Genealogical Research

My living room couch is covered in stacks of folders and photocopies that I’ve been sorting through over the past couple of weeks in an effort to organize my office. I’m not sure how, but some paperwork for one of my classes found its way into a stack of photocopied records. Those set me to thinking about the different ways a genealogist can organize not just their records at home but their trips to research centers. One tool you can use to that end is the research plan.

A research plan can be either simple or complicated, depending on your needs. Start by figuring out exactly what you need to know. State this as your research problem or focus. List any further objectives you hope to meet while sorting out your research problem, and then list the obstacles you’ve encountered trying to solve this problem thus far, if any.

Let’s take a look at poor John Martin again, the Irish immigrant I’ve been chasing for the past two and a half decades, and who I’m trying to sort out from two other John Martins who lived in Rabun County, Georgia in the mid-nineteenth century. I used those three as a case study in one of my previous classes; the research plan I’m about to describe was one I did specifically for those classes. The top part of the research plan looks like this:

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Research Plan: John Martin, Sr.

Research problem: Did John Martin, Sr. fight in the War Between the States? If so, in which unit?

Further objectives: To sort out John Martin, Sr. from John W. Martin during this time period, or determine if they are the same person. Also to separate period records of Andrew J. (John or Jack) Martin, Sr. from the other two John Martins.

On proof of and to reconcile or rule out the following: 1) John Martin, 1864 Census for re-organizing the Georgia Militia; 2) Mrs. John Martin, Chechero District, February 5, 1864 salt list, Rabun Co., GA; 3) Tombstone placed over the grave of John Martin, Sr. by the United Daughters of the Confederacy indicating service in the Confederate States Army.
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Below that, I listed all the records I could think of that might have information to help me solve this problem, along with the location of those records. Since I used Microsoft Word to create the research plan, I took advantage of their table making tool to create a three-column table with headers labeled Where? (the repository), What? (the record), and Done? (the date this task was accomplished). The first row reads:

Georgia Department of Archives and History

Find John Martin Sr. in the original 1864 Census for re-organizing the Georgia Militia [microfilm: drawer 245, box 8; original: unit 97-2583A, 3337-14]

3/31/2007

Notice that I had the exact location of the record I needed to check; this is because I took the time before my trip to the Georgia Department of Archives and History to check their online catalogues and finding aids. With the information from the first column, I was able to go directly to the correct microfilm drawer to find this record, thus saving quite a bit of precious research time.

I listed nine separate record actions, although some actions were to look up the original of a published index I had listed in a previous entry. The last row reads:

South Carolina State Archives

Find local and unique resources for this time period, similar to those in Georgia

[date unfilled]

This entry is to remind me that I need to bone up on my research skills in South Carolina so that I can check for John Martin, Sr. in records similar to those found in Georgia, if such exist, because my ancestor may have enlisted in a South Carolina unit (in fact, I suspect he may have lived in South Carolina for some time before coming to Rabun County, Georgia).

Your research goals may come from a new document you’ve discovered, a letter from a relative, or from any other place that leaves you with unanswered questions. Making a research plan can help you develop a focus for your research rather than allowing it to flounder because you’re unsure what step you need to take next. By stating the goal, identifying correlating problems, listing the records you have, and brainstorming for records you need to check, you’ve established a solid plan that will help you answer the questions you have about your ancestors.

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