Filed under Starting From Almost Nothing: A Method Guide
What to check first in this record
The single best next step is the one that fixes a filter: a service number, a unit, or a firm date. Any step that adds a filter makes every later search sharper, while a step that adds only a story does not.
Keep the question narrow. A search for everything about a person returns nothing usable, while a search for one dated fact returns something testable. 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. Before you search, decide what would count as a match for this person, and write that standard down, so a near match cannot quietly become a match.
Working through it in order
Keep your notes in the same order as the steps, so that a later reader, including yourself in six months, can retrace the work. Alternate between personal records and unit records as the steps require. Personal records fix the person, unit records fix the place and the date, and both are needed. Write down the step you are on, in plain words, before you take it. A step you cannot state plainly is a step you do not yet understand.
- Name the clue exactly: what it is, what it says, and what it does not say.
- Choose the first record that clue points to, and note its reference before opening it.
- Extract only dated facts from that record, and add them to a first timeline with source notes.
- Let the first timeline choose the second record, and keep guesses in a separate list until a record joins them.
What are the common dead ends?
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. A transcription error can hide the right entry completely, because you search for the correct spelling and the index holds the wrong one. Try variants deliberately.
- A very common name with no second filter.
- A spelling variant the index does not use.
- No hint at all about which service to try first.
- A first search with filters too narrow or too broad.
Making sense of what you find
If you cannot read a word, mark it unread rather than guessing it. A guessed word, once written into a timeline, is very hard to dislodge. Check whether an entry was written by the unit, by a clerk, or by a later compiler. The writer decides how much weight the entry can carry. Dates decide meaning here: the same title, rank or place name can shift across a career, so anchor every term to its date before you interpret it.
What to open after this one
If the next step is unclear, return to the timeline and find its weakest link. The weakest dated entry, not the most interesting gap, is what to strengthen next. A next step that is easy is not necessarily the right one. The right next step is the one the timeline needs, and it is often the awkward one.
Keep the person, the number and the dates together as you move to the next record, and re-check them on arrival. Filters drift when they are carried in memory. When you close this guide, close it with a question written down. Questions written down become next sessions; questions remembered become lost sessions.
Primary sources for this guide
Claims in this guide are kept general and point to official holders, so you can check the current position with the holder itself. This guide is general educational information only. It is not personal professional advice, it does not offer a record lookup service, and it does not determine any individual's service.