It’s Called Research; Not Search



             Genealogists don’t search and find!  What fun would that be?  It’s called re-search for a reason.  We don’t just sit down at a computer and locate, discover, come across, uncover or stumble across information in an afternoon.  There is not a single go-to location for vital records, or church records.  There are so many repositories that contain records and there are many databases that contain copies or transcripts of those records.  In addition, some records may never have existed or may have been destroyed.  For each locality and for each time period research varies.  It is for these reasons that we do what we do and don’t what we don’t.

Genealogists don’t:
  • look at just one film
  • search one database
  • look at a single index
  • look at one census year
  • record information from one source
  • use one document as a source
  • look through a single book

     Genealogists do:
  •  search all possible records
  • search all possible databases in all possible locations
  • collect everything we find
  • use all possible documents to verify and prove our information
  •  analyze and accept contradictory information
  • use many available sources as stepping stones
  • collect information on all family members
  • fully search an area and the comprehensive searches of nearby areas
  • regularly check databases as they are being continually updated
 We search and re-search, over and over again, knowing that for each piece of information we located, we will have more questions than answers.  Thus, we need to search and re-search all over again.




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