This short article is an excerpt from our online genealogy research course, The Genealogy Journey. The lesson here becomes part of an extensive section on breaking down genealogical brick walls– that includes an additional 8 step, extremely detailed technique for solving even the hardest family mysteries.

It is one of just 65 lessons in the course that covers whatever from finding and using free research study sites, to Google for genealogy, organizing your research study, utilizing DNA and more. At that time all courses will close to new trainees till Fall 2018 while we update, enhance and add brand-new materials. Or, to discover out when courses resume this fall, enter your e-mail below.

15 Ways to Break Down Brick Walls and Solve Your Family History Mysteries

Beating your head versus a wall trying to find missing out on info about your mysterious forefather? It’s time to get a fresh viewpoint and try some brand-new strategies. Have you done everything on this list?

These concepts only skim the surface area of how to break down a persistent brick wall. For more assistance read the many articles on this website or take our online course.
1. Learn more about Your Ancestors
The very best way to break down any brick wall is to truly know the individual you’re looking into. Discover whatever you possibly can about them, even if the information and records you collect do not directly connect to your brick wall question. Then lay them out in a timeline to get a fresh look at whatever.

Produce the timeline of your forefather’s life with your present taped details, and go back and review documents you’ve already collected to see what you might have missed out on the very first time. Include this details to your timeline to determine what you know and what you don’t. Begin filling in those holes with brand-new research study.

We offer a walk-through for how (and why) to reexamine records here.

2. Learn more about Your Ancestors’ Relatives
Your ancestors didn’t live in a vacuum, they were connected to member of the family, friends, associates and next-door neighbors. Focus on the people that filled your ancestors’ lives. Not just are you likely to discover some hints from their records, but you may be able to find missing out on ancestors by discovering their relations first. Check out all about this process in our post, Are You Making the Direct-Line Mistake in Your Family Tree?

3. Learn more about Your Ancestors’ Communities
Most people were greatly intertwined with their community on a range of levels. From life occasions like birth, marriage and death to school, work, pastimes and religious associations– understanding your ancestor’s community is essential to knowing them.

When searching for an evasive ancestor make sure you make the effort to be familiar with what kind of neighborhood they resided in. Where were individuals working and worshiping throughout the time your forefather lived? What events shaped their lives? Check out the regional history of your ancestor’s town, city and county and state. Check out newspapers from the time duration. The more you know the more power you will have when trying to uncover brand-new info.
Start with these posts about utilizing old newspapers for assistance: Chronicling America or Newspaper.com.

4. Comprehend the Local Records
Browsing basic search collections online can only get you up until now. When you struck a brick wall with your research it’s time to branch out and begin searching those collections that relate straight to your forefather’s area. We cover this in our step-by-step guide and supply suggestions for getting to know the records from your forefather’s time and location.

If you have not yet done this, put in the time to educate yourself about exactly what records were taped, which ones are readily available now and where they’re presently kept. As you discover this information you can browse private databases, browse online collections, order offline records and make trips to libraries, historical societies and household search focuses to reveal the details these collections hold.

Don’t be afraid to request aid from those who concentrate on an area of research study you’re looking in to. One good location to better understand precisely which records are offered for a geographical location is a FamilySearch wiki, considering that they have guides on practically any location.

5. Get and Stay Organized
This might appear apparent, however a bargain of household historians dive in to their research without ever making the effort to get arranged. It is incredibly hard to locate challenging to locate information when the information you currently have is not easily available.

Discover a program that works for you, such as an online note keeping system like Evernote, Trello or Google Keep– or use your own system, and arrange the files and notes for each of your ancestors.
Track whatever you discover, even if it is just a little clue. If it appears associated, or might help you in the future, record it and its source for future recommendation. Make separate areas for details and collections that you encounter that associate with your forefather, information and records that you are unsure of, those you have actually turned down and those to research later. Then, when you are investigating your forefather you will have all of the info you require in front of you to make wise choices.

6. Know the Collections You Are Searching
While it might be appealing to simply search through a collection because it consists of the city, county or state name your ancestor resided in, remember that numerous collections are incomplete and are missing out on records for certain dates and locations. Get to know the record collection you are searching before you begin your search so that you do not waste time on something that is a poor fit. Instead, use the info you have to find a collection that does match your needs.

Obviously, it never injures to do a search or 2 in a loosely associated collection– simply don’t discover yourself squandering hours on a complex search effort in a collection that will not assist you.

The majority of collections use descriptions that can be easily discovered near the search box or at the bottom of a collection or record page. You can also utilize these descriptions to determine original source records to research and to find associated collections.

Learn how to find and search specific collections in this article.

7. Search Creatively
Searching for your forefather by name and not discovering them? Names were really frequently taped or transcribed improperly.

Since this is so common you will sometimes require to use other info to assist you find your ancestor.

Attempt these ideas:

usage multiple imaginative spellings for very first and last names, consider what errors you may have made when taping an unfamiliar name and search for those
look for only a first name and usage another details, such as a date, to refine your search
search just a surname and refine your search by date and location
search just a given name or surname with one moms and dads’ name or a spouse’s name along with it
change the first name with the middle name, preliminary or a label
do not always limit by a specific location as your ancestor’s location might have been improperly tape-recorded or they may have moved unexpectedly, you may even discover that the search box is disappointing all records in a location properly
search just by date or place and omit the name altogether for smaller collections
use wildcards for missing out on words or letters (typically this is a * or? symbol, but each website has different guidelines, find out what they are).
search for relations that may be pointed out in a file rather of the person themselves.
replace the very first letter of a surname with other letters that sound similar (” b” for “v” and “c” for “s” for example).
add an “h” to the start of names that start with vowels, this was a typical mistake.
forget the search function and utilize the filters of the search kind to produce a collection of records you can check out instead.
don’t give up, if you believe your ancestor should be found in a collection, browse the entire thing if you require to.
8. Distinguish Between Similar Individuals.
Whether you have multiple people in your tree with the same or comparable sounding name, have an ancestor with an extremely typical name, or you’ve encountered more than one individual with the same name in the exact same area in your research study, you require to be able to quickly separate between these individuals so that you don’t get confused or make errors when recording data. This error is more typical than you may realize.

One of the very best methods for doing this is to make a simple list of realities for each comparable individual that you can easily reference. Write down information like their complete name, including middle names and initials, birth, marital relationship and death dates, locations of residence and related dates, kids’s names and birth dates, direct family members, neighbors and so on.

Highlight any differences in between the people so that you can quickly draw on that info as you research. If you’re connecting to tell the difference between individuals with the same specific name, carefully record all details you have collected and designate them to the person you think they relate to.

9. Write the Story of Your Ancestors’ Life.
This is a special way to break down brick walls, but it truly does work for some problems. The idea is to document whatever you learn about your ancestor in the type of a story you would inform to somebody else, and after that to attempt and complete the story with what you think might of happened, to open your mind to brand-new research study possibilities.

Just take care not to confuse your story with reality! You are just utilizing your creativity as a tool to help you think of brand-new paths for research. Considering what MIGHT have actually happened can help you discover what did take place.

10. Usage Records You’ve Never Used Before.
Sometimes all that is needed to break down a brick wall is to find that a person right file (check out a story about that taking place here).

You can search for brand-new records by branching off and attempting brand-new websites, by exploring individual collections (as mentioned above), by being familiar with the record collections from your forefather’s location of house, and by informing yourself about vital, lesser-used collections and what details they consist of.

In our course we cover many record collections by subject and where to find them for free online. Use those lessons to locate brand-new record collections to browse– or find many totally free websites to browse here.