Murphy's Laws of Genealogy 
Submitted by Nancy White

1. The public ceremony in which your distinguished ancestor participated and at 
which the platform collapsed under him turned out to be his 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. You never asked your father about his family when he was alive because you 
weren't interested in genealogy then.
5. The will you need is in the safe on board the Titanic. 
6. Copies of old newspapers have holes occurring only on the surnames.
7. John, son of Thomas the immigrant whom your relatives claim as the family 
progenitor, died on board ship at the age of 10. 
8. Your great grandfather's newspaper obituary states that he died leaving no issue 
of record. 
9. Another genealogist has just insulted the keeper of the vital records you need. 
10. 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.
11. The only record you find for your great grandfather is that his property was sold 
at a sheriff's sale of insolvency. 
12. The one document that would supply the missing link in your dead end line has 
been lost due to fire, flood, or war.
13. The town clerk to whom you wrote for the information sends you a long 
handwritten letter which is totally illegible. 
14. The spelling of your European ancestor's name bears no relationship to its current 
spelling or pronunciation. 
15. None of the pictures in your recently deceased grandmother's photo album have 
names written on them. 
16. No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, owned property, was 
sued or was named in a will. 
17. 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." 
18. Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the 
data recorded. 
19. The 37 volume, 16,000 page history of your county of origin isn't indexed. 
20. You finally find your great grandparents' wedding record and discover that the 
bride's father was named John Smith.

(Debbie's Note: Only my opinion, but I think the following items belong on the list too!)

21. YOUR ancestor, just happened to be “on the lam” and living under an assumed name

22. In a 600 page book, containing 450 families and their migrations, your ancestor is 
the only one designated by “left the county for parts unknown”.

23. Your ancestor supported the family making moonshine and therefore didn't trust 
“government stuff or papers”

24. You found out that you descend from a long line of pyromaniacs, at least explaining 
the courthouse burnings wherever their trail led.

25. You found the vital family records and they are in a language that nobody has ever 
heard of before and therefore cannot translate.

26. When referring to the “mother country” of your ancestors, it means “behind the 
Iron Curtain” and not available to you in any way whatsoever.