SOLVING GENEALOGICAL PROBLEMS  
Change Direction!

Are you working on a family line that has become “impossible?” Have you searched every online source without results? Do you keep looking at the same things over and over, trying to find a hint or a clue?

photo: QHGS Blogger’s Family Archives

Genealogy is very much like trying to solve a crossword puzzle at one sitting: eventually, definitions seem to make no sense. After taking a break, meanings are suddenly revealed and the puzzle can be completed; so, take a break! Leave that family alone for awhile. Work on an unrelated line. The sources you discover and the things you learn while you’re researching them may help you unravel knots in your “problem family.”

RESEARCH TIP: Lisa Alzo has suggestions at http://www.archives.com/experts/alzo-lisa/genealogy-research-blockers.html to help you consider alternative ways of looking at your problem relatives.