Self Help

Success in family tree tracing depends upon many factors. But the most important factor would be that of timing. Looking in the right time period is essential to finding your ancestors’ information. Sometimes you must look earlier or later than you anticipated. Even if your ancestors stayed put in just one location, things change over time. For example, research in California in the twentieth century is vastly different from research there in the eighteenth century. To a great extent, the era you are researching determines the types of records you find and use.

Geography influenced your ancestors’ migrations and lifestyle. Identifying all the localities where your ancestors as well as their descendants lived helps you find their records. Targeting the places where your ancestors settled (or paused on their way elsewhere) is a vital step in successful research. Ancestors who migrated frequently cause all sorts of problems for genealogists. Where did they come from? Why did they move? Who came first, and who stayed behind? Wars, famines, and financial woes all contribute to migrations and create targeting difficulties for genealogists.

If you can’t find the place your ancestors came from, try looking at the people who lived around them. Finding out where their in-laws, neighbors, and associates came from may reveal where your ancestors originated. Census records were recorded door-to-door and often reveal your ancestors neighbors.

It is important to recognize the impact on your ancestors’ lives of such things as the Industrial Revolution, changes in transportation, and developments in medical science. Changes in technology brought about changes in your ancestors’ lives. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, many people moved from rural areas to cities. The history of technology affects where you look for records of your ancestors in other ways, as well.

The principle of propinquity states that your ancestors could only marry someone they could meet. Before the twentieth century, this meant a man and a woman who married usually lived within walking distance of each other. If a man owned a horse (something tax records often tell you), stretch the geographic area in which you search for his bride’s family.

When the railroad came to town or a road was built through the area, your focus widens even farther. People who lived on transportation routes (such as canals, rivers, and seaports) or had certain types of occupations (such as sailors, circuit judges, and itinerant preachers) are an exception but, again, one based on the history of technology.