Beware the Pitfalls

Digging for ancestors becomes easier when you know at the outset what tools are available; their advantages and disadvantages. You are more likely to overcome challenges if you can regroup by using another tool. If a rookie gold miner hasn't got a big enough budget to buy 'remote sensing', then his first critical step is to look at  affordable alternatives, like sampling with a metal detector; or panning.

On the other hand, if he has a 'big budget', and has the latitude to jump in without proper 'homework', it might be a case of "a fool and his money are soon parted".

You can guarantee there are clever dealers out there waiting to sell a rookie miner their high tech wares for twice the price they are worth; and deliver him twice the amount of data he can handle.

Meanwhile he is none the wiser about the basic principles of exploration. Pretty soon he will be quagmired in technical data he can't make sense of; be 'skint' of resources, and stalled in despair.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" (proverb)

The Right Package

So, one of the first things he would want to do is look critically at his knowledge, decide what he needs to know; and figure where to get sound advice. The advice does need, however, to come in the 'right package'; that is 'honest', down-to-earth, simple. So you can understand the principles and become independent. It is understanding you need; not more data. An expert who can't explain a discipline to a rookie, is like a hen who can 'lay eggs and cluck', but offers no insight into 'which skill should come first'. (my adage). I also believe one who exaggerates his own successes and paints the essence of the endeavour as a personal, mystical talent, is not a real asset (mine again). Neither is an expert who minimises the real effort (op cit). 

A 'rookie' miner today will likely want to get 'down-to earth', tailored advice; at the rate he can absorb. A 'cool-headed' approach. Driving off into the wilderness, pulling off the road and diving into a creek bed is not today's 'modus operandi'. In fact it is a sure fire way to get discouraged. And none of us has time to waste on dead end roads.

We would rather watch "The X Factor", even if we don't know what the x-factor is either!

Giving Ancestors a Kind of Virtual Rebirth

To the uninitiated, family history research could look a lot less exciting than gold mining. Like gold mining, however, there is logical thinking, some 'trial and error', sheer doggedness; the thrill of the hunt; and great rewards. But instead of high lustre and dollars, research offers the reward of an emotional connection with men and women who lived before us. 

In an almost magical way we "give them life again": 'life' in our remembrance and appreciation of them. (quote: this author)

"...it’s that thrill of discovery really. It’s being able to find out something that nobody’s known before, or that's been forgotten or lost."

(Quote: Dr Jo Appleby, the British archaeologist who helped unearth the remains of King Richard III from a Leicester car park).

it’s that thrill of discovery really. It’s being able to find out something that nobody’s known before, or that been forgotten or lost. - See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/au/#sthash.5P9zIYot.dpuf

it’s that thrill of discovery really. It’s being able to find out something that nobody’s known before, or that been forgotten or lost. - See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/au/#sthash.5P9zIYot.dpuf

it’s that thrill of discovery really. It’s being able to find out something that nobody’s known before, or that been forgotten or lost. - See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/au/#sthash.5P9zIYot.dpuf

Here at "Digging...", you can get advice which will save you time and money. It is not like reading the manual for the TV "top box", but it is like reading the warning notice on the gas bottle.

draw a pedigree chart

draw a pedigree chart