Scratch that, too
(Continued list from the Rookie Mistakes) Click here for Part one: Scratch that
Don’t look for Hidden relatives, neighbors- I had looked at a census dozens of times, but it wasn’t until my daughter looked that we found a young boy previously unknown. We started tracing him with his mother and grandparents, who he was living with and found him living with what turned out to be his half-sister and her husband!
Talk about contradictory evidence– It was confusing to me how my 3g grandfather shared how he went through Canada to get into America, and yet could have a ship manifest record listing him with his wife and family entering at New York? I wanted to know which one it really was and started searching for ships diary logs on saintsbysea. What I found was the ship just before my ancestor’s landed had arranged trail passage through Canada after arrival in New York. It was in cramped boxcars, tightly stuffed with passengers to keep them out of the United States, head West until they drop down to head to Illinois for their final destination. Proving it wasn’t a contradictory but confirming story of immigration by ship to New York and then on a packed boxcar train through Canada to drop down into Illinois.
Don’t share research– At first I was hesitant to say anything when I made discoveries. I thought surely someone else already found this, all I did was follow this record to the next record…
Note: Even wrong discoveries lead to family. How? I incorrectly added a family to my ancestry tree and worked down to the most recent generation. I was shocked when I was contacted a few weeks later asking how I related… I explained how my line starts many generations earlier and at best we may be distant cousins. She loves having a cousin and I love connecting with her and helping her get started to find more family. A year later, another cousin on the same line wrote and asked my about my research and just this month, I was able to connect both of them to eachother, who really are cousins! Share, care and repair as people kindly help you make changes to your family tree.
Don’t Sharpen the saw- Just like anything, keep learning. Keep asking questions that lead to answers. New methods, resources and tools are made availabe every day!
Give up too early, expect too much- Your family wasn’t created in ONE day and you won’t find it all the first time. Give it time, thought, think outside the box, you never know where you might find your family..
Whether you are a rookie or have been researching for years, mistakes happen. But don’t let them define you.. Learn, grow, share, care, repair and Happy searching!
