? What may not seem pertinent to the current research question you are answering, may be incredibly important to unraveling a future question. I find that it is easier for me to recognize and note all the clues in a document if I take the time to transcribe it completely. Then I make notes below the transcription of the less-than-obvious clues the document provides, along with a list of questions these clues leave me with.

2. Review your previous notes on the person you are researching, and also their extended family members. (Remember those clues that might be key in future research?) I wish my memory was good enough to remember minute details of research I did a decade ago, but I have a hard time remembering those kinds of details on research I did last month. When reviving research from some time ago, or starting research on a person related to someone that has been researched before, it is helpful to revisit the previous research notes and refresh your memory about the clues therein.

3. Trace the siblings, additional spouses, half siblings, cousins, etc. They all have clues for your direct line ancestors. So many, many research questions are answered not through the individual person's records, but through their extended family members' combined records. For example, one man I researched left few detailed records of his own, but the story of his life became clear through his daughter's records and his second wife's records. (She lived to 105 and outlived three husbands!)

4. Write your ancestor's life story in narrative form. Once you have done fairly thorough research on an ancestor, take the time to write out a life sketch, or a non-fiction story about that person.  Some ancestors have a very apparent theme running through their life that can be the focus of the story, weaving in the life events along the way. For some ancestors, a simple but complete life sketch is adequate. For either type of narrative, I refer frequently to the person's life timeline and their extended family timeline, and a world event timeline. You will be surprised how this exercise reveals patterns, events, and gaping holes you wouldn't notice otherwise. Plus, after all the hard work of uncovering a person's life through documents, it really is the capstone activity of our genealogical work to write the story!

5. Put your family tree out there and share generously. Whether you call it Genealogy Karma, Genealogy Serendipity, or the Golden Rule of Genealogy, you will be rewarded with distant cousins sharing generously with you! I have hosted my full genealogy database (the actual one I am editing, adding to and working on) at my website since 2002. Because it is my working database, it is not perfect, in fact some parts of the tree are downright messy. Messy or not, it has been a great way to share. In that time I have been blessed to be contacted by dozens of distantly related cousins, as well as others who are researching associates of one of the individuals in the database. Not only has it been wonderful to make these personal connections, but I have been floored by the reciprocal giving that has occurred. When I share what I have, I gain a new friend and often new photos, new data, and sometimes new generations to add to my tree.

Melissa Corn Finlay is a genealogist, an entrepreneur, a gardener, a homeschooler, mama to 7 fantastic children, and wife to the love of her happily ever after. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Family History-Genealogy from Brigham Young University. She has been researching her own family lines for over 25 years. Connect with her at www.finlayfamily.org  www.yellowforktech.com & www.homegrownhabitat.com

Thanks for the tips on the research process, Melissa. It's always good to see how others work!

Share your ideas and thoughts about how you research in the comments below!

Are we kin? Need help with your research? Please contact me.

Together we can find our people.

Thanks so much for stopping by!