A Tilson To - Do List

 

Before launching into a new research goal, I find it helpful to draw up a list of steps I want to take and possible resources to locate. Now that we're into a new month, my March quest to connect my Tilson line to some passengers on the famed Mayflower will likely fill the entire month. Here are a few items I want to include on my Tilson to-do list.

First on my list is to check what I've already accomplished. Since this is a re-take on a research goal from past years, it will help to read through the posts I've already noted in this blog. (Yes, I have an ulterior motive for blogging.) Next is to re-assemble my resources which I had found in past forays, such as online books and scanned documents from past trips to Salt Lake City's Family History Library, to keep their links and hard copies handy as I work through this month's project. But most of all, I want to work through my family tree database to make sure I haven't missed any documents which may have been uploaded to online services since I last passed this way.

Once I re-orient myself to what has already been accomplished, the path forward will become more clear. One positive aspect of genealogical research is that every discovery seems to propel the researcher forward, every discovery prompts new questions and delivers new resources for the next step.

I anticipate delving into the online catalog of FamilySearch for records in the Virginia counties where the Tilsons once lived—but since many records previously available online during the pandemic have since been retracted, I expect to drive to my local library or one of the larger FamilySearch libraries in my area to access material at their location. WorldCat may also remain at my fingertips this month, although realizing that not all libraries participate in that consortium, I've remembered to look up what my own local library features in our genealogical reference section, too. Tax records, property records, and especially wills will be top of the list for documents to target.

While I get busy on this to-do list in the background, though, let's start tomorrow reviewing the line in my family which leads to those Tilson ancestors in question this month.