Bette's message about the records for her Aunt Floy brought to mind the following information I had just received from Ancestry.Com. The article was about charts, and I had been particularly struck by the Discrepancy Chart. That's one of the things we run across a lot. Since I'm sending the one about errors, I thought I'd send a couple of others too. Mary-Gene Page DISCREPANCY CHARTS This is one of my favorite types of charts, probably because I have so many confusing ancestors. This chart organizes conflicting dates or places for one specific event in a person's life. My great- grandmother was supposedly born in five different places and charting this information made it easier for me to keep track of what record provided what place of birth. I find it helpful to list all various dates for an event along with where that specific information was obtained and who was the likely informant on that record. This summary helps me to compare all the information and determine as best I can which date or location is most likely to be correct. An article discussing discrepancy charts and two specific examples can be viewed here ( <http://www.genealogy.com/37_neill.html> ). ACQUAINTANCE SHEETS For certain time periods and areas, tracking an ancestor's acquaintances is an important part of the research process. Have you ever encountered the name of a witness on a relative's document and been sure that you have seen that name somewhere else before? Tracking the individuals who were somehow involved in your ancestor's life may help you determine where the ancestor was from, to whom he was related, or where he later went. Deeds, wills, bonds, and other records frequently have names of other individuals as witnesses, neighbors, or bondsmen. If the same names appear with your ancestor in Kentucky and in Virginia, there may be a relatively strong connection. A sample of an acquaintance sheet is viewable here: <http://www.rootdig.com/acquaintance.html>. CHRONOLOGIES Working an ancestor out from birth to death (including everything in between) is an excellent way to organize information and notice gaps and oversights in your research. Regular readers of the "Ancestry Daily News" are familiar with this approach as several of us have written about it before, largely because we know that chronologies are an extremely valuable genealogical tool and can be used in several different situations. Chronology articles from the "Ancestry Daily News": Step-by-Step: Creating a Timeline <http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=1644&key=A652901> Space-Time Continuum <http://www.ancestry.com/rd/prodredir.asp?sourceid=1644&key=A602401> GEOGRAPHIC ORGANIZATION Maps are essential to family history research. Mapping out all those locations in an ancestor's life may help you to see geographic areas that have been overlooked in your research. It may also help you to gain a better perspective on an ancestor's life. Maps organize information geographically; this is something that cannot always be done easily with only text. Things that appear inconsistent may not appear as inconsistent when viewed on a map. The different places of birth for my great-grandmother are in four towns in three states. However when viewed on a map all these locations are in close proximity to each other and are not as different as they appear on the surface. A picture truly is worth a thousand words. And a map may prevent you from wasting many hours of research time.