The Fascinating World Of Genealogy

Has your family research come to a standstill? What about that proverbial brick wall that has you stumped? What will you do next? Many researchers both newbies and the more experienced, get stumped all the time. Myself included! It is very frustrating to finally get the lead you have been searching for only to find out that it really hasn't led you anywhere. Sometimes I feel like a dog who is running around in circles chasing its' own tail!


Here are a couple of ideas that might get you back on track. I hope the ideas help you and I also hope they help me in searching my ancestral roots.


U.S. Geological Survey Maps- Have you thought about topography maps to aid in your research? The U.S. Geological Survey web site can help you locate historical maps of interest that may help you in your genealogy searches. In addition, this site also features a National Atlas, which will help you by offering a number of maps that can include country boundary lines, cities, lakes and rivers, and other topographical points of interest. 
** Another idea that just came to mind: Blow up the map to a large wall size and use different colored "ball" tacks for different family surnames to give you the visuals that you may need in your research. It could help you track their movements especially if they have migrated from other countries.


Direct Line Software- A software program that is called Deed Mapper. Deed Mapper works with old land records. Whether you have one deed or a hundred, this software program will help you:

• Find the location of a particular plot by anchoring a group of neighboring plots against a stream.
• Discover genealogical relationships by showing that person X sold a part of person Y's land.
• Untangle people having the same name by analyzing their landholdings and transfers.
• Create a map of original landholders in a region. 
• Trace changes in parcel ownership over the years.

There is also an online community that you can interact with other members. Deed Mapper is designed for historical research so it handles surveys that have straight lines. So it may be worth checking out at least!

Direct Line Software Screenshots


Dead Fred- This web page is dedicated to genealogists and family researchers, who can search and post photos, search surnames and the like. It is a free, fun photo genealogy research site devoted to helping you visualize your heritage! Wouldn't it be great to find a lost ancestor on this site?  Your bonus would be a photo you may have been searching out for years! 


Image Source:
Dog Chasing Its' Tail

Dog Chasing His Own Tail

Image no. 700-00046138

Photo by  Graham French  (click to view more images of this artist)

  - model release: no release on file      - property release: no release on file   

700-00046138 [65 - Masterfile] / 4160133 [1]

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Lessons Learned

Since I started researching my heritage, I've learned a few lessons. The first and most important being, not to trust or make assumptions about the quality of research done by others. You will see family trees posted on the web, names that may be familiar to you, but check it out on your own. You will need to search for the documents yourself. I was always told by my husband, Michael to check, double check, and triple check! Okay. I get it, finally. People are bound to make mistakes. So how do you find these documents? Check out the links on my page, that should lead you in the right direction, at least for starters. Vital records offices are located around the globe, so I would most likely start with what you already know; i.e., full name, date of birth, place of birth and who the person's parents are. You may even have this information saved somewhere, funeral notices such as the "In Remembrance" cards you receive for a family member who had passed away. This will give you a lot of information as well.

It is possible that while researching a family member, that you may never find information on them, for whatever reason. Say for instance, I was searching for one particular person recently, and I came up with nothing, no matter where I searched. It was like this person ceased to exist!

Sometimes you just hit a brick wall and cannot go any further, at least on that particular branch. But your family tree has many ancestors, some with unique names and others that are so similar that even the parents have the same name as their own child! This makes your search even more difficult.

When you start creating your family tree, the possibility of finding more ancestors to add becomes endless, or so it seems. As you keep going farther back, you have double the ancestors to search. Parents, grandparents, great great grandparents times how ever many! I think I have 13th Great Grandparents and that goes back to probably mid 1600's or so. I will never cease to find more relatives to add, my family is huge and you end up with cousins upon cousins and their marriages, and their parents and so on. I'm sure you get my point already. 

If you are seeking true source documents to back up your research, try Social Security Indexes, archives, military draft cards, census records, obituaries, libraries that offer microfilmed documents, passenger lists, or even immigration lists etc. This should help get you going in the right direction, so don't take one persons family tree website as confirmation that the data is set in stone! 

Has anyone ever tried the DNA testing that the Ancestry web site has been offering? If so, what do you think of it?

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