Blog Posts

Many of us have heard stories passed down from our grandparents about fuzzy details on their ancestors.   For example, a great-great-grandparent of mine was said to be from one particular county in Ireland only to turn out I had located them in another.  In a recent search, I was contacted with limited information on a person’s ancestor who was said to have hailed from one county in Ireland only to be positively identified in another.

Grandparents can be a great source of information, but they simply could have received incorrect information from, say, an older sibling or may simply have forgotten through the passage of time the correct details of their ancestors.  After all, many of our grandparents didn’t share the luxury we enjoy today from having grandparents willing to fulfill our inquiries.  Simply put, in many families children and grandchildren were seen, but not heard.  For those of us lucky enough to have had ancestors willing to share with us their family stories, this is a invaluable treasure.

Ever go to a well-established genealogical site and find you cannot locate your ancestor at all? You’ve checked church records, directories, censuses, immigration records, etc. but have come up empty.  You know your ancestor must be there, but you feel you have exhausted all attempts at finding him or her.

A good word of advice is to never, never quit.  Simply walk away from your research and pick it up another day.  Another great thing is that new records are being made available all of the time, and, although you cannot find your ancestor now, you may be able to locate them tomorrow.