welcome to the ancestral findings podcast if you are at a genealogical brick wall
consider looking for distant relatives to help you break through it who are distant
relatives and what information might they have to benefit your research
how do you find them and contact them here is what you need to know
whether you are just starting your genealogy project or starting a new family line in a
project that has been going on for decades you want to find in mine every available source while
many of the sources are obvious and are ones you have probably used before on other lines there
is one resource you might not consider but that can be highly valuable distant relatives these
are relatives you may not have met before and may only have heard of in the course of doing
your research often they are of collateral lines to yours but connect with you with a more common
ancestor somewhere in the past locating and talking to these distant relatives can be
wonderful for finding out about the collateral line of the family that long ago diverged from
your own however more importantly talking to these long-lost relatives can help you break
down genealogical brick walls think of it if you have a brick wall ancestor in your genealogy and
have used every possible source that is available to you and still can't get past the wall you have
to think outside the box if you want to get any further while the official government records
and old newspaper records may have let you down in terms of having useful information there may
be other things out there that have just what you need things like old family photos family
bibles birth and marriage records that were not officially recorded and even family stories your
own close relatives were never told may be out there hidden where might they be hidden with
distant relatives whose own family lines were the ones who inherited these valuable things
the distant relatives themselves may also know the answers to the exact genealogical questions
you have that will get you through the wall if you've been doing research on collateral
lines hoping to find any information that will get you past a brick wall you've probably come
upon the names of some distant relatives who may still be alive and have useful information with
public record databases and social media like Facebook Instagram Twitter and others you can
easily look up these people and contact them it is usually better to send a letter rather than
call and to send a private message on social media rather than email these are easier less
pushy feeling introductions and will make your distant relatives more likely to talk to you
even if the person you want to talk to is no longer on the earthly plane or doesn't want to
talk your query may be handed to another distant relative who can and will assist you i've sent
many such queries to distant relatives sometimes the queries are answered by the person i sent
them to and sometimes by other family members on that line in every instance I have received
valuable genealogical information back from the query that I would not have found anywhere else
just be sure to offer some valuable family history information of your own in return and you and your
distant relative will have a mutually beneficial exchange you may even become genealogical friends
thanks for joining me today I'll see you next time on the ancestral findings
podcast and for further info you can visit us at ancestral findings com