Here's a couple of small things that can be, or at least can look like, a roadblock. 1. PATIENCE. My first (and only encounter) with the National Archives was productive, but I had lost hope. I was looking for any information about my GGgrandfather (see below). I got the form for making Civil War inquiries, filled it out, sent it in with my credit card number, and waited a LONG time, like 3 months. I never got a charge for the records search, and I never got a response, so I figured nothing found, and I was the loser. Then, one day, here comes the envelope, from the National Archives, with the discharge form for my guy, giving his place of birth (see below), and a physical description. I was overwhelmed. We finally knew where he was born (but we still don't know why). I had given up on the Archives, felt like I had been ignored by them, and didn't know how to follow up. My lack of patience put me into a foul mood, which was made better when they finally came through. 2. FINDING WHAT TURNS OUT TO BE THE WRONG GUY. With the Archives information (above), showing that my George Washington Howell was born in Maury County, TN in 1828, I (and others) started looking, and we found his family, and parents, and in-laws, etc., etc. (so we thought). HOWEVER, after about 2-3 weeks of looking and tracking and recording people in my database, I (and the others) realized that there were TWO George Washington Howells in Maury County, TN, at the same time. We had been recording the wrong one. Our excitement over finding ANY tracks got in the way of logical, methodical research. My guy shows up in Perry County, AL in 1850, and stays there. The OTHER guy stayed in Maury County, TN. When we started finding dates for him in TN after 1850, we knew something was wrong. Then, I had to undo some work. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT GUY (if you can), especially if it's George Washington Howell in the first half of the 19th century. That seems to have been a popular name for our family.