By Amanda Forson, WorldVitalRecords.com
Never leave a resource alone until draining it dry. Some sources, when first checked, may not reveal the exact ancestor of interest at the moment we are interested in them. Due to the nature of the Internet and its flexibility and capacity for change, that is an improper and unfortunate research method employed by many genealogists. Genealogy luckily allows for changes as researchers correct errors and find better information than previously discovered.
Everton’s Pedigree Charts and Family Groups Sheets, one of the bright gold mines of the WorldVitalRecords.com demands attention during every search. The information is extensive and with the speed of searchability on the WVR site, searching through a small section of family surnames at a time, trying different combinations of search terms in order to produce different results.
While working at the WVR booth during the BYU Genealogy Conference, I experimented with a few personal ancestors not receiving much attention for a few years. What followed are the amazing results. (Yes, these are normal when receiving a “break through,” but when a family has not received a break through on a particular family for many years, they feel amazing and humbling.)
Search One
Quick Search:
Given Name: John Lavern, Last Name: Douglas
Results:
After looking over the results page that came up from clicking on Everton’s Family Group Sheets and Pedigree Charts, I chose John to see what happened.
Clicking on John revealed the following:
John Lavern Douglas is my ggg grandfather, and the information on his daughter, Jennie, is information that we had in part but not all. We had no leads for this information, so finding anything at all was a major development for the family.
Search Two
Quick Search:
Given Name: Solomon Last Name: Rice
Results:
Most of this information was new to my family’s lines. The people were correct and the basic years, but the further details about the locations helped the family research to become more exact and overall better. Since this family group sheet also contains who submitted it, I can look this person up in the white pages and try writing them to see whether or not there is more information on the family. Further, this information includes information that otherwise may not fit properly on a family group sheet or pedigree chart, namely a newspaper item that includes information about this particular family that I never before knew.
Never give up on a family, or think that since they do not show up in one place, they will not show up anywhere. One family researcher is never the only family researcher. There is always the possibility of others. Keep looking. If you search diligently, information will come!
