Genealogists are human beings looking for other human beings, most of whom are no longer alive. As such, we are prone to human frailties. These involve making assumptions, not rationalizing and not assimilating what we find.

0 - Unreliable evidence

1 - Direct or primary evidence, but with some question of reliability or potential for bias as in an autobiography.

2 - Secondary evidence - a source which refers to an original source, a source that is copied or compiled from other sources or from memory, such as, books, periodical, newspaper, and other material made available to the public.

3 - Direct or primary source - direct record is evidence or by dominance of the evidence created after the event or by personal knowledge or testimony. Primary sources normally exist in the original form, such as birth, death, marriage records and are not normally as a copy or transcript.

Problem 2 - assuming a document or source will NOT contain the information you need. Solution - take the extra minutes or hours needed to efficiently and knowledgeably do research. This may involve searching areas that you assume contain no information. There are many sources available, so do not limit your research.

Problem 3 - not using the best sources. It is easy to take a book off the shelf and find the information needed in print. This saves time compared to reading microfilm or pulling dusty volumes of records off the shelf in the courthouse. Just because somebody did an abstract or extract of data does not mean it is correct. Solution - whenever possible, utilize actual documents or microfilm of the documents. Look and read it for yourself.

Problem 4 - not using a map, atlas or gazetteer. We have all taken, classes in grade school, high school and sometimes college that pertain to geography. Basically all we need to know is the location of the countries in the world and the location of states, but Geography 101 will not do the trick when it comes to genealogical research. Solution the world awaits the genealogist who uses maps and atlases. Utilize old maps and current maps. Two excellent areas on Internet for United States map research are: U.S. Gazetteer --  http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer and

USGS Mapping Information - http://www-nmd.usgs.gov/www/gnis/gnisform.html .

Problem 5 - can't locate copies and research notes. After an exhausting day of research, throwing the research notes and copies in a pile, we return days, weeks or months later to the problem and realize that nothing can be found. Solution - immediately put copies and research notes in a file or notebook that is properly labeled for future reference. Better still, enter the data, with documentation into the computer database or on appropriate forms. Doing this while, it is, fresh on the mind, will save time in the future.

Problem 6 - not documenting sources. It requires a little bit of time to jot dawn where sources have been located. This takes away from the pleasure of seeing your ancestor's name on documents or in books, but it is a necessary phase of genealogical research. Solution - get in the habit of documenting your sources. Read and reread the book, EVIDENCE! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills. This excellent book is available from Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore, MD, through many genealogy vendors and is in libraries.

Problem 7 - can't remember where a source was located. You may need to use that source again as new names are added in your research. Solution - keep accurate notes, including where you located documents or books. This includes the name of the repository, such as the courthouse, library, archives, along with location and the date you did the research. Returning to that particular repository will be easier in the future if locations are listed in the initial research.

Problem 8 - assuming your family used only one spelling of their surname. For example, a Smith is a Smith and not a Schmidt. Wrong! Surnames have undergone many changes in spelling through the centuries. Some families, wishing to deny or erase their past, changed their surnames. Surnames were spelled by the clerics as they sounded. Solution - try spelling the surname in a variety of ways and check all possible spellings in documents, indexes and also on Internet.

Problem 9 - not using a type of source because you don't understand it. This particularly applies to court records. Terminology in old documents is sometimes vague and extinct. The process by which, a document was created such as land grants, is not fully understood, or sometimes not utilized in the research process. Solution - study and ask about terminology and the structure of documents. There are many books available on topics such as naturalization and land records. Read them and apply what you have learned. To understand old terminology, consult Black's Law Dictionary by Henry Campbell Black. This is in most libraries and has been reprinted for many years.

Problem 10 - ancestors not found on large databases such as the Ancestral File, Inter-National Genealogical Index, and Social Security Death Index, will not be located elsewhere. Technology has in some respects advanced us beyond rational thinking. Solution - while these large databases are helpful, they should be used properly. Your ancestor may never turn up on a large data base. Check all geographical jurisdictions in as many repositories as possible.