It’s easy to make mistakes in your genealogy when you are first beginning as a genealogist. You may make research mistakes that give you inaccurate results, mistakes that keep you from being able to find what you need in your genealogy files, and mistakes that lead you to not knowing where you got a particular piece of information. You want your genealogy research to be professional in quality whether or not you intend to publish it. It will make it easier for you to use and add to it, and a better family heirloom and resource for future generations.
Here are eight mistakes you should avoid in your genealogy research.
1. Not Recording Your Sources as You Go
If you don’t record your sources as you go, you won’t know where you got a certain piece of information. If you don’t know where you got it, you won’t be able to use it to prove a genealogical theory or use it alongside other evidence in proving a thesis.
2. Not Organizing Your Work
Every genealogist needs a good organizational system, whether it is on paper, on the computer, or both. If you don’t organize your genealogy research, you will have a difficult time finding what you need when you need it, which hinders your progress on your family tree.
3. Not Labeling Photos
Every photo you take should be immediately labeled with names, dates, places, occasions and any other important information. You should also do this with any other photos that come your way, especially ancient ones. If you don’t label them, you may forget the details of the photos, and future generations won’t know the identities of the people in them.
4. Not Organizing Your Photos
This is just as important as organizing your genealogical research and for similar reasons.
5. Copying Information from Online Family Trees
Just because someone posts a family tree online doesn’t mean the information in it is correct. Before you use anyone else’s genealogical information, be sure to double-check its accuracy by looking up records supporting the assertions made in the tree.
6. Relying on Your Family’s Oral History
While most family oral history stories have some grain of truth to them (though there are exceptions), telling a story down the generations is like a game of telephone. Details get changed, either on purpose by someone wanting to conceal potentially embarrassing information or by accident, such as someone hearing or remembering the details wrong. Always research the facts behind family history stories before recording them on your official family tree.
7. Neglecting to Interview Your Older Relatives
These people have the information you need, and it is valuable first-hand information. If you don’t get their stories, those stories (as well as the names and relationships of the people in the stories) may pass on with them. You may be able to research the facts, but not the personality and personal information of the story.
8. Neglecting All Record Sources that Might Have Information
Genealogy isn’t just census research and collecting birth, death, and marriage certificates. To get the full picture of your family’s history, you must use all available record sources, such as land records, military records, tax records, city directories, immigration records, court records, wills and probate records, old newspaper articles, and more.