Don't Overlook the Old Queries

Old online queries are rarely where I begin my research. 

Many online queries are unsourced, decades old, and can contain more speculation than evidence. Most of the time, I simply move on.

This was one of those times when I was glad I didn't.

I recently came across an old query about the Morehead family. It didn't provide any new proof, but it did catch my attention. As I compared it with my own research, I realized the researcher had already identified many of the same people and relationships that I've been documenting from original records.

That doesn't mean their conclusions were correct. What caught my attention was how closely their independent research paralleled my own. While every conclusion still needs to be verified from original records, it was encouraging to see another researcher identify many of the same people, relationships, and records through what appears to have been an independent investigation.

These old queries didn't provide any new evidence or answer any of my remaining questions. But they reminded me that potential can still exist in places I'd normally overlook. The next old query I come across may contain a clue, a record, or a research question that sends me in an entirely new direction. That's reason enough not to ignore them.

Source:

C. C. M. “MOREHEAD–COOK,” “MOREHEAD,” and “COOK” queries, Everton Genealogical Helper, 18 May 1957; reproduced in Ancestry, U.S., Family History Books (2025), Once Upon a Lake: A History of Lake Minnetonka and Its People (Title I1760762).