"You Marry the Whole Family!"

Photo Credit:  thegoldguys.blogspot.com/   

We have all heard the adage of "When you get married, you marry the whole family!" Most of us (me included) heard this and said "Yeah, whatever!" Thirty years into marriage and this has definitely been confirmed to me! You DO marry the whole family! By default, this connection also extends to family history work and the way you can approach your research!

This week I have had the opportunity to work on family history with some really great people. I just love the "Sherlock Holmes" aspect of family history! As I was talking to one particular patron, we started talking about the lack of records for some of her ancestors. It is true that males had more records created for them. An additional struggle is the whole maiden/married name thing that happens with women. Women tend to get lost a lot easier than the men do. One way to work around the lack of female documentation or lack of documentation for any one person is to work in the family cluster. By that I mean to work on the whole family, not just your direct line. The opportunities for finding the information that you are seeking really opens up when you are looking at documents for 5-10 people or more instead of documentation for one. My general approach is to start with my direct descendant and then broaden from there. It also really helps narrow your search if there is an unusual name in the family (ex. Rubella, no joke!)

So, when you are stuck on your direct line ancestor, don't forget to branch out and include the siblings and parents in your searches. Casting a wide net will really be helpful in furthering your family history along!