Troublesome Ancestors

Photo by saeed mhmdi on Unsplash

​OK. They really weren’t troublesome people while they were living.  (At least I hope not!) But if you’re like me, you have them too…those ancestors who refuse to be found in normal records.  Or that leave a lovely paper trail, until they just disappear.  No trace of them can be found. I’ve decided to spend time this year focused a few of those ancestors. I’ve gathered ideas to help me in this quest.

The puzzles and mysteries of genealogy research are what keep me doing this after so many years.  Seeking answers in dusty old records and the plethora of online resources is fascinating to me.  When it becomes less enjoyable is when I cannot find an ancestor--despite my best efforts.  Here are some activities that I’m going to do to help me find answers/solve some of those mysteries.

1. Stay focused.

By nature we family historians are a curious lot.  We love to learn more.  With the internet, we can be looking for records in Indiana, start following interesting links and suddenly find that we’ve spent three hours with little to show for our work.

1. Review what you have and what that means.

We’ve discussed before the importance of reviewing your past research.  I mean really reading through the documents, writing down the key information and identifying what you are missing.   

1. Set Goals.

This one seems obvious but once you figure out what you’re missing. Identify what you want to find and where you might find it.  If you’ve looked already in several areas for this information, be sure to include that so you don’t waste time looking at the same data twice.

1. Consider Revisiting Sources.

There are times when you do need to revisit sources. Perhaps ten years ago you didn’t have additional information that you do today that will make a source more valuable.  Or you’ve reread old documents and now wonder if you’d really researched this source as well as you might have.

1. Look beyond online sources. 

Today it is so easy to stay glued to your computer and it is fun to look through all the digital files searching for your person.  Sometimes a letter to a distant library will score that information that you’ve been looking for.  Not everything is on the internet and local historical societies have data that is not digitized.  A recent example for me was the obituary of my great uncle that the local library of his community had—I’d looked for death records, online newspapers, census records etc.  My luck changed when I requested his obituary from that library.  Once I had that, I could request his death record and other supporting documents.

1. Cite Your Sources and Take great notes.

As part of my challenging ancestor research, I’m going back through my notes and source records on FTM to ensure I have cited the source documents I have found.  I’ve also started to write more comprehensive notes to myself regarding the research I’ve completed.  If I find an online record, I will download and label it, but I will also create a word document with a link to the document online, all the source information and any additional notes related to it.  This is especially helpful when you’ve been away from researching an ancestor for a while.  Life gets in the way and you might not get back for a few weeks or months. Will you remember what you were going to look for next?  Help yourself out and add a “what’s next reminder”.  You can also add tasks in FTM for next steps you’d like to do.  However you choose to document your research notes, you’ll find that you’ll become a better researcher and will save yourself time and frustration.
 
I hope these ideas help you as you research your troublesome ancestors.  Or if you’re just starting, these are good practices to incorporate into your family history research. Happy researching!