Wk 5 family history course

Week 5 is all about Breaking down brick walls

• Complete a timeline
• Re-examine everything
• Search all available sources
• Check and verify your information
• Be aware of name variations
• Be aware of age variations
• Investigate collateral lines
• Use newspapers creatively and methodically
• Learn about the life and times of your ancestor: that is, consider social history
• Remember Granny did – don’t make assumptions and don’t look at the past through modern eyes
• Know your boundaries, learn about historical geography
• Create a time line
• Share your research and ask for help

The course included National Archives podcast by Dave Annal about strategies for dealing with brick walls.  If you have an ipod or iphone I recommend subscribing the the Nat. Archives series - its a great listen, and you will get lots of hints, tips and information.  Although it is focused on UK history, it is relevant to all locations.  This particular podcast reminds us that information we are looking at is often at best 3rd hand.  He also discusses broadening the search when online, less is more.

Two tips I found useful was when searching for a place, say it is ST GILES, just put in GILES because the "ST" could be saint, st, snt!  And, ss is often mistaken in transcriptions as p!

There are two useful readings about using newspapers in your research, and "how to make a timeline".  I must admit, the automatic timeline that is generated by Legacy, and on Ancestry are one of my most useful items, but you can do it yourself.

This week also includes a good example of a completed assignment, completed on the template included, its a good example I think.