There is a appropriate analogy to many of the questions I am asked atthe Mesa Regional Family History Center, it is called building bridgesin the air. In genealogical terms it is called starting with the threebrothers that came from Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Norway orwhere ever. Quoting from Val Greenwood, (Greenwood, Val D. The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy.Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co, 2000) page 4, "How foolish itwould be...to spend ten years (or even one year or one month) on aspecial project only to find, upon presenting his findings...thatsomeone else had already accomplished the same work."
The quote comes from Greenwood's analysis of the research cycle. He notes, atpage 6, "Another thing we can readily observe from this research cycleis that many would-be genealogistsdo not use all of the steps required for complete research. Too manyspend their entire efforts on secondary research, thinking that theyare doing all that can be and needs to be done when they are copyingthe records of others and searching old family histories."Read more...
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