Genealogy Case Studies

As you sift through the records of your own ancestors to build your family tree, you may find yourself with questions:

• What other records can/should I search?
• What else can I learn from this record?
• How do I pull all of these little clues together?

The answers to these types of questions generally come through knowledge and experience. What is so eye-opening about the research of others, especially if the individuals or places in question have nothing to do with your own family? There is no better way to learn (aside from your own hands-on practice) than through the successes, mistakes, and techniques of other genealogists. A genealogical case study can be as simple as an explanation of the discovery and analysis of a particular record, to the research steps taken to trace a particular family back through several generations. Each one, however, gives us a glimpse into research problems that we ourselves may face in our own genealogy searches, approached through the eyes and experience of leaders in the genealogical field.

Genealogical Case Studies

Elizabeth Shown Mills, genealogist, is the author of Historic Pathways, a website packed with decades of her case studies. Many of the case studies are organized by type of problem—record losses, cluster research, name changes, separating identities, etc.— transcending the place and time of the research, and of value to all genealogists. Read her work and read it often. It will make you a better genealogist.

Some of our favorites include:

• Applying the Preponderance-of-the-Evidence Principle to a Southern Frontier Problem - While "preponderance of the evidence" is no longer used to describe how genealogists analyze and weigh evidence, this is an excellent example of how to document family relationships in situations where no document directly gives the answer.
• The Search for Margaret Ball - Three "burned counties," repeated name changes, and a pattern of migration through several states stumped genealogists researching Margaret Ball for years until Elizabeth Shown Mills came along to widen the net.
• Unraveling Balls of Yarn: Lessons in the Use of a Skeptical Eye - We can each learn from the dangers of assuming that previous researchers have carefully avoided renaming individuals, merging identities, or marrying "people to partners they have never met in real life."

Michael John Neill has presented numerous case study examples online over the years. Here are a few of his favorite case studies.

• Fishing for Clues in John Lake's Estate
  Michael explores what an estate record can tell us even when none of the deceased individual's children are listed.
• Where O Where is Abraham?
  How a "missing" 1840 census enumeration was right under Michael's nose.
• Turn the Page
  Learn how three consecutive deeds were analyzed to reveal a potential relationship among the sellers and the buyer.

Juliana Smith brings humor and passion to everything she writes. You can find many of her examples and case studies in her archived Family History Compass column and 24/7 Family History Circle blog at Ancestry.com, as well as on the Ancestry.com blog.

• Tips from the Trail of Tobin Hatters - Juliana uses passenger arrival records, obituaries, and some more unusual records, and stumbles across some startling surprises.
• Straw Goods, Artificial Flowers, and Feathers: Seeking Common Threads in City Directories - Juliana tackles the daunting task of tracking her Kelly ancestors in New York City directories.

Certified Genealogist Michael Hait has published an ongoing series of genealogical case studies related to his work on the Jefferson Clark family of Leon County, Florida.

More Case Studies

While online case studies provide a wealth of knowledge, many tend to be short and extremely focused. If you're ready to dig in even further, most of the in-depth, complicated genealogical case studies are found published in genealogical society journals and, occasionally, in mainstream genealogy magazines. Good places to start are the National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ), the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) and The American Genealogist. Years of back issues of NGSQ and NEHGR are available online for members of those organizations. A few excellent online examples by authors such as Elizabeth Shown Mills, Kay Haviland Freilich, Thomas W. Jones and Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, can also be found in the Sample Work Products provided online by the Board for Certification of Genealogists.