YOU DO USE A RESEARCH PLAN, DON’T YOU?

-

A research plan can help you break through brick walls and keep you from chasing the proverbial BSO (Bright Shiny Object) down a rabbit hole. That is what happens when you suddenly realize it is 1:30 am and you have not found the obituary that you sat down to look for at 7:00 pm.

A research plan helps you organize your research. It may show you what records are most likely to answer your research question so you can search those first. If you need to travel to a repository, you can have a list of sources to be searched and their call numbers or other identifying information. You may even be able to email the repository before your visit and have your research sources pulled and ready for you. I emailed the University of Kentucky Special Collections Library a week or so before I planned to be there and when I signed in, the items I needed were waiting for me on a cart. Additionally, I learned that I would not have been able to just walk in, an appointment was required. It would have been a terrible waste of time and money to travel all the way from Kent to Lexington, Kentucky and not be able to visit the library.

A plan helps you be more efficient with your research time. If you have only an hour to work on your project, you can immediately tackle the next task on your list, without stopping to think about what to do next.

A Research Plan starts with a research question. Those of you with background in sales or management may be familiar with SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timebound. These can be applied to a genealogical research question as well. Additionally, the answers to genealogical research questions tend to be who, what, where or when. For example, who were the parents of Almira Tyler born 11 August 1814 in Maine, married Richard Howell 11 Oct 1836, in Meigs County, Ohio and died 28 January 1880, in Westboro, Atchison County, Missouri? The question is specific, who were her parents, measurable, you either answer the question or you do not, in this case probably achievable because many records are available in the New England states, and realistic. Timebound will depend upon whether you set a deadline for completing the research.


Start by evaluating what you know. Where did the information come from? Do you know the source, and is it reliable? List the source of each fact. The information on Almira’s birthdate comes from multiple sources, 11 August from her gravestone which is a secondary source since the information was probably supplied by someone who was not present at her birth. The year 1814, and Maine as her place of birth are corroborated by the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses. The ideal discovery would be a birth or baptismal record naming her parents.

It is helpful to begin constructing a timeline for your ancestor if you are researching an individual. That will spotlight gaps that need to be filled.

What records are available for births in Maine in the early nineteenth century? Search your home library first. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy[i] Chapter 13, Vital Records includes a chart listing internet resources for Vital Records for every state.  FamilySearch.org has an indexed database of Maine birth records for 1621―1922 so you would add this to your list of sources to be searched. The Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research[ii] is also handy in my home library. As you begin working through your source list, it may lead you to other sources. Add them to your source list right then. You think you will remember, but you will not.

Consider online sources. The FamilySearch Wiki tells me in its opening statement that Maine did not become a State until 1820. Oh, perhaps I should be looking in Massachusetts. When I click on Birth Records, I am presented with a link to Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921, https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1803978.

If you have access to Ancestry.com, search their databases for Maine Birth Records in the 1810s.  That immediately brings up the same database listed on FamilySearch.org so I do not add it to my source list.  However, there are others that might be of interest. 

Which records might hold the answer?  Identify resources available for the time and place you are researching. Town records were kept in Maine from the early 1700’s.  Some church records are also available, but most of them are from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and I have no evidence that Almira was ever affiliated with any church. The U.S. Census is one of the first places we think of, but until 1850, only the head of household was listed and by that time Almira was married and in her husband’s household. 

I have no idea where in Maine Almira was born, so it would take a lot of time to search through all the town records available. 

Now, I am going to suggest something which just a short time ago I would have considered unthinkable. Do not ignore online trees.  You may find a clue there that you would have found nowhere else.  If the fact is not sourced, contact the tree owner and ask them their source.  Perhaps they just did not know that they should have included sources for their facts. I find Almira in two online trees.  Both name her father as Dean Tyler. Ah Ha! Neither tree has sourced the fact.  I contacted both tree owners.  One responded quickly with the title of the Genealogy that was her source.  That book is quickly added to my Source List. The other tree owner never responded.

I have an image of Almira’s Marriage Record. It does not list her parents. The marriage was performed by a Justice of the Peace, which does not point to any religious affiliation.

What about a Death Record that might list her parents?  A quick check of the FamilySearch Wiki reveals that Missouri did not begin keeping death records until 1883.

Was there an obituary or death notice published for Almira? A search of U.S. Newspaper Directory, 1690 – Present is negative for any newspaper published in northwestern Missouri or southwestern Iowa for the period. Where else might I look? One of my favorites is the old USGenWeb family of sites. I add the Missouri site to my list. (Yes, I did find an unsourced newspaper clipping there.)

I now have a list of five sources to be searched.  As I visit each one, I will find other sources to add to my list.  BE SURE to keep a log of each source you search and what you found so that you will not waste time  looking at that source in the future. I am still trying out various formats, but am leaning toward combining my timeline, research plan and research log in one spreadsheet.

Sources To Be Searched

FamilySearch.org, Maine Vital Records, 1670―1921,
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1803978.

Brigham, Willard I. Tyler, The Descendants of Job Tyler, of Andover, Massachusetts, 1619 – 1700, Cornelius B. Tyler of Plainfield, N.J. and Rollin U. Tyler of Tylerville, CT, 1912.

FamilySearch.org, Missouri Vital Records, familysearch.org/wiki/en/Missouri_Vital_Records

The Library of Congress Chronicling America, chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/

Missouri GenWeb, mogenweb.org

A recently released Chrome extension shows promise in automating the research plan and maintaining the research log. Goldie May helps you select a research question, suggests sources to search, and keeps a log of your activity.  Currently, it only works with FamilySearch, and requires that you have a FamilySearch account and a tree on FamilySearch.  I find its most serious limitation is that it does not automatically enter a source citation.  You must enter it manually in a notes field.  The developer is considering adding that capability in a future release. Go to GoldieMay.com, install the app from the Chrome store, and give it a try. 



[i] Greenwood, Val, The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Company, 2107.
[ii] Leclerc, Michael J., editor, Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, Boston, New England Historic
Genealogical Society, 2012.

Happy Hunting!

Barbara Mattoon                  


Tags:  Research Plan, Research Log, FamilySearch Wiki, Goldie May, US GenWeb



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? GAME CHANGER at FamilySearch

-
Image
Generated with Bing ImageCreator (AI), March 13, 2024 Where is YOUR Needle, Your Missing Record? Genealogical Proof Standard When we use the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as our guide, we all know that "exhaustive research" can be both tedious and exhausting. Is life long enough to search page by page through all the counties where all the members of a family might have lived, paid taxes, bought, leased or sold property, made a will or died intestate? It is possible that the new Full Text Search at FamilySearch will  eventually  allow us to do just that. It has been estimated that 75% or more of the records at FamilySearch were browsable but not searchable; the only indexes those found in the records themselves. Those records are certainly attainable by using those indexes and browsing to the record of interest, but the process is tedious, often frustrating, and slow. And once found, the record must be read and transcribed to be useful. This new Full Text Search tackles a...
Read more

What's the Question?

-
Image
We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it ...
Read more

Help Save This Abused and Neglected Cemetery

-
Image
Screen capture from Google Maps History In an exchange of emails this past week in both the main SKCGS group, and in the Washington-State-Genealogy group, many facts were revealed about the history of the I.O.O.F. Comet Lodge Cemetery, also known as the Old Burying Ground, the Georgetown Cemetery, the Graham Street Burying Ground and maybe more.  FindAGrave sums it up this way: "Since it was established in 1881, the Comet Lodge cemetery site has been whittled away to less than half its original 5 acres. Records are sketchy but it's safe to say that some 500 pioneers were buried here, atop unknown numbers of native Duwamish people. New burials ended in the 1930s. Since then, homes and streets were built on top of many of the plots as the neighborhood around the cemetery grew.  "Upkeep and ownership of the cemetery bounced between the city, civic groups, relatives of Comet Lodge residents, and nearby neighbors. For years, much of the property was allowed to deteriorate int...
Read more