3. Search Wide Geographic Areas

Using Ireland again as an example, sometimes the records can throw you off. It literally is a gamble as far as research goes if the place of birth was in County Mayo and the ancestor was a Catholic as to whether the record was recorded or not. The records in South Mayo are later than those in North Mayo even though the parishes did exist in both. Here are some reasons for this being the case:

• In one case the priest died of the plague so any book he might have touched was burned including the birth and christening books.
• In another case the Catholic church was lit for the serve. If someone came in and did not have a match, what pieces of paper might exist to take the light from one candle to another. Yep, according to the Irish specialist, Delaney, little edges of the register books.

Of course the above happened in United States records above. Also don't be surprised if Methodists would be buried in Presbyterian cemeteries. When the Methodist minister was out of town and someone died, they could not just leave the body laying around. The Presbyterian minister would do a good job of handling the situation.

Likewise, people in the old country could be members of one church, yet when they came to America they might choose another religion entirely. So check the entire geographic area before giving up on finding the ancestor, including other religious groups before considering everything is done in your locality.

4. Search Every Location Where They Lived

During difficult economic time periods, people from Scotland or Ireland would go to work in England. This might be why they would not be found in the records of Ireland or Scotland during the famine years, and yet have a child born in those areas if they returned home with sufficient funds to keep their little landholding. If they could not make enough money, they might have moved permanently to England before immigrating to America. Study the history to see what is happening to the broader group of people and see what happens.

5. Search Variant Spellings of Names

A story was told at a Boston, Massachusetts, Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, about a man who traveled to Ireland to find his ancestor because the name was mentioned once in the Griffith's Valuation Books. The problem is that the Griffith's Valuation Books are transcripts. When the original was checked, the name was there but it had been mis-transcribed. It wasn't until a specialist in the county saw the name in the record, that he recognized it among all the names in that county. Always consider asking an ethnic specialist for assistance when you cannot find an ancestor where he should have been.

Another lecturer indicated that he must bite his tongue constantly when new researchers come into his county record office and say they are only searching for the Green family spelled Green, not one with an "e" on the end. Because he knows all the Green families in his county, and the original documents spell the names over ten ways. They might also add another identifier such as (red) or (brown) after the name to indicate the hair color when two men have the same name. Be aware of these geographically determined nicknames added to a person's other names and include them in your search.