Concepts, Principles, Methods

Brick walls offer an opportunity to try all kinds of new things.  Over the years climbing trees [reaching 55 years!]  I have found various concepts and principles that have provided help in brick wall destruction.   This blog is an attempt to put these ideas into some form that may help other genealogist when they face their own brick walls.  Thus, it is called "The Brick Wall Protocol".

I would bet that there are lots of folks who have experience these brick walls, and have found ways to get around them.  It may be a method, or tool that has helped.  It may be a concept or principle.  This post is to ask those who have used [or discovered] these things to place a comment to this post. 

It may also be that there are those who are experiencing their own brick wall.  You might place a brief comment asking help from those who have been there before.

Please add your concepts, principles, or methods that have helped you get around those brick walls.

Location, location, location...

Names can be difficult at times, especially those Welsh names to those of us on this side of the great pond. (USA)  Many times, these names were given as locations to certain family members.  An example is Howel of Ruth, Rys of Leeswood, and Peter of Bersham.  Add names like Llweeni, Hawarden, Selattyn, Hanmer, Ellesmere, Wem, and Llanfair Dyffan Clwyd.  Where and how are these connected?  Brick walls, brick walls, and more brick walls.  Finding the location of each place with the family member, would help answer many questions.  Such is the drawing given below.

Drawn to scale, the various locations that had been thought to be spread all over the globe, were actually all within a very short distance to one another.  All these folks were almost within spiting distance to one another, as my Welsh family proved to be.  As different folks spread about my pages of research, the ones from the same "location" would more likely be related.  Location, location, location as they say in some fields, but it can also help in getting around some of those brick walls.