Valorie Zimmerman fan chart from Ancestry.com

Sometimes we want to take a break from researching, or our budget tells us  that we need to do so. How will you handle this? We know that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" but you are reading this post, so you still want to learn more. What to do?

Will exploring a new (free) website be enough? Everything—every search, every record, every download—on FamilySearch is free and available every day, all year long*. The same is true at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, Archive.org, all the US state archives, and state digital newspaper collections, your own public library system, and often neighboring systems as well! King County Washington residents have access not only to KCLS, but also Pierce County, Snohomish County, and Seattle Public Libraries as well. Don't overlook local college and university libraries, county and city archives and many large and some smaller museums. Sometimes getting out of the house is the ticket for renewed enthusiasm. Don't overlook commercial websites available (or partially available) from many libraries and FamilySearch Centers. 

I've saved the best for last, though. Your own archives, by which I mean every file on your computer, in a pile or box in a closet or back room, on your book shelf, file cabinet, basement, attic or even rented storage space, especially the records you got from relatives or archives when you were a beginner. Did you thoroughly examine each of those records, transcribe and create a citation for each of them? You may be amazed at what you overlooked. More than one brick wall has been broken down by simply looking again, and fully analyzing the records you already have. 

Transcribing is important, because as Winona Laird has taught in her beginning genealogy classes, you must know everything that is said, as well as what it means. Be sure to write as you go, and capture the thoughts you have as you transcribe and write your citations. 

Once you have re-examined your records, you might identify missing records, and probably know better now how to find them, and what you might learn from locating them. 

Fresh Look

Next, look at your family in a new way. Look at your trees (all of them), family group sheets, hand-drawn diagrams, books or stories about them, and show them in a new way. Plat their land, and identify their neighbors. If they were on the move, perhaps put those moves into a table. Sometimes a simple table can tease out details that get lost in a full tree. 

Have you built a timeline, a really complete one, for your ancestor of interest? How about a timeline for the complete family? I'm still learning about my grandfather Harvey McBee's family of birth by expanding a fully cited timeline for the whole family. Every time I look at it, I learn something new. See what's completed so far on a Wikitree space page. 

When did you last look at your DNA matches? Every testing site has new matches for you every month, even 23andMe. In general, the sooner you message matches of interest, the more likely they are to see and respond to your offer to look at the tree. Try to give them some information, based on matches in common, of how you might be related. When you figure it out, be sure to add that connection to your tree. Every match in your tree helps you identify more. 

There are lots of ways to see your tree at DNA Painter, such as the various X DNA match inheritance paths; one of mine is at left. Above, my Tree Completeness report. See more examples at "Eight ways you can use ancestral trees at DNA Painter" https://dnapainter.com/blog/eight-ways-you-can-use-ancestral-trees-at-dna-painter/

Also, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FamilySearch all now offer alternate ways to display your tree. FamilySearch has lots of options for color-coding for various parameters, such as family lines, birth place, sources, stories, photos, research helps and even a descendancy view. Every fresh view may help you see your family in new light.

Genealogy Education

Maybe it's time for a genealogy sabbatical, where you learn rather than research. If you have the funds, Legacy Webinars can be a great investment. Most webinars are free for the first week, and Youtube and many videos on Facebook and the like are free and wonderfully informative as well. FamilySearch and BYU both have great Youtube series, as does Connie Knox's GenealogyTV channel, the Family History Fanatics, Amy Johnson Crow, and many other experts. Rootstech is free online, and many of the best older videos are still available. Many podcasts are free, and very informative, and portable. You can listen in your car, or on a walk. 

Write About Them

Finally, maybe it is time to just write. Write about what you have discovered, what you are thinking about their lives, how they fit into their neighborhoods, who their friends (or enemies) might have been, and how they fit into history. Did they go to war, or stay behind? Did they suffer poverty, or disease, or crime? How did they make a living? It's not good enough to say that they were "just farmers." Find their land on a map, and read about the geography and geology of where they lived, what crops they grew, and how they got them to market. Where did the kids go to school, or were they so poor the kids had to work on the farm (or in a factory) to help feed the family? 

Sometimes we need to widen our view, or focus like a telescope, or even a microscope. Every time we look about each person and each family afresh, we will learn more about them. And then, tell us about them! We want to hear about your discoveries, your memories, your theories, your stories.

*Note: a few FamilySearch records are restricted, and can only be seen at Affiliate libraries, FamilySearch Centers or the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org

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Valorie Zimmerman