I am always excited to receive questions about learning more our ancestors beyond just the facts.  Initially, genealogists look for the birth, marriage and death dates of ancestors. That’s a good thing. But, somewhere along the way, our research gets stuck. No more tradtional records can be found and brick walls spring up. We need to know more about our ancestors and the lives of those around them to get our research moving again.  We need to use other sources beyond traditional genealogy records. We need to know things like: Were they prominent in the community?   Were they upstanding citizens? Were they criminals?   Did they own a plantation…