[Valorie] In our research, we're always seeking to establish identity, relationships, locality, occupations, and most of all, to understand the lives of our forebears. WHO includes everyone, not just our "direct" ancestors , but their families, friends, enemies, neighbors, fellow congregants and club members, colleagues, competitors, fellow travelers and "kin," however they defined that. We know where to find them—census (including agriculture and manufacturing schedules), tax lists, newspaper articles, city directories, club rosters, church records, family photos, scrapbooks, county histories and so on. Critical, specific information was the plot of land where they made a living, alongside neighbors and relatives.   Where? MAPS How about maps as a tool to help ? In preparation for today's workshop on platting , I watched a very old Legacy webinar by Mark Lowe of Kentucky and Tennessee, about how to use the plats to learn more about our ancestors than I thou...

In tennis lessons years ago, the instructor kept stressing "follow through" which meant that the stroke was not finished once I hit the ball, but only when my momentum was used to set up the return. I learned the same thing when learning to shoot a firearm—steady, aim, fire, follow through.  It has taken years to figure out that follow through is important in research, for the same reason.  In order to get around my stubborn streak, I began the research log for a new project by identifying and prioritizing the most useful databases, then creating a citation for each database before digging into the searches. Getting the "dirty work" out of the way first made it easier to gather the other details, such as date consulted, search terms used, FANs identified, and analysis of any useful records found—even when there were no or negative results. Momentum is powerful! Follow through results in more effective research and saves a great deal of time. A FamilyHistoryFanatic...