Cluster Research

Tip of the Week

We would like to thank Anne Gillespie for her talk at roots Tech 2019. This topic was included in her notes.

Cluster Research

At RootsTech 2019, Anne Gillespie Mitchell talked about Cluster Research. In her handout, she explained:

Everyone has brick walls in their genealogy research:

• People who appear to have been dropped out of the sky.

• Women whose maiden names seem to be unknowable.

• Cluster Research will give you new avenues to break down those brick walls by researching family members, their neighbors, and; anyone and everyone with whom they were associated.

• Cluster Research explores methodologies that will help you uncover new information about your family.

We build trees that go back in time in straight lines:

• Everyone has two parents.

• Clues to finding the previous generation is not always found in the documents of the person you are researching.

• Your ancestor’s brothers and sisters may hold the key.

• Cousins, aunts, uncles; or, maybe the next-door neighbor.

• Even if you map the next generation, you may be missing part of the story.

Cluster research goes beyond researching one person and all of their ancestors. It branches out (pardon the pun) to everyone around them.