Hit a brick wall in your family history? One of the first strategies to thinking about how to strike through that brick wall is to review the information that you already have. But also have a think about common mistakes that sometimes happen and whether these may have impacted your own research journey:
Not talking to other family members and gathering oral history.
Not confirming family stories by purchasing historical birth, marriage and death certificates. (Sometimes family stories are not or only partially true).
Accepting other people's research without reviewing.
Using the same spelling when searching indexes and websites. Remember use spelling variations and where possible wildcard searching, particularly for family names, but also first names.
Having a narrow research view, especially by geographic area, in a similar vein, another common mistake is presuming that our ancestors did not travel widely or move about.
Not being organised. If you have a software program, be sure to keep it updated.
Becoming unfamiliar with your research. If it has been a while since you researched a particular line, re-visit your information to date. Have you transcribed all relevant documents?
Presuming if it is not online, the information does not exist.
If it is in the newspaper, it must be true.
Family Search adds some advice on Rookie Mistakes and If I'd only known! Beginner Genealogy Mistakes. Regular posts from The blog Genealogy Tip of the day also are good reminders and insights into our search strategies.
What is a common mistake you have found in your family history research journey?
