At one presentation I attended, the speaker talked about research showing that many genealogists enjoy doing puzzles. The similarity between doing genealogical research and finding the correct puzzle pieces when putting together a jigsaw or the right word when doing a crossword puzzle was highlighted. I was sold because I could remember doing crosswords and jigsaw puzzles back when I was a child, long before I researched my ancestors. Even today I still enjoy a good puzzle whether it is a jigsaw or a genealogical research question.
My Dad taught me how to do jigsaws the right way, by turning over every piece first, then putting together all the straight edged pieces to make the frame. So tedious! I wanted to dive right in and start putting things together right away.
When I started doing genealogy, I was also taught that there was a right way to do things. I was told to pick a few family lines and only research those. But I wanted to find out about them all, both my lines and those of my spouse at the time. I was not very good with arbitrary rules and decided to do research my own way.
It has been fun and challenging. It has also meant that I have uncovered a lot of puzzles as I progressed in my research. Besides trying to solve where in Ireland my Cavanagh line came from, I have more family research puzzles to work on as I plan for a research trip. These include plans to unravel the interconnections between my nonconforming ancestors, the Stranges and Devonshires, and trying to find out why a Dorset branch of my family decamped to one of the Channel Islands and what happened to them there. There are no end of puzzling events when it comes to family history!
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