Common surnames, missing ancestors and conflicting data, oh my! Genealogists have no shortage of research challenges to conquer. This book will guide you through some of the most common genealogy problems, from missing vital records to hidden hometowns. Each article provides practical tips and strategies for overcoming research woes and developing better, more efficient searches.

Who Should Get This Book

You’ll love the Genealogy Brick Wall Busters if…

• You’ve hit a stubborn roadblock and need some pointers on how to get around it
• You want concrete strategies to make your research more efficient
• You’ve just started (or restarted) your family search and want to put some best practices into place

What’s Inside

The Genealogy Brick Wall Busters features:

• Practical advice on overcoming common genealogy problems: hard-to-find female ancestors, interpreting early US censuses, and more
• Do's and don'ts for effective family history research, including how to efficiently search for records online
• Tips for sorting through mountains of genealogy material - then scanning them and passing them on to the next generation

Contents of the Genealogy Brick Wall Busters:

Part 1: Preventing Errors and Brick Walls

• Back to Basics: Grow a healthy family tree with these six beginner-friendly steps for starting (or restarting) your genealogy research.
• FAQ: Go back to the basics with these answers to common genealogy questions.
• Star Search: Hit the big time with these record search strategies.
• Nothing But the Truth: Separate truth from fiction in family stories with the tips in these three case studies.
• Lost in the Woods: Stay on course with these 7 tips for fact-checking information you find in online family trees.

Part 2: Missing People and Records

• Digging Through the Ashes: Is the 1890 census really missing? With record substitutes and the right frame of mind, the answer is not so simple.
• Dime a Dozen: Apparently that town is big enough for the two of them, or even more. These tips for researching common surnames will help you find your family in the crowd.
• Sign of Life: Has your search for birth, death and marriage records flatlined? Re-energize your efforts with these strategies for accessing vital records.
• Identify Crisis: You'll need more than a name to prove that a person in a record is your ancestor. These tips will help you overcome common pitfalls for establishing identity.
• Birthday Wishes: No need to blow out the candles-you can resolve conflicting birthdates in records. Here's how.
• Come to Your Census: Pre-1850 US censuses may not name every person. But you can still use them to trace your ancestors.
• Hometown Heroes: These 16 sources will help you pinpoint an immigrant ancestor's Old World town of origin.

Part 3: Organization & Preservation Challenges

• All in a Day's Work: If all you've got is a Saturday to organize your genealogy, make it count with these tips for a successful one-day organization project.
• Keep or Toss?: Declutter your genealogy life with these three steps for determining what to keep and what to trash.
• Being of Sound Mind: Create a "genealogy will" that outlines for your heirs what you'd like for your research after you've passed on.
• Speaking Softly: Navigate hard-to-talk-about subjects in family history interviews with these tips from journalists and other storytellers.
• Scan-Do Attitude: Though scanning tech has improved, some things still require special consideration. Here's how to scan oddball items, such as photo negatives and oversized documents.
• Damage Control: These expert tips from the Photo Detective will help you save even damaged family photos for future generations.

Part 4: Troubleshooting

• The Feminine Mystique: Rediscover the lives of the women in your family tree with this advice for overcoming brick walls in female ancestor research.
• Ladies-in-Waiting: Find long-lost female ancestors with these 12 resources for discovering maiden names.
• Days of Our Lives: Uncover and share the stories of recent generations-including family you may have known yourself, with these tips.
• Reclaiming Roots: With systematic research strategies and specialized resources, you can uncover the hidden stories of African American ancestors who lived through one of the darkest periods in US history.

Don't let your family history stop at a brick wall. Get the expert advice you need to turn your research challenges into breakthroughs.