I knew my aunt had at least three children in the 1840s in Germany with a man that I assumed was her husband. Turned out he was the father of her children, but that they were not married when some of the older children were born. Because of their parents’ marital status, some of the children used her maiden name as their last name, some used his last name as their last name, and some went back and forth between their parents’ last names. It took me forever to locate one of the daughter’s marriage record as she married under her mother’s maiden name and not the last name of her father.
It’s not necessarily genealogy advice, but sometimes in order to really process information and understand something, one need to be able to concentrate. Turn off the television, close those open browser windows, turn off the email/text alerts, etc. Really focus and concentrate on what you are attempting to analyze and understand. It may not be possible to “tune it all out” and focus as intently as Riley is in the illustration, but sometimes making an attempt to remove distractions can really help. And researching three families at the exact same time only leads to confusion.
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