I was thinking about our next class on new strategies for brick wall busting and it made me wonder, “what creates a brick wall, why do they show up throughout our trees?” So, I started looking at mine to figure out what I needed to learn from our next speaker.

My first thoughts were:

1.  Were they brick walls or did I just stop at that point and not go back yet?
2. Was it a brick wall because I couldn’t find their birth records or the parents or because I couldn’t find those records in the usual, much easier databases? Did I look anywhere else? Let’s see, how does the expression go, “Keep doing the same thing but expect different results…”
3.  Did I find records that conflicted with each other and wasn’t or didn’t try to clear up the conflict?
4. Did the family member disappear from the records on purpose? How do I know if they have no more records to find whether on purpose or not?
5. Is this just as far back as I can go?

It seems, as I think about all of this, that the issues fall into 2 camps. One being they really have no more records to find in history. The other, probably more common in my tree, I haven’t tried all the places I could to find the information. Have I just skipped the hard part or am I too focused on proof that I ignore potential hints?

It also reminds me of some recent reading about the difference between searching and researching. Do I just look to tag onto what other people have found searching for their connections that might be mine as well and when their trail ends, so does mine? Do I actually research, looking for new records in places that I haven’t looked yet? Do I actually find information and then triangulate the information to come to a reasonable conclusion? Do I even follow my own advice and start with a research question or objective that is clear, focused, specific? Why is it that we often know more than we actually follow through on?

I ask myself all these questions. Sometimes I think if I could just find 1 fact that I didn’t know before about the history my family lived in or the family member themselves, I could get back on track. Perhaps my next step is to learn to use databases that take me to Ireland or Scotland or Germany as I have evidence of those connections.

Here is my thinking, being a family historian is not easy. As an educator I know that sometimes going down an unknown path is not easy either. To learn new things we have to find a balance. A balance between too easy and too hard. If it is too easy, we get bored. If it is too hard, too far beyond our scope of reasonably challenging, we get overwhelmed and quit.

I watched a video of my grandson sitting in a toy box reaching for books outside of the box. If he couldn’t reach them, he would try with the other hand. He would grab the ones he wanted and then sit down to read in his comfy little box. He knew his objective, tried different strategies, and sat down to do it. I need to learn from a toddler!

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.org