{"id":721,"date":"2024-12-08T04:48:32","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/?p=721"},"modified":"2024-12-08T04:48:32","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T04:48:32","slug":"how-to-fail-at-family-history-research-in-10-simple-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/08\/how-to-fail-at-family-history-research-in-10-simple-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Fail at Family History Research in 10 Simple Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

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How to Fail at Family History Research in 10 Simple Steps<\/h1>\n

Last Updated May 5, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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Genealogy is an exciting adventure into a unique past \u2014 that of your very own family. It\u2019s full of twists and turns, validation and insight. What could be better?<\/p>\n

But family history research is, unfortunately, also full of pitfalls. Pitfalls that can hinder or derail your research if you don\u2019t avoid them\u2026or at least try to overcome them.<\/p>\n

We thought it would be fun and useful to address a few of the most common pitfalls that new (and intermediate) family historians often make by compiling a simple list of ways to \u2018fail\u2019 at your family history.<\/p>\n

How to \u2018Fail\u2019 at Family History Research in 10 Simple Steps<\/h3>\n

Step 1.<\/strong> Jump right into your family\u2019s history without taking the time to talk to any of your relatives. Whatever you do, do not ask parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins what they know about your family\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

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MyHeritage is offering 2 free weeks of access to their extensive collection of 20 billion historical records, as well as their matching technology that instantly connects you with new information about your ancestors<\/b>. Sign up using the link below to find out what you can uncover about your family. Discover New Genealogy Records Instantly<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Step 2.<\/strong> Get a subscription to Ancestry.com and never, ever leave their site. Do not, under any circumstances, check out the many free genealogy websites that contain oodles of unique, helpful information.<\/p>\n

Step 3.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Forget original research. There are already so many wonderful family trees on the web. For the fastest family tree possible, just copy those as needed.<\/p>\n

Step 4.<\/strong> Do not keep a research journal. Never write down or record anything you learn, because you are sure to remember the details at a later date. This is especially true for details shared by aging family members, links to possible record matches and small tidbits of information that don\u2019t fit neatly into your tree.<\/p>\n

Step 5.<\/strong> Never cite your sources. The details are what\u2019s important, not where those details come from. Sources don\u2019t provide credibility or valuable context to a fact, nor do they allow you to\u00a0expand or improve your research later.<\/p>\n

Step 6.<\/strong>\u00a0Keep your genealogy research in only one location, preferably on your computer or in an online family tree. Do not back up your data to more than one location since electronics and online businesses are always very, very reliable.<\/p>\n

Step 7.\u00a0<\/strong>Make assumptions. Assumptions are\u00a0the perfect way to make genealogy research more manageable by limiting discoveries.<\/p>\n

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Step 8. \u00a0<\/strong>Never use Google or other search engines to expand your resources. And if you do, use only the most basic searches to filter through the millions of results.<\/p>\n

Step 9.\u00a0<\/strong>Be sloppy.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter if that location or surname is spelled correctly, or if that date is recorded\u00a0just right or if you took the time to write down the occupation you found in the 1910 census.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t even matter if great, great grandpa John shows a death date before great grandpa James\u00a0was even born. Most likely, nobody will even notice at your next family gathering.<\/p>\n

Step 10.<\/strong>\u00a0Give up easily. If you don\u2019t find what you are looking for quickly and easily, you probably never will.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all made at least some of these mistakes, so don\u2019t worry if you find you\u2019ve completed more than a few of these \u2018steps.\u2019 Just\u00a0take this as a fun\u00a0reminder to review those\u00a0aspects of your research in 2016.\u00a0After all, every mistake we make it an opportunity to learn something new and become a better researcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to Fail at Family History Research in 10 Simple Steps Last Updated May 5, 2018 Ancestry 50% Off Gift Memberships for Black Friday (Gift to Anyone, Even Yourself!) Genealogy is an exciting adventure into a unique past \u2014 that of your very own family. It\u2019s full of twists and turns, validation and insight. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-guides","tag-db"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":724,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721\/revisions\/724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whogenealogydna.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}