1. Buzzy Jackson Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist

2. Dig Deeper. How a series of primary sources led one genealogical researcher from the archives to the grave... and back again.

3. The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley. Primary Source Heaven:

4. Oral histories. START WITH YOURSELF: then (quickly) move on.

5. GO BACK TO YOUR ROOTS: First Google search for Emelle, Alabama: not auspicious.

6. CONSULT THE ELDERS. Keepers of the flame: Great-Aunt Selma (Detroit) / Aunt Mary (Kingsley, MI), Cousin Jannelle (Hattiesburg, MS)

7. GO TO THE SOURCE(S): The Julia Tutwiler Library, University of Western Alabama: Local history room. U.S. Post Office, Emelle, Alabama. The Jackson family homestead, Emelle, Alabama, 2008. “The bees were a-buzzin...” The Jackson family homestead, Emelle, Alabama, 2008.

8. Google search: “Sumterville Alabama Methodist Cemetery” FIND YOUR GRAVEYARD

9. DONT GIVE UP: Sumterville Methodist Cemetery, somewhere near Sumterville, Alabama, 2008

10. Born in Brunswick Co, Virginia Oct 17, 1763 and Departed this Life May 17, 1839 Aged 75 years and 9 months. RANDLE JACKSON

11. SEEK UNUSUAL SOURCES: DNA

12. FIND YOUR ANCESTORS: The Jacksons of Colonial Virginia (ca. 1670) Source: The Virginia Genealogist (Jan-March 1989, Vol. 33, No. 1)

13. HIT THE JACKPOT. My primary-source trail: Oral histories > WWW > Oral histories > WWW > Library archives > WWW > Local input > Headstones > DNA > = 13 generations of American Jacksons

14. Buzzy Jackson Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist