Beyond Names, Dates, and Places
The bare essentials that a genealogist must know before starting a research project are name, place, and time period. While those basics may be enough to start searching, they are rarely enough to be able to separate relevant from irrelevant records or to allow genealogists to make sense of the findings. In general, the more a researcher knows about a person under study, the greater the prospect for success. When trying to link people to an earlier generation or another place of residence, researchers should pay close attention to their subjects’ identifiers.
What is an identifier? It could be anything that helps distinguish a person from others with the same name—things such as occupations, titles, physical characteristics, social standing, military service, religion, land ownership, and associates.
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About Author
Laura Murphy DeGrazia, CG
Laura Murphy DeGrazia, editor of NGS Monthly, is a professional genealogist specializing in the New York City area and Irish Americans. She is a former trustee and past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. From 2010 through 2014 she edited the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Her book on researching in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County, New York, was published as part of the NGS Research in the States series in 2013. Laura is a member of the NGS Magazine Editorial Advisory Committee and the NGS Publications Committee.