7 Problems Encountered While Researching Family History

Below are 7 problems that you might run into while researching your family history. By recognizing the pitfalls, you will be better able to obtain an accurate depiction of your ancestors' lives.

1. There are more coincidences than you'd think.

You might think that you've come across some wonderful record that pertains to your family, but it may just be the record of someone who has a similar name who lived in the same area. When you come across a new record that appears to fit with your family history, make sure that all of the provided information matches what you have. However, also be aware that you may find additional information from such records. Just be sure to match more information than just the name, year, and location.

2. Be aware of issues concerning certain military records and census information.

It is important to keep in mind that much of the 1890 census and many of the World War II military records have been destroyed by fire. You can find additional information on Ancestry.com. When you are researching your family history, it is important to keep such things in mind.

3. Inaccurate memories.

When conducting informational interviews and simply questioning your elders about the past, it is important that memories can be inaccurate or incomplete. Most times, people are trying to provide you with as much accurate information as possible; however, you may come across contradicting information or missing information. Even if you go through the trouble of interviewing several elderly relatives, you might come up with several different versions of past events. In conducting family history research, it is important to acknowledge the equal importance of everyone's memories. It isn't your place to judge and everyone's memories provide a unique perspective to your family history research.

4. Simple misinformation and bad record keeping.

Let's face it; the census takers are only human. Many times, names were misspelled and relationships sometimes misconstrued. Ancestry.com does its best to catch phonetic misspellings, but it isn't able to catch everything. The further back in time you go, the more likely you are to get bad census information.

5. Lack of information.

If your family was originally from a very rural area or a country that has been devastated by war several times, such as Poland, you are going to have a more difficult time in obtaining good information for your family history project. Once again, the further back you go in time, the less likely you are to come across pertinent information.

6. Adoptions and unusual living arrangements.

The point isn't to suggest that adoptions are unusual living arrangements. It is just that adoptions in the past were not nearly as open as they are today. It may be prove to be difficult to track down pertinent information on an adopted individual. In addition, it was once common for orphans to be raised by their aunts and uncles or their grandparents. These types of relationships were not often well documented in earlier times.

7. Effects of back room deals and the Great Depression.

When researching land holdings as a means to flesh out your family history, you might not find any formal paper trail, especially when dealing with a back room "gentleman's agreement" and the era of the Great Depression. In many cases, you will have to rely on the recollection of older family members.

By acknowledging these issues when researching family history, you will better be able to create a more accurate depiction of your family history.