14 April 2010

Research tip: the last shall be first

Experienced researchers know that when the obvious search doesn't give the result you seek, look for variations. Check for first and last names reversed. Use a middle name rather than the first name, especially helpful if it's unusual.

Those of us who came last in the class in spelling can excel in family history research thanks to our ability to come up with innovative ways a name might have been misspelled.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gud reminder!!

WJM said...

Or, depending on how common the last name is, try it alone, without the restriction of any first name.

Sometimes the record-keep just plain got it wrong. Or, perhaps, great-grampa just "adopted" a new, non-given name, and forgot to tell anyone.