A danger for any genealogist is overlooking something - an obscure resource, a hidden set of records within a bigger database, a spelling variation or change of name. Overlooking any of these things can mean we miss vital records that could help progress our research.
Another danger for the family history researcher is overlooking facts that just don't fit. In earlier posts I have listed some of the overlooked but quite obvious errors that I have seen all in online trees :
- Children cannot be born before their parents.
- Children cannot be born to a mother who is 6 years old. Or 94 years old.
- Children are highly unlikely to be born to a father who is 89 years old. While this MAY be biologically possible, it is unlikely and deserves a bit of fact checking.
- A child cannot be christened 2 months before they are born.
- A woman cannot marry 3 years after she has died.
- A man cannot enlist in the army 5 years
after he has died.
Overlooking opportunities to further our research can be another huge mistake. The opportunity to question older relatives should not be overlooked when the chance arises - it may not happen again. The chance to visit a cemetery or library or other place for research when travelling should also not be overlooked. Revisiting our own research to see if we can spot overlooked errors or areas that need further investigation is another common error.
So don't overlook the value of revisiting your research and see what you may have overlooked.
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