The word that kept running through my mind as I took the excellent classes at last week’s National Genealogical Society’s conference is patience. As I listened to professional genealogists talk about strategies for success and skill building, I was reminded that good genealogy research takes time. It takes thoroughness. And it takes patience.
When I first dipped my toe into genealogy about 15 years ago, I went to an Internet cafe when I was visiting my parents (it was the days before I owned and traveled with a laptop), got on some website (probably Family Search) and started clicking through trees, going backwards in time. I created handwritten pedigree charts and was thrilled with how quickly my family tree grew.
I took everything at face value and evaluated nothing. By the time my “research” took me back to a Prince of Wales, I realized that perhaps some critical thinking was in order. I became overwhelmed at the notion of having to verify everything and put away those pedigree charts for almost a decade.
Six years ago, I decided to pick it up again and start from scratch. I’m using software now (Reunion) and nothing gets added to my tree without a source. The tree is growing slowly.
I figured out this year that I want my family tree branches to grow out, not up. While I appreciate the thrill of breaking into a new generation, I recognize now that I shouldn’t grow upward without taking the time to grow the branches outward. So I’m adding the siblings of my relatives to my tree, which can be painstaking. I’m also trying to add as many sources as possible to each fact.
In the NGS class that I mentioned in my last post, “But I’ve Looked Everywhere,” Barbara Vines Little says that we should have look for every sibling in every census. That takes patience. Combing through records, particularly unindexed records, takes patience. Figuring out alternate spellings to search or exploring friends, neighbors and associates to find elusive ancestors takes patience.
Yes, it can be thrilling to click backward in time, taking other people’s research at face value. Yet the rewards of patiently and thoroughly finding and citing sources are much greater. Good genealogists are patient people. They celebrate the small victories. And they move on to the next one, however long it may take.
Photo by Greg via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.
Thank you very much for this reminder. I too find my impatience moves into becoming overwhelmed and then quitting for awhile. When I can be patient with research and recording I can make much more progress in the long run than being on and off again.
Thanks for your comment, Deborah. You’re right, slow and patient progress is more beneficial than starting and stopping the research!
I can’t tell you how many mysteries of mine have been cracked by ultimately going back and researching the siblings!
Good point, Eva! I don’t know why I let myself ignore them for so long!
You are so right .. and so wise. Thank you, for this.
Thank you so much, Maria!
Now is the time for me to remember this ! I have been looking for years for my Grandfathers parents with no luck. I have only his first name and last name and oh so common Jaun Manzanares, and there are 100’s of them with close to the same birth date. This summer I hope to take a trip to New Mexico and look for his Birth record. I find in the late 1800’s so many people did not record the birth . .
Juanita, it’s going to feel so good when you find him! In a week or two, the conference recordings from the 2015 NGS conference will be available. You might want to consider ordering the one from Barbara Vines Little’s, “But I’ve Looked Everywhere.” It provided a huge range of sources to look at when you can’t find someone. The website to purchase the conference recordings is http://www.jamb-inc.com.
Thanks so much for commenting, and good luck with your research!
Thank you so much for htis reminder, I am still at the stage with my rsearch that I need to go back and make sure I have sources for every fact that I have, but also want to break into the next generation back and also go sidewards! Too much to do, but I need to slow myself down and go back to the start!
My aim in the next few weeks (once I have finished the Family history book that I am busy updating at the moment which iss becoming a bigger project than originally though!) is to go back to the start, with myself and document everything.
Thanks for your comment, Marion! Your goals sound excellent. I hope you’re pleasantly surprised when you start documenting that’s it’s easier than you expect. And I’d be willing to bet that you make some new discoveries while you’re going over everything.
Thanks Janine for the reminder! After attending the conference last week, my head is filled with new places and sources to do research. I’m trying to slow down and have some patience!
I feel the same way, Vickie! It’s taking conscious effort to retain focus and try to systematically do research according to the strategies I developed after the conference. Best of luck to you!
Janine,
I want to let you know that your blog post is listed in today’s Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2015/05/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-may-22-2015.html
Have a great weekend!
Jana, thank you so much!! I’m so glad Fab Finds is back!