Brick Wall Removal

Have you ever hit a genealogical "brick wall" in your research? Do you put all other research efforts on hold in order to track down the elusive ancestor? Do the records you are looking for even exist? Are you chasing after family folklore that may be too good to be true? Did the ancestor really just disappear? Or mysteriously arrive? And are you really sure that "all the records were destroyed"?

Perhaps you have really just hit a research block: a dead end, stumbling block, roadblock, or barrier to your research. Perhaps you have reached the end of what you know about where to look for records. Perhaps you are exhausted from your searching.

Many new genealogists are often afflicted with this "brick wall" disease. I believe it is not because they have truly found an "end of line" ancestor, but because they don't know which road or path to take or what resources are available. They are new in a great big maze and they have just reached a dead end or stumbling block to their knowledge.

Are you just spinning your wheels, going around in circles, looking for the same bit of information over and over in the same records you have already researched? Are you keeping a research log or notes of what you have already searched and what you did or did not find? Do you have an organized research plan? Are you distracted from the plan by other paths that take you away from your goal? Is your goal too complicated? Can you explain simply to someone else what you are looking for, where you have looked, and what you did or did not find?

Did you build your own brick wall? Did you make an incorrect assumption along the way? Or did your research find an incorrect assumption that someone else made? Are you following only one piece of evidence? Are you trying to prove a myth or fable? Are you preventing yourself from accepting a document because the ancestor's name is not spelled as you think it should be? Have you inaccurately documented something? Are you going too fast and skipping over key details? Do you understand the purpose of the record you are viewing? Are your actions blocking yourself from success?

As you attempt to recreate your ancestor's paths through life, make sure you stay on your own path and follow an organized research plan.

Here are my "R"s to Brick Wall Removal:

REVIEW

What do you already know? How do you know it? Do you have documentation to prove it?

RECONSTRUCT

Create a timeline / map to visually record what you know about your ancestor's life.

REDISCOVER

Where are the holes in the timeline? What are you really missing? Be specific.

REORGANIZE ~ REDIRECT ~ RELEARN

What is the new goal? What strategies are needed to reach the goal? Do you need training on available resources or technology? What is the new plan of attack?

RECRUIT

Get help from others who know where to find the resources you need. Join collaboration groups like Genealogy! Just Ask! 

RESEARCH

Check for newly accessible records often. Utilize "cluster" research for every ancestor. The neighbors and siblings may have the answer to your question.

REST ~ RELOAD ~ RENEW

Take a break. Get some sleep. Refuel. Rebuild your energy and recommit yourself to keep going.

REJOICE ~ REWARD ~ REPEAT

When you finally discover what you have been looking for and your brick wall has been removed, take time to celebrate! And then prepare yourself again to tackle your next genealogical mystery.

My Story

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 
Explore. Dream. Discover.

 - Attributed to the mother of H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

When I am teaching others about family history and they are concerned about how to get started, I tell them to "start with themselves".  I have been wanting to write a family history related blog for a long time and today is the day that I am finally starting it.  I have struggled with what I wanted my first post to be; as I have a long list of topics I want to blog about.  I finally realized, just as I tell those I teach, I need to start with myself and my story.

As a young teen in the early 1980s, I loved playing computer games. We had a Commodore 64 and my all-time favorite game was Dungeon of the Algebra Dragons.  In 1984, my father acquired a copy of PAF 1.0 for him to start electronically keeping track of his family history.  In order to have more time for computer games, I was enticed into entering family names into PAF.  My father was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had spent nearly two decades (at this point) trying to track down his family history. I quickly entered in the information he had for his family and then moved on to entering in the information my mother had on her family.  She had LDS pioneer ancestors and some amazing biographical sketches and photos about them.  I was intrigued to learn about their lives.  They quickly became my friends. 

One day as I was reading a story about my 4th Great-Grandparents, Elisha Hurd and Lucy Simmons Groves, I was amazed to find out that they were called to settle and establish the area in which I was living.  My parents had individually moved to this area to attend college and they did not know the story of these ancestors.  I promised myself as a young teen that I would know the history of all my ancestors and I would pass those stories, lessons, emotions, and memories to my children. That my children would know their heritage.

Also during this time, and perhaps even earlier as a young child, I would listen to amazing genealogy stories told during testimony meeting by Hilda Mary Woodford Fife.  She had a deep Australian accent and was in her early 80s and her stories were captivating to me: climbing high churchyard brick walls in Scotland, chasing down a copy of William Shakespeare's will, and doing research for Church President David O. McKay.  I was amazed that a little old lady could climb walls!  It wasn't until just recently that I learned that she had these amazing adventures when she was much younger.  Her stories were captivating to me like the Nancy Drew mysteries I was reading at the time. Wow! To be a real life detective and mystery solver.  I chose to do a school biography project on Hilda and I loved being in her home interviewing her about genealogy. Looking back over all my experiences related to genealogy and family history, I feel that Hilda was unknowingly my mentor.  I will share more about Hilda in another post.

My love for "genealogy" - what I prefer to call "family history" - grew and when I was 14 years old I attended my first genealogical seminar. My mother dropped me off at the conference as I was too young to drive. I still have the conference flyer, program, handouts, and some of my handwritten notes. I took classes on using a computer to do genealogy, using the branch genealogical library, basic genealogy for beginners, and German individual consultation.

In the past 30 years I have created family organizations, planned and carried out large and small family reunions, hunted for cousins all across the country, designed and installed a headstone, taught the LDS Institute Family History course (piloted it in 1995), served for numerous years in ward and stake family history callings, and have taught others the ins and out of family history for 20 years.  In this past year I have begun presenting (teaching) at regional and national family history conferences.  Next week, I will present a session at RootsTech in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I look forward to sharing on this blog all the things I have learned in the past 30 years and the things I am still learning.  I hope you will join me in this adventure.