LAWS OF GENEALOGY

1. The document containing evidence of missing links in your research invariably will be lost due to fire, flood or war.
    
2. The keeper of vital records you need will just have been insulted by another genealogist.
    
3. Your great great grandfather's obituary states he died leaving no issue of record.
    
4. The will you need is in the safe on the Titanic.
    
5. The ancient photo of 4 relatives, one of whom is your progenitor, carries the names of the other 3.
    
6. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on last names.
    
7. You learn that great aunt Matilda's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogy material to a flea market dealer in New York City.
    
8. No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, always rented property, was never sued, and was never named in any will.
    
9. Yours is the only last name not found among the 3 billion in the Mormon archives.
    
10. Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.
     
11. The critical link in your family tree is named "Smith".
     
12. The 37- volume, 16000-page history of your county of origin isn't indexed.
     

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