Nancy: The "FIRST STEP" in this article touches upon the task of one getting the information collected put into a coherent form. And how intimidating it can be for one researching the families who are ancestors, or related. But it doesn't say anything about the task of those of us who have gone "totally nuts" and are trying to trace ALL the descendants of one individual. Or ALL the individuals with ONE surname !!! I am presently closing in on having 20,000 names as SACKETT descendants and SACKETT spouses; along with some parents of spouses. Thinking this is quite an accomplishment ... I received a letter from Ed Phinney in which he said that he is closing in on 50,00 names of descendants of "Mother Finney" (ancestor of Mercy Finney m. 204-Reuben Sackett and of Joel Finney m. 644b-Anna Sackett). Ed says that publishers tell him that it would take 4 volumes of 900 pages each to cover all of his material !! And for the problem of making sure all of the pieces fit properly; that is where the mailing list is so great, and so helpful. One needs "other eyes" to help see inconsistencies that one will miss; just as with trying to proof read your own manuscript. As for the EYES FOR DATES I've found that the genealogy programs are very good at letting me know when there are suspicious dates like parent too young, birth before parents' marriage, birth less than 9 months from a siblings birth, & etc But I will say that, as a "history nut", the part that gets me "sidetracked" most often is the matter of local history and how it relates to those who migrated to, of from, a place. Why did they leave where they were? Why, and how, did they chose the place they migrated to? Researching this aspect of the movements of just my Sackett ancestors can be a daunting task. But trying to do this for the movements of the Sackett family as a whole becomes something like a "Mission Impossible". But ... Like I said; I'm a "history nut." So, let this serve as a request for information from those who have done research into the motivations for the migrations of their Sackett ancestors and how it relates to the history of their place and time. Thurmon