MURPHY'S  12 LAWS AS APPLIED TO GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH




1. The family you are looking for will be on the last page of the unindexed (of course) 
census film that you check. However, if you begin at the end of the roll, they will be 
on Page 1.

2. The microfilm that you have diligently searched page-by-page will have an index at 
the end.
 
3. All of your spouse's ancestors will be mentioned in county histories. None of yours 
will be.
 
4. If you need just one record, the microfilm will have page numbers. If you need 3 or 
more records, there won't be any page numbers and the records will not be in proper order.

5. The book you need most will be out being rebound.

 6. You will need item 23 on a microfilm roll that has 22 items. The rest of the film 
is continued on another roll that will not be in the drawer, and the librarian will 
tell you that it is "missing, and presumed lost."

7. Just before the entry you need, the records will end. They will begin again two years 
after the date you need.
 
8. If one brother is left out of the genealogy of a family, guess whose ancestor he 
will be?

9. If there is a family history on one branch of the family -- it won't be yours.
 
10. When you finally find the microfilmed probate records of your missing link to a 
rich and/or famous line, the book will be so tightly bound that you can only make out 
the first two letters of the name of the one who MAY be your ancestor.

11.  The researcher you hire to read the original records  at the courthouse will 
inform you that only the particular probate packet  you need is missing. 

12. During the last hour of your trip to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City 
you will find everything you've hunted all week for, but you won't have time to copy it.