[Genealogy] How Far Down the Chain to Go

Michael John Neill mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Tue Dec 30 16:27:03 CST 2025 

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30 December 2025

** How Far Down the Chain do You Go?
** Events and Offers

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How Far Down the Chain do You Go?
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There are genealogists who attempt to trace every possible relative that
they can find, no matter how distant they are and no matter how remotely
related they are. I understand that. I understand the reasons for that. I
get the desire to “search” and the excitement over “finding people.”
Distant relatives can sometimes hold the clue to a family mystery, have
long-lost family ephemera or mementos in their possession, or be willing to
assist with research.

But one has to draw the line somewhere. How much will it help me to
learn about my 5th great-grandmother’s step-father’s first cousin’s third
wife’s descendants by her first husband?

Just where is that line?

There’s not really a right answer to this question. It depends.  But I have
to draw a line if for no other reason than time and money. Keeping my
sanity and my focus are good reasons as well.

If I’m researching a man who was born somewhere in New York in the 1810s
and died in Vernon County, Missouri, in the 1880s (Benjamin Butler for
anyone who is interested) and I’m totally “stuck” on him, it might be
helpful to try and locate as many of his descendants as possible, with the
hope that one of them has some information or is able to assist me in some
way, shape, or form. Do I have to completely research every detail of the
life of every one of his descendants? Probably not.

I should probably research his known children and grandchildren pretty
extensively in hopes that some clue in their lives shed information on
their father.  This would include more than simply locating their date and
place of death and census enumerations. An unknown relative may be
mentioned in the records of one of the children (*eg. *perhaps providing
testimony in a court case) or a death record, biography or a similar record
may provide a location of which I was unfamiliar.

I may even choose to expand my research circle on this ancestor to include
individuals whom his children married, who he purchased property from, who
he owned money to when he died (or who owed him money), etc. It’s probably
not going to help me on him to research the first cousin of his
great-grandson’s third wife.

The other thing is that it is difficult to completely research the people I
need to (Benjamin, his children, and his associates) if I’m researching
completely anyone and everyone who has any sort of a tie to him.

Are there exceptions? Sure.

Are there times when this approach is helpful? Sure.

But if I’ve got gaps in my work on Benjamin’s children, then that’s
probably where I need to focus my time.

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Consultations

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Our genealogy consultation sale is absolutely ending--save $40. Details at
<http://goog_1025800198/>
https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/consultations-with-michael/

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It's Not Just "Everything's Not Online"

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You can tell people that everything’s “not online.” You can type it in
uppercase letters to visually shout. But, for some, until you show them
something interesting that was “not online,” or you tell them that you
solved a problem with sources that were only in their original paper
format, they won’t get the importance of utilizing those sources.

It’s not really about whether sources are “online” or “not online.”

What it *is *about is being aware of all the records that were created at
all jurisdictional levels that might have mentioned your ancestor. That’s
the “prime directive.” Then one needs to determine how to get at those
records. Accessing records has always been a concern. One can easily use
their computer and the internet to facilitate learning about and accessing
those records.

Good genealogy methodology indicates that we access all records that could
directly or indirectly answer our problem. Access may be a problem–but an
awareness of all those records is what is key.

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Revised Full-Text Searching Webinar for 2026

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We’re excited to offer this revised presentation on the full-text searching
at *FamilySearch*--reflecting changes made to the site since this was
recorded in August 2025. We’ve redesigned our presentation as this
functionality continues to change. And…we have an extensive handout
complete with forms to help you find more people. Available for download by
5 January 2026. Order now for $25
<https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/67D7Z5H4ZQHJA>.

If you have purchased an earlier version of this presentation--email me at
mjnrootdig at gmail.com for the code to order this revision for $10.
Fully Utilizing Full-Text Search: Revised for January 2026

Your purchase includes:

   - *A 90 minute (or more presentation)* you can view as often as you want.
   - *Detailed handout* with charts and forms to help organize your
   searches. Charts and forms sent as separate files you can edit and
   customize and not as a locked PDF you have to re-create yourself as a new
   document.

We’ll be including and discussing:

*Determining what is in Full-Text Search—*what you can access at home and
what you will have to be in a FamilySearch facility or affiliate to access.

*Seeing How AI Transcriptions are different*—they aren’t like the
transcriptions made by humans. That can change your approach.

*Remembering that Full-Text means every word*—approaches need to differ as
we aren’t looking up a name in an index any more.

*Asking Who* is in the record? We aren’t just searching for the main person
like we did with traditional indexes. We’ll discuss how to determine who
could be mentioned in a record.

*Determining How to search?* There are a variety of ways to search and
filter results. We’ll see how each one works to help determine the best
strategy.

*Creating search strategies*—how full-text search changes your approach and
why just dumping terms in search boxes is not always effective.

*Determining what you found* The interface does not always make this clear.
We will show you how to get beyond the confusion and help you get enough
detail for a citation.

*Creating effective problem-solving approaches*—what to do when you cannot
find something you want.

*Demonstrating practical examples*—completely new people and families from
our previous presentations.

Available 5 January 2026. Order now for $25
<https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/67D7Z5H4ZQHJA>.

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--
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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