Have you tracked the ex-spouses of your ancestor or relative after the divorce? Sometimes it may not really “help” with your research directly, but there are times where it may directly benefit you on other family members. I realized that I have nothing in my files on my great-uncle’s wife after their early 1930s divorce. She and he had no children, so it’s not like this would help me trace down descendants, but it will complete my files and…one never knows what one will find until one looks.
Interviewing relatives should never be a “one time and you are done” thing, even if the person insists they cannot remember anything else. Use documents you have located to get the interviewee’s memory going. The name of an informant or a funeral home on a death certificate, the name of neighbor in a census, a street address of a home, and other details can easily jog someone’s memories.
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