Successful researchers carefully mine sources, correlate, and analyze extracted information to solve research problems. Identifying a research subject that materializes or disappears from thin air is challenging, but careful attention to detail may help researchers overcome frustration. This lecture will use mini-case studies to outline strategies.

Family history research in a large city can be richly rewarding as urban centers typically kept better records. However, when it is your ancestor who does not appear in the vital records, how do you find them? Searching among the plethora of people in a city such as New York can be challenging. This presentation will give attendees some ways to navigate research in urban areas using a case study in 19th-century New York City to illustrate the methods.

Whatever our research dilemma, a correct solution depends upon a reliable evaluation of the evidence we are using. Evidence is not concrete. It is not definitive. It is not a source. It is not a fact. It is not “proof.” It is, instead, our interpretation of what a piece of information means. Evidence is both singular and collective. We analyze it piece by piece. We correlate each piece with everything else discoverable, and then we analyze the whole to reach conclusions that are reliable. This session walks us through the three levels at which each piece of information should be evaluated, in order to draw a reliable conclusion from it. The principles are then illustrated with a common but thorny problem: a Revolutionary War–era case study that might be called: How to Identify Someone Who’s Been Mangled by ‘Facts.’ *** This class requires a password and an active webinar membership to attend. On the day of the webinar, obtain the password (located at the top of FamilyTreeWebinars.com when logged in as a member). Then click the Join Webinar link in your confirmation/reminder email, and enter the password when prompted. ***

Your ancestors didn’t live and have experiences alone. Researching collateral lines may be the secret sauce you need to find clues that will answer genealogy questions. What is Collateral Research? Research of family members you are not a descendant of.

Why did your Italian ancestor have five cousins all named Joe? Why did married women travel under their maiden names? Was Sally really Serafina? This presentation explores the factors that pushed and pulled Italians to emigrate, what they found when they arrived, Italian naming patterns and name changes, and how to start your search. Knowing what their life was like in Italy helps us to understand their choices and behavior when they emigrated: why they were slow to naturalize, why the family was the most important institution, and why food was a source of celebration.

Sooner or later, every family researcher comes across information that conflicts with what was found earlier – a date, a name, a place. How can the conflict be resolved, and if it cannot, what to do?

Often, when the records of family members can’t be easily found, a review of fictive kin and other connections might bring those missing individuals into view. Let’s look at some cases when broadening our focus might bring the target directly into our view.

The Carolina backcountry is known for its genealogical roadblocks: from social and geographic challenges to record destruction, to the failure to create records in the first place. This session begins by examining the cultural influences that have created the problems—influences we need to understand if we are to develop alternative resources and approaches. Building on this foundation, Mills then explores thirty-two strategies for overcoming research obstacles, using a variety of short case studies and little-known materials to illustrate key points. *** This class requires a password and an active webinar membership to attend. On the day of the webinar, obtain the password (located at the top of FamilyTreeWebinars.com when logged in as a member). Then click the Join Webinar link in your confirmation/reminder email, and enter the password when prompted. ***

Walter’s family lost touch with him after his 1920 arrest. Learn how collaboration, evidence correlation, and predictive research solved the mystery of Walter’s fate more than a century later.