Two of my earliest genealogy research goals were to trace both my direct maternal and paternal lines as far back as I possibly could. This led me to discover so much about several ancestors in the process, not just direct line relatives. But two stories from my direct lines stood out to me in particular. One led to a fun little aha-moment, while the other uncovered a life story of struggle and resilience. 

If you’ve started to build a family tree and realized later on that some things just don’t seem right, you’re not alone. These aren’t colossal failures. They’re common misconceptions that many of us run into. I wanted to share three early missteps that changed the way I research, along with some context on how I learned to approach things differently. If you’ve made any of these too, you’re in good company.

Growing up, I was told that my great-grandmother’s family came to Canada to find work, like many of us were told about our ancestors. But the truth was far more personal—and shocking.

Once I started to become more serious with my genealogy research in my teen years, I started to uncover missing puzzle pieces that solved family mysteries. But this time, I found an entirely new mystery that revealed the true reason as to why my great-grandmother, her parents, and her sisters all immigrated to Canada. And that reason…