Setting a goal
You will soon realize that the genealogist's work is exponential and can go in all directions.
So you will have to set yourself limits if you want to do a quality work.
The following points are only examples of choices to be made to delimit a research perimeter that can be achieved in a lifetime.
Whose genealogy?
Define whose genealogy will be developed:
- Yours
- Your wife's
- Your family's, starting with your children or grand children
- That of a close relative
- A friend's.
Over how many generations?
Define the number of generations to be identified:
- All the way back to the great-grandparents
- Back to Independence day, the French revolution, the first English settlers, back to William Shakespeare birth, etc.
- Back to the Middle Age or William the Conqueror
Which branches?
Define branches to be identified:
- All
- Paternal lineage only
- Maternal lineage
- Specific ones
What descendants?
Define from which ancestors you wish to identify descendants and cousins :
- From the highest ancestor found
- From Great-grandparents
- From all ancestors found
What level of detail?
Define the level of detail to be obtained for each individual
- According to its generation
- Systematically have the sources of all acts
- Only Birth, Marriage, Death
- The maximum number of events