Research workflow
Build the first three generations without losing the evidence.
- 01
Interview and inventory
Record names, maiden names, places, dates, migrations, photographs, certificates, and the source of every family story.
- 02
Choose one anchor person
Begin with a recently deceased relative you can identify confidently in the 1950 census or a vital record.
- 03
Walk backward carefully
Link each household to the prior decade using ages, spouses, children, occupation, address, and birthplace—not a name alone.
- 04
Resolve conflicts
Compare independent sources, explain discrepancies, and write a short conclusion before adding the next generation.
Avoid weak conclusions
Common research mistakes
- Copying an online public tree without checking its attached records.
- Skipping from a grandparent to a same-name person in another location.
- Recording exact dates from family memory as proven facts.
- Ignoring siblings and neighbors when a direct ancestor disappears.
Keep the original image, full citation, and your reasoning together. A family-tree claim should be easy for another researcher to retrace.
Add a documented relative