Case Studies: Learning by Example

As you sift through the records of your own ancestors to build your family tree, you may find yourself with questions. What other records can/should I search? What else can I learn from this record? How do I pull all of these little clues together? The answers to these types of questions generally come through knowledge and experience. This is why I invest a great deal of my personal education time in reading case studies, written examples of research problems, methodologies, and unique records shared by fellow genealogists.

What is so eye-opening about the research of others, especially if the individuals or places in question have nothing to do with your own family? For me, there is no better way to learn (aside from your own hands-on practice) than through the successes, mistakes and techniques of other genealogists. A genealogical case study can be as simple as an explanation of the discovery and analysis of a particular record, to the research steps taken to trace a particular family back through several generations. Each one, however, gives us a glimpse into research problems that we ourselves may face in our own genealogy searches, approached through the eyes and experience of leaders in the genealogical field.

This week Elizabeth Shown Mills, a wonderful lady and the genealogist I will always strive to be, launched Historic Pathways, a website packed with decades of her case studies. Many of the case studies are organized by type of problem -- illegitimacy, record losses, cluster research, name changes, separating identities, etc. -- transcending the place and time of the research, and of value to all genealogists. Read her work and read it often. It will make you a better genealogist.

Some of my favorites include:

• Applying the Preponderance-of-the-Evidence Principle to a Southern Frontier Problem - While "preponderance of the evidence" is no longer used to describe how genealogists analyze and weigh evidence, this is an excellent example of how to document family relationships in situations where no document directly gives the answer.
• The Search for Margaret Ball - Three "burned counties," repeated name changes, two generations of illegitimacy, and a pattern of migration through several states stumped genealogists researching Margaret Ball for years until Elizabeth Shown Mills came along to widen the net.
• Unraveling Balls of Yarn: Lessons in the Use of a Skeptical Eye - We can each learn from the dangers of assuming that previous researchers have carefully avoided renaming individuals, merging identities, or marrying "people to partners they have never met in real life."

Michael John Neill has presented numerous case study examples online over the years, and just recently began publishing them on his own through a new weekly subscription genealogy column titled "Casefile Clues," found at www.casefileclues.com. The latest columns are available only through a paid quarterly or annual subscription, but to give you an idea of his work, here are three of his favorite case studies from past years:

• Fishing for Clues in John Lake's Estate
  Michael explores what an estate record can tell us even when none of the deceased individual's children are listed.
• Where O Where is Abraham?
  How a "missing" 1840 census enumeration was right under Michael's nose.
• Turn the Page
  Learn how three consecutive deeds were analyzed to reveal a potential relationship among the sellers and the buyer.

George Morgan is another prolific writer of genealogical case studies. You can find many of them among his archived "Along Those Lines" columns (free at Ancestry.com) including the following excellent examples:

• You Never Know Who You Will Find (While Taking Another Look at the Census) - George describes the reexamination of an 1860 census that led to locating his great-grandmother following the deaths of her parents.
• Tracing Great-Uncle 'Dutch' - George details the process of successfully tracking his great-uncle Charles Warner "Dutch" Holder's migration to California.

Juliana Smith is one of my favorite online authors because she brings humor and passion to everything she writes. You can find many of her examples and case studies in her archived Family History Compass column at Ancestry.com, as well as on her 24/7 Family History Circle blog.

• Tips from the Trail of Tobin Hatters - Juliana uses passenger arrival records, obituaries, and some more unusual records, and stumbles across some startling surprises.
• Straw Goods, Artificial Flowers, and Feathers: Seeking Common Threads in City Directories - Juliana tackles the daunting task of tracking her Kelly ancestors (now that's a common name!) in New York City directories.

Certified Genealogist Michael Hait has published an ongoing series of genealogical case studies related to his work on the African American Jefferson Clark family of Leon County, Florida. The articles originally appeared in his Examiner.com column and are linked to from his professional website.

• Researching the Family History of Potential Slave Owners, Part One - part of a continuing case study into the roots of former slave Jefferson Clark of Leon County, Florida

I've written a small number of introductory case studies for this website in the past few years, primarily examples meant to show new genealogists how to productively use the Internet to research their own family tree. One such example explains how to navigate the confusing databases and tools available when researching your family tree online, with a step-by-step follow-up of a typical beginner's foray into online genealogy taken on by a novice online journalist when researching her husband's genealogy. During her five hours of searching she manages to find some great information about the Jewel family, but with just a little more knowledge she could have taken it so much further...

• Researching Your Family Tree Online: Moving Past Beginner Mistakes - a review of a typical first-time attempt at online genealogy, with explantions of what was done right, and what else could have easily been discovered.

If you prefer lectures/presentations to articles, then don't miss Megan Smolenyak's online video presentations of several of her challenging cases, including Annie Moore of Ellis Island fame, the family histories of both President and First Lady Obama, celebrities from Who Do You Think You Are? and the Sharpton-Thurmond discovery.

• Megan TV - genealogical stories from Megan Smolenyak

Interactive online courses free in the FamilySearch Learning Center include a number of what you might term "case studies" as well, with step-by-step examples of how a variety of research problems were approached and solved, using a combination of slides and presenter videos. Examples include:

• Inferential Genealogy - this must-see presentation by Dr. Thomas Jones, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, includes several case studies.
• The Bachelor: Reconstructing a Solitary Life Using Obscure and Far-Flung Records - presented by Mary Penner
• Case Study Using English Records - an intermediate lesson presented by Jan Gow

While online case studies provide a wealth of knowledge, many tend to be short and extremely focused. If you're ready to dig in even further, most of the in-depth, complicated genealogical case studies are found published in genealogical society journals and, occasionally, in mainstream genealogy magazines (similar to the examples shared above from Elizabeth Shown Mill's Historic Pathways). Good places to start are the National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), the New Engand Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) and the The American Genealogist. Years of back issues of NGSQ and NEHGR are available online for members of those organizations -- membership money well spent in my opinion. A few excellent online examples by authors such as Elizabeth Shown Mills, Kay Haviland Freilich, Thomas W. Jones and Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, can also be found in the Sample Work Products provided online by the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

Happy reading!