Staring at the Sun

Instinct would have most of us turn away or close our eyes if we glanced at the sun for more than a few seconds. If not for that instinct to redirect vision, our ability to see clearly when finally looking away would be significantly impaired. In fact, having a focus set solely on the sun for too long can severely impair vision and even result in blindness.

While doing family history research, it can be easy to arrive at certain conclusions before discovering the proper evidence necessary to substantiate them. It is important to speculate when no concrete evidence is available as this helps to drive research, but making definitive declarations without evidence to support them can impair further research. Instinct may even tell us that our vision needs to be redirected, but when fixing a focus on the wrong thing for too long, we run the risk of suffering from research blindness.

A man I once helped was certain that his ancestors came from Germany. All of his research focused solely on Germany, but he was unable to find his ancestors before they came to the United States in the late 1700s. He was even certain that this immigrant ancestor was 16 years old when he came to the United States, but he had no evidence to support that. This man spent years researching Germany, but saw no success. Admittedly, his ancestor was certainly a challenge to track down, but we eventually discovered that this man came to the United States from England when he was 18 years old. For years, he had researched Germany and became set on the idea that this would be where he'd find his ancestor. Unfortunately, by becoming focused on this idea for so long without having any evidence to support it, his research wasn't progressing. Focusing on the wrong thing for too long impaired his vision making it difficult to see other possibilities. Eventually, we did trace his ancestors back to Germany, but this particular immigrant ancestor left Germany for England with his family shortly before coming to the United States.

If staring at the sun for too long impaired our vision, we'd likely slow down until our focus improved. We may also need to rely on the help of another with clear vision to lead us wherever we needed to go. The same can be true when research focus has been set for too long on the wrong things or ideas. Getting a fresh and clear perspective can often prove to be just the right remedy for treating research blindness. Fortunately, an experienced genealogist with clear vision will know where to look and may ultimately lead you precisely in the right direction.