Look!! Up in the sky! It's a bird - it's a plane! No - it's Randy Seaver with another Genea-Musings challenge. This week our challenge (should we decide to accept it ...) is:
1) Answer the question: Do you have a genealogical "superpower." (i.e. a unique research ability or technique that helps you track down records or assemble conclusions that other's can't.) If so, what is it.
2) Tell us about it in a blog post, a comment to this post, a comment to Dean's post, or a comment to this post on Facebook or Twitter.
3) If you have a picture of yourself in superpower mode, please show it to us!
1. While I wish my 'superpower' was the ability to speak to those who have passed over to the other side, I have yet to perfect that talent (I continue to leave messages on the answering machine but no one returns my calls.) If I have a superpower it is listening for that 'inner voice' and my willingness to widen my circle of research. Many times the key to solving a family research problem is held by a sibling, a cousin or even a friend or neighbor. My willingness to step outside of the box (so to speak) and let go of what I know, or what I think I know, to explore a new theory has oftentimes rewarded me with a few steps forward.
Attempting to confirm the parents of my maternal great-great grandmother Margaretta Shankle Space was going nowhere until I researched all of Margaretta's siblings. A descendant of niece Nora Kegan had documentation that proved Margaretta's parents were Jacob Shankle and Rachel Click.
At the risk of sounding 'way out there' - listening to that inner voice has never let me down. I can't take credit for that superpower as, like most family researchers, I've experienced first hand assistance with my research that cannot be explained. That might make a great topic for a future Saturday Night Genealogy Fun?
2) Complete.
3) I seem to have misplaced my cape - probably in the same box with my crystal ball and Ouija board.
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