How Long Has it Been?
Monday July 28, 2008
How long has it been since you looked at some of your older research? Revisited your notes and files? Examined your source citations (or lack thereof?). All genealogists, even the professionals who have been doing this for a while, can often benefit greatly from revisiting older research for a variety of reasons:
- How much have you learned about genealogy research since you last looked at your files? A family history is always a work in progress. Since we learn as we go, our new-found knowledge and experience may lead to new discoveries in our old research. Those little column details on the census records, for example. Was your ancestor naturalized? Did he own land? Where were his parents born? Was he married more than once? Have you identified all of his children? Were there any other family members living nearby? Use the knowledge you've gained since you initially looked at these records to dig out new details and follow them up in additional records.
- Did you initially check all available resources? Beginning genealogists are often content to find one (or possibly two) records that document their ancestor's existence before jumping back to the next generation. If you didn't perform a reasonably exhaustive search for documents and resources on each ancestor the first time around, then now is a good time to do so!
- How are your online search skills? Have they improved? Online indexes can often make it much easier to locate previously difficult-to-find ancestors. The immigration record for my great-grandfather Stanley Toman, who supposedly arrived at the port of Philadelphia (his wife and children did), was finally found among the records of the port of Baltimore, for example (the U.S. immigration collection at Ancestry.com allowed me to easily search across multiple ports of entry).
Make sure you've explored every available avenue. Try out new search tools, such as the great One Step tools from Steve Morse. Search for alternative surname spellings. Make sure you've located your ancestors in every available census records (try these census search tips if there are some stubborn ones you can't seem to find) Look at multiple sources of the same information if you're having trouble locating someone (e.g. search the 1900 U.S. census at Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and HeritageQuest Online (available free through many libraries).
- Are their new resources available to you now? The availability of online genealogy transcripts and digitized records has exploded in the last decade, meaning that you may now have easy access to new resources.
- Broaden your horizons. If you've previously stuck with basic vital records, census records and wills when researching your family tree, now is the time to branch out into something new. If you haven't explored historical newspapers, for example, then you've overlooked a potential gold mine for information on your ancestors. Or have you tried searching for information on your ancestors in passport records, manuscript collections, land records, or in PERSI?
- As you're reviewing your genealogy notes and files, is it clear to you what records you've previously searched (even if nothing was found)? If you haven't always been diligent about citing your source for each piece of information, now is also the time to go back and remedy that oversight. Many genealogists I know (myself included), either jotted down minimal information for each source (e.g. "interview with Grandma"), or neglected source citations altogether when we were first starting out. This not only makes it difficult for others to follow our work, but also increases the likelihood that we will waste time revisiting the same information. Since you're already revisiting your research, now is the perfect time to clean up those source citations!
Comments
Excellent points here! My experience is that whenever I review research that I haven’t touched in awhile, it really pays off. I will see something I overlooked the first time, or I’ll find a newly available record, or I’m just smarter about the whole business.
Ah yes…that golden era when, to find all your relatives all you had to do was go online, type in a name or two, and everything magically appears. Yes, my methods have eventually evolved as I learn new and better (sometimes, worse) methods. Record-keeping for me was not too much of a problem. It was the types of records that were the big ‘bugaboo.’ Also, as you wrapped up, yes…I am extremely lazy at citing my sources, though I’m trying to improve along those lines. Basically, as the family tree grows, so do those who are researching it.
So, that’s my 2 cents (maybe 3, with today’s inflation rates) worth. Good hunting, all.
You made some good points and also reminded me of a family that i have been searching for who entered America in 1896 and i havn,t been able to find that record.It would give a great deal of satisfaction to find them.
Between the sloppy earlier research and the computer crash where I had to start with an old file and bring it up to date from hard copy and backups, my data and footnoting are pretty caca. I’m trying to bring my work up to professional standards in case I ever publish.
I have Eliz Shown Mills and Chicago 15, but for some reason my documentation doesn’t go smoothly. When one format becomes encumbered, I find a better one, and then (sigh) I have to backtrack.