When answers to our genealogical research questions do not come easily, the elements of Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) can provide guidelines for evaluating the strength of our research and its conclusions. The GPS requires rigor in our research methodology.

In this case study, the parents of peddler Alexander Goodman, who first appeared in Lancaster (in the 1850s) and later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were unknown. No direct evidence of his origins was found in any USA records. No one record provided the answer. Efforts to solve this case involved utilizing many types of records for numerous people and several families in two countries over four generations. The solution lay in correlating evidence from many records and making the connections that the GPS requires. Now we have a family for Alexander Goodman!

About the Speaker
An archaeologist by training (B.A., and M.A.), Emily Garber is a Jewish family history researcher, writer and speaker. She holds a certificate from Boston University's Genealogical Research program and owns Extra Yad Genealogical Services.

Emily blogs at https://extrayad.blogspot.com/, has written two books and several articles that have appeared in Avotaynu and NGS Magazine. She has spoken at National Genealogical Society and IAJGS conferences and coordinated week-long Jewish genealogy seminars for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

She is chair of the Phoenix Jewish Genealogy Group, Vice President of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, and a director on the board of the Arizona Jewish Historical Society.