The Newsletter of JJWP Consulting, Farmington Hills, MI
                                             Home Page           Who We Are          Contact Us


Beyond The Brick Wall
We've all been there! Its frustrating, annoying and sometimes makes you want to give up: the infamous Brick Wall - where you are sure you have reached the end of your research and there is no way around it.
Well right off the bat there are some things to remember:
1.There is almost always a way around the wall. Sometimes it will be easy to find sometimes not but it does exist so do not give up.
2. If you feel totally frustrated maybe you need to take a step back. Look at some other aspect of the family history or even take a total break (almost impossible to do, we know). The old saying about the trees and forest applies.  You get so focused on one issue you don't see anything else and need to allow your mind some time to settle down and relax. When you go back to the problem you may suddenly see something that wasn't there before (it probably was but you couldn't see the forest for the trees).
3. Don't be afraid to go back and recheck your data - there may have been two Phillip Cohens in London  (more likely a hundred but who's counting) and you may inadvertently have followed the wrong one.
4. There are a lot of people out there who can help you. Many have faced a similar problem and gotten around it. Use your resources - whether our Newsletter or one of the Jewish Gen SIG's - ask for help or advise. We once asked a question on the Jewish Gen Sig and had multiple replies the same day, which by the way opened up an entire additional area of research for us. Most people are more than willing to help but if you don't ask they can't reply.
5. Check for new sources of information. It seems like every day some organization is opening up more records, with more information and one might be just what you are looking for.
Above all else do not give up, take a break, ask a question, and recheck your data BUT don not give up. The answers you seek are there! You just have to figure out the  best way to find them.
Preserving History - Part One
Okay, you've got cartons of data. Your desk is so covered you can't tell if its wood or glass. What do you do with all this "stuff"? While your spouse might say otherwise, taking out a match is not a real good idea. All that "stuff" represents a lot of effort and you want to make sure you have it. Certainly you have to sort through it all and put it in some meaningful order. That could be by year, by family group or by type of document but you need to have it all in a logical order so you can find what you want.
Once you have that done you need to make sure that all the information is saved someplace other than in that carton on the floor - and this takes time - but you have the means to do it (if you are reading this you have a computer and probably a cd or dvd writable drive or some other data "container". external hard drive, flash drive, whatever. ) Scan every document and note setting everything up just as you sorted them - if by family group have a separate folder for each family group, for example. Now once you have all the data saved to your hard drive copy it to that cd or dvd or external drive - or more than one device to be safe. If you use a dvd or cd or flash drive, make two copies and give one to your best friend or grown child, someone not living with you  so a copy is preserved in case of a fire or other disaster. if you have your own web site, see if you can store it on the web site (most IP's are required to have multiple servers so your data will be doubly or even triply protected. Our IP for example, has separate servers in the west, east and mid-west so barring the ultimate calamity the data will not be lost.
One final step, go back through the "paper" documents and pull out all the original or certified copies of documents, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses and the like - they should be kept in a safe deposit box or vault of some sort. You can make a copy if you want for your own file but protect those originals! It could be costly if not impossible to replace them .

Contacting JJWP Consultants
To contact  us with a question, discussion topic or story for a future issue of the Newsletter or to request a proposal for us to become your consultants please complete our PDF form and submit it to us by clicking here
Alternative you may e-mail us at jjwpconsultants@inthegenes.org .














JJWP Consultants offer services for the research and publishing of  Jewish Genealogy data.
The In The Genes Newsletter is intended to be a place of open discussion of genealogy  as well as offerring the firm's consulting ability . JJWP Consultants may offer gratuitious suggestions and advice to questions or if the question is of the nature  would be of general interest may publish it in the newsletter with approriate responses. Submission of a request or question is a tacit agreement to  allow for the question's use in the Newsletter.
It is a primary goal of the Newsletter to enhance and expand the field of  Jewish Genealogy or Family History so that others may find the same satisfaction and enhanced knowledge of family and Jewish traditions that we have had over the past 12 years, as well as to promote the various publishing, research and consulting services of the firm






Copyright 2008, JJWP Consultants, Farmington Hills MI, All rights reserved. Reproduction by any means without written permission of JJWP Consultants or its authorized agents is strictly prohibited. The logo and masthead for "In The Genes" and "JJWP Consutants" is a trade or service mark of JJWP Consultants.