How Do I Start With Only a Medal?

What to check first in this record

Start with a medal by reading its engraving and identifying its type, then searching the medal roll for the engraved name and number. The medal gives you a roll entry, and the roll entry gives you a unit to research.

Where a clue comes from a relative, note who supplied it and when. A clue supplied decades later carries different weight from one written at the time. If you cannot fix the unit or the dates, fix what you can and search on that, rather than guessing the missing filter to make the search feel complete.

The order to work in

Opening several records at once is how two people with the same name get merged into one timeline, so keep the work sequential and deliberate. Before the first step, gather every clue you already hold into one place. Steps taken with scattered clues produce scattered results.

1. Name the clue exactly: what it is, what it says, and what it does not say.
2. Choose the first record that clue points to, and note its reference before opening it.
3. Extract only dated facts from that record, and add them to a first timeline with source notes.
4. Let the first timeline choose the second record, and keep guesses in a separate list until a record joins them.

Dead ends to expect here

When two sources disagree and neither can be preferred, keep both in the timeline with a note. A forced choice now will mislead every later step. A record destroyed, a record never created, and a record held elsewhere look identical from a search screen. The catalogue description is what tells them apart.

If a published list and an original record disagree on a name, prefer the original, and note the list variant as a search term for future searches. If the same name keeps appearing in the wrong unit, the problem is usually a filter, not a missing record: widen the dates, or narrow by number, and try again.

How to read this kind of entry

An entry that gives a town but no county, or a camp but no town, is deliberately vague or locally obvious. Local knowledge, not a global search, usually settles it. A record that contradicts a family story is not necessarily wrong, and a story that contradicts a record is not necessarily false. Note both, and let dated entries decide, one at a time. A single sheet can contain several dates: the date of the event, the date of writing, and the date of filing. Keep them separate in your notes.

Where to go next from here

If you have reached the end of what this record type can show, say so in your notes, and name the record type that takes over from here. Check whether the next step is already answered in your notes. Reopening a record you have already mined wastes the session that could have advanced it. Research done slowly, with references, outlasts research done quickly, with enthusiasm. Choose the slower kind.