• 1. The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be a hanging.
• 2. When at last after much hard work you have evolved the mystery that you have been working on for two years, your aunt says, "I could have told you that."
• 3. You search ten years for your grandmother's maiden name to eventually find it on a letter in a box in the attic.
• 4. The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic.
• 5. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames.
• 6. John, son of Thomas the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family progenitor, died on board ship at the age of 10.
• 7. Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue of record.
• 8. Another genealogist has just insulted the keeper of the vital records you need.
• 9. The relative who had all the family photographs gave them all to her daughter who has no interest in genealogy and no inclination to share.
• 10. The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was sold at a sheriff's sale of insolvency.
• 11. The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead end line has been lost due to fire, flood, or war.
• 12. The town clerk to whom you wrote for the information sends you a long handwritten letter which is totally illegible.
• 13. The spelling of your European ancestor's name bears no relationship to its current spelling or pronunciation.
• 14. None of the pictures in your deceased grandmother's photo album have names written on them.
• 15. No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was sued or was named in a will.
• 16. You learn that your great aunt's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer "Somewhere in New York City."
• 17. Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.
• 18. The 37 volume, 16,000 page history of your county of origin isn't indexed.
• 19. You finally find your great grandparents' wedding record and discover that the bride's father was named John Smith.

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