5 Steps to Developing a Genealogy Research Plan
Imagine you are preparing to build your dream home. You have spent years working hard to save money and resources. You have investigated different floor plans and found that perfect piece of land. The time has arrived to start building. Now imagine that your builder shows up without any engineering or architectural plans, but with a truck full of random 2x4s, a collection of various windows, and a pile of leftover bricks. Without guidance from a plan, the builder throws together your dream home willy-nilly. This scenario is comparable to conducting genealogical research without first preparing a research plan. Sure, it is easy to throw ancestral names into various search engines, click the start button and see what rises to the surface. But this method can lead to assigning the wrong people to your family and almost always misses important records about your ancestors. The final product looks much like that randomly-built and dangerous house our builder built. A better strategy …
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