Every once in a while somebody asks a question that forces a review of the work you have done in creating the family tree. Recently another subscriber at Ancestry.com inquired about the Howertons. He made me question our work so far on this civil war soldier that we have assigned grandfather status to. I went back and checked. Geography, dates, surname records, and DNA. Yep, I concluded our research is solid. The helpers Stella and I call geneological angels. I suppose we could call this Howerton researcher a genealogical devil's advocate.
Along the way I read "Rookie mistakes" at family search.org. I consider this group the bible of genalogical information. These Latter Day Saints do family research as a spiritual practice, not for profit. Their wiki tells me that I am not doing this Howerton search right.
1. I need a clear goal.
2. Search every member of the family for a complete build of the tree.
3. Use multiple spellings.
4. Ask: what kind of record can answer your question?
5. Ask: why?
Why are you even doing this search? What do you really want to know? Are you problem solving or scratching an itch you created by scratching? Do you want the distraction of lineage fishing at this moment in your life... and why.
Reading the FamilySearch.org wiki led me to DAR search. I learned that Daughters of the American Revolution applications were not vetted well in past times. Some lines have been closed. According to them two william Howertons served in the Revolutionary War. One from Essex Virginia and another from Morgan Kentucky.
Are either of them related?
Time and more looking will tell.
reference:
http://www.learnwebskills.com/patriot/worldpractice01.html .
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