Dont Rely On One Ancestor Look-Up Site

I've made this mistake in my family tree research, have you?

There are times when I find myself talking to someone new to family history, about brick walls in doing ancestor research. I often find myself going back to the advice, that I have been given by the professional genealogists when I set out, to use more than just one website to do lookups and to beware of family stories. Now I don't consider myself to be anything near a Genealogical Guru, I am simply someone who has gained a bit of experience over the years and now, for what it is worth, I am happy to pass on some of my tips here. The two here are about stepping back from the research results and introducing some careful thought into the proceedings.

Consider the time-line for your ancestor.

> Listen to family stories, but then stop, think, and try to corroborate them with hard evidence to confirm what you have been told.

An ancestor's date of birth is obviously going to dictate to you an approximate time for when they could have got married or when you should reasonably expect them to have died. So a little thought should make alarm bells ring if a forebear seems to be getting married in their hundredth year. Its possible but rare!


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