Please tell me this has happened to you!
I was working on my Jones/Bourne computer file folder last night. I was going over city directory pages from the 1890s. There were about 10-12 Bourne’s living in San Francisco total. Yet, I couldn’t link any of them to my tree.
Something kept tickling the back of my brain. I could have sworn I had information on William Bourne’s parents and siblings. My database had nothing.
I decided to root out the binder to see what I might have behind the family group sheets. Sure enough! I had three emails from Bourne researchers documenting William Bourne’s marriage to Sarah Desmond, his parentage, and his siblings. I’ve had this information since 2000! Why on Earth did I never input it?
Once again, I am reminded that it’s good to look over your research from time to time. Sometimes you forget to put stuff into your database. Sometimes the connections aren’t documented and you are waiting for proof, so you put something aside. Often times, you’ve got the data but some reason it doesn’t mesh. Something that feels fuzzy on one day, clicks on another.
So now, I have a few more names to work with. I can go through the census and identify the families then see if I can match them up to the Bourne’s in the city directories. And, then I can mark the Bourne’s as completed.
