July 2018 is dedicated to offering genealogy tips that are… well… “out of the box.”
Welcome to DAY 31 of the 31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips series!
DAY 31 (The Final Tip) – Go Back to the Beginning
Today marks the final day of our 31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips. We did it — you now have 31 fresh strategies to add to your genealogy toolkit.
Our last tip is simple but powerful: go back to the beginning.
Genealogy research often becomes a long-term commitment. Projects can stretch over months or even years as we gather documents, images, and notes — some directly relevant, others saved for possible future use. Along the way many of us run into brick walls. Sometimes we become stuck and can’t move forward.
That’s the perfect time to return to the start of your research.
Set aside assumptions about what you know. Put preconceived ideas about your ancestors on hold. Pull together the records you’ve collected, both physical and digital, along with your notes and timelines, and read through them again with fresh eyes.
When you review material from the beginning, you’ll often notice details you missed earlier. Some facts will suddenly make more sense in light of later discoveries. You may better distinguish your ancestor among other people with the same or similar names. New questions and research directions will emerge.
For example, one of my persistent brick walls involved William Harward (sometimes Howard) of Wake and Orange Counties, North Carolina — a name shared across generations in that area. This summer I revisited his file from the beginning: I gathered every document, re-read my notes, and reviewed previous timelines.
What I discovered surprised me. The answer to a major question about William had been present all along. I didn’t need additional records; I needed to reinterpret the early records in the context of later findings.
If you have a project that’s stalled or has consumed months or years, take it back to the beginning. A fresh, thorough review often reveals connections and clues overlooked in earlier searches.
Now It’s Your Turn!
Choose one long-standing or stalled research project and start over from the beginning. Reexamine every record and note you’ve collected. You might be surprised at what a new perspective uncovers.
Check out the other posts in the 31 Days of Out of the Box Genealogy Tips:
- Day 1 – Volunteer!
- Day 2 – Genealogy Wikis
- Day 3 – Cemetery Research
- Day 4 – Newspaper Society Pages
- Day 5 – Vertical Files
- Day 6 – Religious Periodicals
- Day 7 – Unplug Your Genealogy
- Day 8 – Cultural Periodicals
- Day 9 – Facebook Groups
- Day 10 – DNA Education
- Day 11 – Funeral Records
- Day 12 – Occupational Records
- Day 13 – School Records
- Day 14 – Civil War Veterans Homes
- Day 15 – War of 1812 Pensions
- Day 16 – Twitter Chats
- Day 17 – Mortality Schedules
- Day 18 – Non-population Schedules
- Day 19 – 1890 Census Fragments
- Day 20 – Tax Records
- Day 21 – Private Collections
- Day 22 – WorldCat
- Day 23 – Merchant Records
- Day 24 – Flickr
- Day 25 – Map Collections
- Day 26 – Road Records
- Day 27 – County Heritage Books
- Day 28 – That 3rd Cousin
- Day 29 – Cookbooks
- Day 30 – Google Books
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