It is necessary at the beginning that students understand the reason for repetition between some portions of their initial textbook reading and what might be taught in the online portion of the course. This allows the important parts of the information to be reinforced from the instructor's viewpoint. For example, your textbook on pg. 1-12 provided the following source:

John Wilkinson was found on the Arkansas 1880 Federal Census as an 80 year-old, born in Georgia, with his parents born in North Carolina and a younger brother living with him, age 59, born in South Carolina.

Please note the new "clues" listed on page 1-12 of your Complete Beginner's Guide. . . textbook.

If you don't know how John Wilkinson's birth year was calculated to be 1800, because no one had pointed out to you that if a person states on an 1880 census that he is 80 years old, you would subtract the age from the census year to come up to an approximate age, then please ask questions of your fellow students or your instructor. You may be the brave student in class to ask a question because the written concept was not worded as it should have been. Then when the concept moved on to the next step of what records to search, be sure you understand again how those items were determined. Or watch to see if the instructor gave an indication that those topics will be covered in depth later. This new information has given us some ideas for new records to search:

• Georgia 1800 Federal Census index for all Wilkinson
• The family will probably be found in the 1820 Federal Census of South Carolina since the brother was born there. This could lead to new county records to search.
• The published surname collections for Arkansas, South Carolina, and North Carolina should be searched for the surname "Wilkinson."

You were then given Aunt Milly's letter on page 1-12 of the textbook.  It stated:

You were asked to list the new information learned from this letter in the "Your Turn" box on page 1-12. Make a note to yourself of any that you did not catch. If you cannot understand how that information was produced, again ask questions of your instructor or your fellow students.

1. Moses Masterson and Mary Morrison were married 23 Mar 1860
2. Moses and Mary Masterson were married in Clermont County, Ohio
3. Mary Morrison was probably married before because her surname was different than that of her father or her mother
4. Mary was born in New York
5. Mary was born in 1839
6. Mary's maiden name was Smithwick
7. Mary's father was Joseph Smithwick
8. Mary's mother was Susan Chambers
9. Moses Masterson was born in 1835
10. Moses Masterson was born in Ohio
11. Moses Masterson's father was J. M. Masterson of Massachusetts
12. Moses Masterson's mother was Martha Weems of Massachusetts
13. Moses Masterson's occupation was a canal worker