3 Research Strategies for Challenging Locations

Last week I went live on Facebook and shared three different strategies for working in challenging locations. I thought I'd share them here too, so here we go...

First, what do I mean by "challenging" locations? Well, when I asked what folks wanted me to cover in my lives this month, a few people mentioned "difficult" locations and southern states, which I'm wrapping into "difficult" because there's a good deal of record loss in southern states, making them a little challenging to work in. But truly, these three strategies work for any location, including outside the US.

1. Study the Location

That includes all jurisdictional levels for the time period in question. You'll want to know about any boundary changes that may affect where records were created at the time and where they might be now, what records you can expect to find, and of course the history of the location. Use resources such as the FamilySearch Wiki; Red Book; and state, county, or town histories.

2. Think Outside the Box

When we run across locations that are difficult as a result of record loss (or no records created at the time of interest), we need to go beyond the traditional resources. This may mean diving into newspapers, tax records, church records, various manuscript collections, and the list goes on. Use resources such as the FamilySearch Wiki, The Source, Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy (fourth edition, GPC, 2017), and Hidden Sources (Ancestry, 2000).

3. Contact the Locals

Sometimes you need to call for reinforcements. Contact local librarians, archivists, genealogical societies, and historical societies. These folks usually have a good idea about the records that pertain to their area, even if they don't have the records among their collections. They may have advice for alternate records for times when the record you seek doesn't exist. If they don't have the answers, they can usually direct you to someone who does or they'll take the time to do a little digging themselves. Whatever you do, be kind to these wonderful people and thank them for their time and assistance.

Take a moment and think about a location that you've struggled with in the past (it's likely been relegated to the back burner for quite some time now). Then use these strategies and see if you can break down some barriers.

I'd love to hear what you've been able to uncover, so head on over to the discussion of this post on Facebook and share your findings.

P.S. For more genealogy research strategies, download my free guide.

© Julie Tarr. This article was first published at Genealogy In Action; appearance of this article elsewhere, without my permission, violates copyright.