Family Tree Pitfalls You May Encounter.

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Sometimes, when I set out to find my ancestors I have been guilty of narrow thinking. By this I mean that I have focused too strictly on what I believe to be the correct facts about a forbear. It may have been that I had known that his or her name had been spelt in a particular way, or that they came from a particular place. When we, as family historians, do this we can sometimes cause ourselves unnecessary grief and so much wasted time. Perhaps we were searching in the right place, but were we guilty of searching in the wrong way? What we need to do is to open up our minds to researching in a smarter fashion and often we will be rewarded by finding that record that we were looking for.

Just think how your on-line research could possibly improve if you always:

> keep handy a list of the known surname variants for your ancestor's name (e.g. in my own tree there is Thorn, Thorne, Stephens, Stevens and a huge variation in the spelling of Sissill.)

> think about what common first-name nicknames may apply and also any regularly used shortened forms of names. For example Thomas may be written as Thos. Elizabeth as Eliz. or Eliza. and I have found a John as Jono.

> have written down some of the capital letters that can easily be confused like J and I, for example

> remember that place names can be confused - in my Devon branch there are two Galmptons very near each other and I jumped to the conclusion that my great grandmother came from the one near to where they lived. Wrong!

> keep in mind the typical length of a person's life-span and don't end up pursuing someone with a similar name thinking they are one and the same. Then there are the ranges of dates for ancestor's weddings, deaths and the births or baptisms of their children?

> keep detailed research logs as you work and so avoid repeating searches already done at earlier stages.

> remain conscious that gaps can occur in whatever data sets. If you are searching a particular period and can't find an ancestor and this time frame also matches a known gap in the data, then this will stop you wasting more time than necessary looking.

So if you memorize these seven ways for avoiding family-tree research pitfalls, you may be able to miss out on the errors that I made in the past!

About the Author:
Nick Thorne, alias: The Nosey Genealogist, shares the secret tips and tricks, learnt from professional family historians, so that you can break down your brick-walls in family history. Nick provides reports, podcasts and screencast videos to help you succeed in your on-line search for your ancestors. Want to learn more about Beginning Family History On-line? Claim Nick's free weekly tips and tricks, available at:=>
http://www.NoseyGenealogist.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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