On Thursday, I described steps I follow when revisiting brick walls, trying to find pieces that can be chipped away to finally yield the treasure for which I’m hunting.
There is no one correct way to approach brick walls. Many methods work. Here are tips from other bloggers and genealogy organizations and companies:
Expanding Family Lines Using Reverse Genealogy Techniques by Amie Bowser Tennant on The Genealogy Reporter
Hit a Brick Wall? by Cyndy Ingle on Cyndy’s List
50 Best Genealogy Brick Wall Solutions (Part 1) AND Part 1, Page 2, both on Genealogy in Time Magazine
Are You Really at a Genealogy Brick Wall? on Family Tree Magazine
Quick Tips for Breaking Through Your Genealogy Brick Walls on Ancestry
Overcoming Genealogy Brick Walls and Dead Ends – free, online PDF of a Powerpoint Presentation by Capital Area Genealogy
How I Break Down Genealogy Brick Walls on Bespoke Genealogy
Breaking Down Brick Walls with Location Based Genealogy by Drusilla Pair on Find Your Folks
13 Reasons You Can’t Break Down Your Brick Wall and Find the Family History Information You Need on Family History Daily
Tearing Down Your Brick Walls: Removing Roadblocks in Genealogy Research by Thomas Jay Kemp, free online PDF eBook on Genealogy Bank
Brick Walls on LDS Genealogy
Ten Brick Wall Tips for Beginners by Leland Meitzler on Genealogy Blog
Genealogy Brick Wall Tips on Walking the Genes
10 More Tips to Breaking Down a Brick Wall by Owain on Genealogy Guide
Your Genealogy Brick Walls – a Facebook group with over 12,000 members. You must have a Facebook account and join to post.
Remember, sometimes brick walls are here to stay. I can never get back any further than my 3X great grandparents in Slovakia because they were peasants who were illiterate, owned nothing and church registers only begin in their tiny villages in the early 1800s.
However, many brick walls can not only be chipped away, they often can be completely destroyed. This list could be endless, but I hope there are enough choices here to motivate you to get going on smashing through your own brick walls.
Turn your brick walls into ruins!