1/1/2006
By Sharon Debartolo Carmack
Learn how professional genealogists conquer their toughest research challenges. We'll let you in on 12 tried-and-true tactics you can use to defy your own dead ends.
You were happily researching your ancestors, finding them in one record after another. Then just like that, you hit a dead end. You can't locate anything on that family anymore—it's as if your forebears disappeared from the face of the earth. You're stumped, frustrated and unsure where to turn next.
The good news is you're not alone. You've hit what genealogists have come to know as a brick-wall problem, and sooner or later it happens to everybody.