Did you ever play the game of Blockhead with your kids? This was a favorite of ours and even a favorite when the grandkids came (until they turned teen and snorted at such simple pleasures). You remember the game…. it was how you began that ultimately decided who would win. You always began with a flat stable piece and not the round one….. unless you wanted to stymie your opponent right away. So what does the Blockhead game have to do with genealogy? LOTS!
Think of a genealogy presentation on documentation. How your begin, how firm a foundation, you have to your problem determines a good or “blockhead” outcome. If you build it slowly, correctly (keeping the physics in mind), you can build the Blockhead using all the pieces. But if there is one off-balance or “rolly” piece, the whole thing collapses.
So it is with your genealogy. To solve a problem, start slow, consider the sources, add only the “stable” sources and be particular about where you place each piece. Think of each “colored piece” as a fact in documenting the case for your ancestor. Think of doing genealogy like playing a game of Blockhead!
Donna, aka Mother Hen, until next week.
This is a perfect simile. That’s a great way to sum up genealogy research. 🙂