16 July 2009

Abbreviated Genealogical Wisdom

Surround
and conquer.

Go backward
to come forward.


The timeline is your
best friend.


In searching, don't filter
too quickly, refine.


If you can't find the truth in
the story, check out the storyteller.

2 comments:

Old Census Scribe said...

I have "borrowed" your words of wisdom--quoting source. Hope you don't mind. They fit the bill so well.

WJM said...

Abbreviated Genealogical Wisdom, Internet-era edition:

Run the name.

A newspaper newly digitized? Run the name.

A new set of census records on-line? Run the name.

Nineteenth-century bankruptcy database available? Run the name.

Whenever a new source, however unlikely, pops up, always, always, always, run the name.