publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Blacksmith-sketch/63288 Double Down Why do you do genealogy research? For me, it's about finding more cousins. Others want to uncover the stories that were not passed down, prove their connection to a group of ancestors such as Revolutionary soldiers, pioneers, their links to an ancestral village, or an early group of immigrants.  I think it is important to think about what you really want  because  focusing your attention to a specific goal naturally increases your enjoyment, skill and success. Along the way, notice what tools you use to find and document your discoveries, and research how to best use those tools. Create a work flow that optimizes the time you have and improves your end product.  What is your dream? A trip to the old home place? A book about the family? A family reunion, or large DNA project? The more detailed your dream, the more effective your work will be. As I improve my DNA tree, I work in the Ancestry...

From  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-massachusetts-ohio-connection.html The Pioneers can be summed up by the subtitle: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West.   Out here in Washington state, we think of "The West" as beginning with Lewis and Clark voyaging, mapping and collecting, the Louisiana Purchase, gold discovered at Sutter's Mill, and the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. However, the idea of manifest destiny, that the new young United States would spread west was developing even during the Revolutionary War, and picked up steam after the War of 1812.   McCullough sets his tale near the beginning of this process, and weaves in many of the pioneering families from New England who saw the "American Ideal" as free, equalitarian and based on education for all. Because the US had allowed slavery in the new Constitution, the battle for freedom and equality was part of the work of settling this new country, although...