Crossing and Passing

Some lines are arbitrary. Some lines are crossed intentionally and others are moved to where we passively cross them. As your research moves in time and place, ask yourself these questions?

  • Have I crossed a political line? What was legal or acceptable practice on one side of the line may not be true on the other.
  • Have I passed through a significant historical event? How did that impact my ancestral family?
  • Have I changed religions? Record keeping practices may have changed. Church organizational structure may have changed.
  • Am I at a new stage in a person’s life? Researching a child is different from researching a seventy-year old.
  • Have I crossed an economic border? Researching a person who lives hand-to-mouth is different from researching someone for whom money really “isn’t an issue.”
  • Have I changed time? Laws change over time. Certain social conventions change over time. Common occupations change over time. If your research jumps 100 years in time and you’ve not thought of how “life” was different, you could be creating research problems for yourself.

Finding the answer may solve your problem.