Do you need to just start from scratch on a problem? Scrap what you already “think” you know. Go back to the beginning and cite each record as you find it, analyze carefully each piece of information you discover, and write down each step in your logic and reasoning. Maybe even argue with yourself slightly as you work on the problem. Question yourself. Sometimes what we need is just a fresh start.
For the first few years of my research, I worked on my very rural families who were generally of low-German or US Southern origin. I became fairly adept at researching them. Then I started work on my urban families, my New England families, and my families from the south of Germany. Rules that I thought were “always true,” weren’t. Naming patterns that I were familiar with didn’t apply any more. There were new records that I was able to utilize. There were problems that I did not encounter before. Whenever your research crosses a border, be it geographic cultural policital chronological religious social keep in mind that some of how you research may change. What works in Chicago in 1880 might not work in frontier Ohio in 1817 […]
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