Family history can be fickle. One day you’re in hot pursuit of Great-great-grandpa -- cruising along the internet and collecting names, dates and places for your pedigree chart from one genealogical database after another. And the next day your online search results drop to zero. You encounter relatives who give you the cold shoulder. Your paper trail ices over. But it doesn’t have to be the end of the line. If the search for your ancestors has hit the deep freeze, follow our six steps and watch those brick walls melt away.

1. Keep track of time.
A timeline helps place your ancestor’s life in historical context. Enter each event in a person’s life so the series will be displayed chronologically. A good timeline should include: