(Podcast & Video) Does this sound familiar? You sit down for a genealogy research session, full of excitement, ready to make some big discoveries. Then hours later, you’re still staring at the same screen, frustrated, with that nagging brick wall still standing tall. You’re definitely not alone. Let’s explore the seven of the most common genealogy mistakes that keep us stuck. These are mistakes that even experienced researchers make. I’ve made every single one of these, and learning to avoid them has been a game-changer for my own research.

Watch the Video

If you want to see my personal “big hair” mistake, go to the 20:30 mark in the video above!

Listen to the Audio-only  Podcast:

Download the Show Notes

Video and podcast show notes (Premium Membership required.)

Mistake #7  – Chasing every hint without focus.

You know exactly how this happens. You log into Ancestry or FamilySearch, and suddenly those little green leaves or record hints are blinking at you like they’re saying “Pick me! Pick me!” Next thing you know, you’ve clicked on ten of them, and three hours later you’re deep down a rabbit hole.

It feels like you’re being productive because you’re really busy. In reality, you’re scattering your energy everywhere. Those hints can be helpful, but without a clear direction, they can take you off course. And honestly, that type of work doesn’t feel satisfying.

Rather than going directly to the hints, take just a moment and decide what YOU want to know and work on that. That way the hints won’t be directing your efforts, YOU will.

Mistake #6 – Ignoring name variations and alternate spellings.

Previous generations didn’t always have standardized spelling of surnames. And the clerks who wrote down their names certainly didn’t worry about consistency. A name like Schmidt could easily become Smith. Kowalski might turn into Covalsky. It all depends on who is giving the information, and who is recording the information.

If you’re locking yourself into only one spelling, perhaps the one you’re most familiar with, you might scroll right past the exact record you need. It’s hiding in plain sight under a variation you had forgotten about or never thought to try.

Here’s a solution. Before you launch into your next research session, make a list of all the variations of the surname. Ideally you would be to do this on a timeline. For instance, in my family, the Burkett surname started out Burkhardt, and over the centuries ended up as Burket. So, depending on the timeframe I’m researching I have a better idea of the more likely spelling, while keeping all the possibilities on the table. Having this little reference guide handy is a big help.

Mistake #5 – Forgetting to research the FAN Club

Your great-great-grandparents didn’t live in isolation. They had neighbors on the census, friends who witnessed deeds or marriages, associates at church or in military units. These Friends, Associates and Neighbors are their FAN club. These people often hold clues. Their records may mention your ancestor’s participation in their event. If you stop when you hit a dead end and forget to look at the people around your ancestor, you’re possibly going to miss the one path forward.

Some of my toughest brick walls crumbled not because I found a new record for my direct ancestor (in fact in many cases the records just seem to run dry) but because I followed a neighbor or a witness and discovered my ancestor in one of their records. That connection tied everything together.

For example, maybe it seems like you’ve just  run out of records to find for your ancestor. You don’t know if they just died, or they moved away or something else. That’s a great time to look a little deeper into their FAN club. By researching your ancestor’s closest friend, you might locate their obituary in an old newspaper and low and behold there is your ancestor listed as a pall bearer! Now you know he’s still alive and may be living nearby.

Mistake #4 – Relying solely on indexed, searchable online records.

Don’t get me wrong: indexes on websites like Ancestry and FamilySearch are incredible time-savers. But they’re created by humans (or AI), and mistakes happen.

Plus, millions of records are still only available as browse-only images. Yes they are digitized, but you have to review them page by page because there is no index. And many records aren’t even digitized. They are offline in courthouses, archives, or church basements.

Probate packets, land deeds, local newspapers, unindexed court records…these are often the gold mines for breaking through brick walls. If you limit yourself to what pops up in a keyword search, you’re missing some of the richest evidence out there.

The good news is that AI is making huge strides in making previously unindexed records searchable.

Over at FamilySearch.org they have implemented Full-Text search with the help of AI. It’s been leading many researchers directly to information that previously would have required hundreds of hours of scrolling image by image. Even then, there are still more records across other websites that don’t have that capability. And many records are completely offline in archives.

Lear more about FamilySearch’s Full Text Search in my video Find Millions of Genealogy Records with FamilySearch’s Full Text Search

After you exhaust searching for your people by name, the solution is to shift gears from names to record collections. Start looking for the records that you think could contain ancestor information even though their names are not indexed, or the records aren’t currently online. This switch from names to record collections can open up the flood gates.

Once you have an idea of the kinds of records you want, skip the search box on your favorite website and go to their Catalog. This is where you can search all of the available record collections that they have, by topic, location and keywords.

You’re going to see a lot of potential records, and you might wonder “why didn’t that come up in my search?” That’s because searching with the search box can’t bring up records where your ancestor’s name isn’t indexed. And in the case of hints, only a small percentage of records on the website are actually included.

Mistake #3 – Accepting secondary information as fact.

Let’s say you find a detail in an online family tree. Maybe it’s a birth date or parents’ names. And it’s copied across dozens of trees. It feels sort of like a solid lead because so many people have it. But often, those trees are just copying each other, and sometimes it was an error from the start. Think of it this way: popularity doesn’t equal accuracy!

If your goal is accurate genealogy, then the Genealogical Proof Standard known as the GPS should really be your guiding light. The GPS advocates reasonably exhaustive research AND reliance on original or strong derivative sources. This means we need to always try to trace the information back to the original source whenever possible.

So, what exactly is Secondary Information? Well, there are two main types of sources: Primary and Secondary and you’ve got to know and be able to spot the difference.

Primary Sources are original materials from the time period or about the event. The information is coming from someone with first-hand knowledge. They were there. Examples of primary records can include diaries, letters, interviews, photographs, or the name of a baby provided by his mother.

Secondary Source information is coming from someone who might not have been there at the time the event occurred, and the information may have been collected well after the event. An example of this can include biographies, and newspaper articles.

And some records provide both primary and secondary information. For example, the person providing the information for a death certificate may be the grandchild. If they witnessed their grandparent’s passing, that witness information is primary. But if they provide their grandparent’s birth date and place of birth, that information is secondary because they weren’t there when their grandparent was born. They may have been told that information many years ago. We can’t just hope their memory was good.

Take the time to really get familiar with the difference between primary and secondary sources. If it’s secondary, get out there and try and find a primary source to back it up!

Mistake #2 – Not documenting your sources properly as you research.

Here’s the scenario: You find a census record that lists your ancestor’s birthplace or occupation. You quickly add it to your tree and move on. Then, months or years later, someone challenges you about it, or you find something that doesn’t line up with it quite right.

So, you look back at your tree and think, “Wait a minute, where did I get that from?” Suddenly you’re doubting your own research, and you have to redo the work.

Good source citations from the start save enormous amounts of time. A source citation makes note of when and where you found the information. It should include enough detail to be able to put your hands on that record again.

There are even more compelling reasons to cite your sources. One is when you hit a brick wall. That’s the time to carefully comb through the records you’ve already found to see if you missed anything. We have to remember that we are more experienced now than when we first found those records. With a second look, we might catch something we missed.

And the second reason is so that we can pass our genealogy onto future generations in a way that they can have confidence that it’s correct.

If you’re new to citing your sources check out my video on Source Citations.

Mistake #1 – Researching without a genealogy research plan or even a specific research question.

This is the mistake that really encompasses all the others we’ve talked about. When we sit down and just start “looking around,” hoping something will jump out at us, we end up wasting hours, duplicating searches, missing the most relevant records, and building family trees that feel shaky.

Without a targeted question like “What was the maiden name of Mary, wife of John Smith, married about 1855 in Ohio?”, and a step-by-step plan to answer that question, our research stays scattered and inefficient.

But when we have a focused question and a strategic research plan, everything changes. We know exactly what we want to find, what we already know, which records to prioritize, how to analyze conflicts when they show up, and when we’ve actually answered the question.

The wonderful news is that every one of these seven mistakes is completely avoidable. And the most effective way to stop aimlessly searching and start making consistent breakthroughs is by creating a solid research plan.

It doesn’t have to be complicated or take hours. In fact, I think that’s what really keeps most people from doing it. They think it will take too long. Or they aren’t sure how to structure it.

I really understand that feeling, because it kept me from doing it for years. Some genealogists talk about the need to do it, but they never actually say step-by-step how. I tried finding a template I could use but couldn’t find one. So, I did in depth research on what makes a great effective plan, documented the steps and principles behind them, and created my own comprehensive genealogy research plan template. It’s been a game-changer. When I’m faced with a new challenge, I grab the template, fill in the blanks and I’m on my way actually finding what I want to find again!

Let me tell you a little story. Recently, I took an online class because I wanted to learn how to play boogie woogie 12 bar blues piano. It seemed so daunting, but my online teacher taught this course in just 10 minutes a day. I thought, “well I have 10 minutes” so I watched and worked along with the video. By the end of the week, I was playing boogie woogie! I was amazed!

Everyone has 10 minutes and a week goes by either way, so why not have accomplished a goal by the end of it?

So, I decided this would be a great way to help genealogists take on the challenge of creating great research questions and even better research plans.

I took the work I had done for myself and created a short course called Create a Genealogy Research Plan in 10 Minutes a Day. It’s five quick, focused lessons that walk you through the entire process, and it includes my complete downloadable research plan template, the same one I use myself.

If you’re a Genealogy Gems Premium Member this course is yours, right now! Just log in and click Courses in the menu. The course has a retail value of $99, but you get it as a benefit of your membership, which is half that price.

If you’re not a Premium Membership and you’re tired of hitting the same brick walls and ready to feel confident and excited about your research again, I’d love to have you join us and take advantage of the course and the template. Join here to gain immediate access to the Lisa’s course Create a Genealogy Research Plan in 10 Minutes a Day.

Great genealogists need a great research road map, and this is it!

Our sponsors

Save 20% on Newspapers.com at Newspapers.com/GenealogyGems.

Archives.com

Genealogy Mistakes Avoided

Which mistakes do you suffer from most? Or do you have something else you wished someone had told you to avoid early on in your genealogy journey? I definitely want to hear your story so please leave a comment below.

And if you want to see my personal “big hair” mistake, go to the 20:30 mark in the video at the top of the page!

What to Expect from FamilySearch in 2026

Read the full blog post at the FamilySearch blog.

Visit FamilySearch. After signing into your free account, look for Experimental Labs on the right side of the home page.