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Step Two: Determine What Is Missing - Were
some pieces removed by others?
Do other relatives have some of your pieces? Basically,
genealogy research involves asking questions, recording answers, and listing
sources. Talk or correspond with everyone you can think of who would have
information. While it's true that success comes from applying good research
techniques, the foundation of our success depends upon evaluating what
we already know and recording as a goal that which is missing.
Go from Known Information to Unknown Information - If
you had not looked at your pieces first, you wouldn't have known which
ones were missing.
You cannot determine what is missing if you have not
separated fact from tradition, hypothesis from reality. If someone on
the Internet, in a published genealogy, or in the Ancestral File has extended
your family line three generations, don't just accept that information
as fact and start going backward from the end of the purported "new" third
generation. First, verify the relationships between your known ancestors
and the newly - discovered ancestors providing any additional information
which you have proven is true. Then you can move into the "unknown" once
again. Have you ever had a dialog like this with yourself?
"What do I really know about this person?"
"I was told he was born in Mexico."
"But how did I come to know that information?"
"Oh, I remember, I found that on a U.S. census record."
"Since just knowing the country is not enough, how will
you come to determine the name of the town or parish?"
"I don't know! Wait! I already know his wedding date.
Since he was married in the Catholic church and they required the place
of christening or baptism to approve the wedding, and the marriage record
might have the parish."
"Gee, I'm getting the hang of this! So what will my goal
be?"
"My goal is to find the birth place of this person."
"But I really want to find out who this person's parents
are, too."
"That is another piece of the puzzle. There are now two
goals for this person."
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