By FPL_SheriS
Get the tools you need to break through brick walls in your genealogy research with our databases and classes!
We all come across them. Brick walls, obstacles, or challenges, where the road just seems to end, and we are faced with a choice—turning around and giving up or finding a way around that wall. An area where I routinely run into brick walls, is in my genealogy research.
This is when thinking like a soldier is helpful. If the only way to an objective is on the other side of that wall, a soldier’s commander isn’t going to listen to a soldier say, "Guess we have to turn around." Besides the expletives, the commander is going to say, “Find a way around, over, under or through that wall!" And modern soldiers have plenty of resources to get through a measly brick wall. They have tanks, explosives, and probably enough manpower to just push it over.
You might be thinking "Hey! That's great for soldiers, but how does that apply to me and my brick walls? I don't have the vast resources that modern armies have."
But hold on! Modern libraries give us access to some amazing brick wall smashing tools.
Like soldiers who go through extensive training on using the tools provided them, the library also has an arsenal of tools and training to help you meet your needs. While I’m not going to have you start doing push-ups to get you into shape, I do have a few suggestions for breaking through those brick walls…starting with visiting the help and training sections of library databases, so they work effectively for you.
This is something I did recently when I hit a brick wall in my research. I was looking for a 1910 census record for a family, however the standard roads for finding them were ending in a brick wall. Do you think I gave up and turned around? Nope!
Instead, I went to a database I love, called Heritage Quest., opens a new window It allows users to search with more fields, so I went from over 400,000 vague results to 1,000 good possibilities. Yes! I just smashed through 399,000 obstacles in the blink of an eye!
Another resource you don’t want to miss out on, is library classes and events. Frisco Public Library offers classes on a variety of topics and subjects, both virtual and online. For example, if you’re hitting brick walls in your genealogy research, we have Genealogy Expo this Friday. There’s tools and resources for those just getting into genealogy and for more savvy researchers looking to take it to the next level.
You can attend the Genealogy Expo on October 20, 2023 in person or virtually and gain some knowledge and tools to help you break through those brick walls.
Genealogy Expo 2023: attend in person, opens a new window
Genealogy Expo 2023: attend virtually, opens a new window
Additional Resources:
Library Databases from A–Z, opens a new window
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