Posts in April 14, 2019

If compiling an entire genealogy seems like too large of a task, start small: write a biography of an ancestor. Try and limit yourself to what you can document with actual records. Your citations don’t have to be perfect (the genealogy world will not end), but they should indicate where the information originated and how you obtained it. Avoid including details that are purely speculation. It doesn’t have to be overly literary and, if you are not feeling all that artistic, the writing can take the form of an extended chronology. Or that can at least be a starting point on which to build. And when you’re done, you have a finished project. Or you realize you have gaps to fill in. Either way something has been accomplished.