Genealogy Research Tip: In my genealogy classes I teach that one of the cornerstones for laying a good foundation in any family history research is the birth event. It is one of the most important life events that we should research in documenting anyone's life.
For instance, what makes you unique is that you are born on a definitive month, day, and year; at a specific geographic location; given a birth name by your parents; and are the child of a set of specific biological parents.
Do you know anyone else in the world that has your date of birth and birth location and the same full name? Of course, you don't. In order to extend a person into a previous generation (i.e., parents) we need to get the birth event information right. I call this the "genealogy fingerprint. "
When researching your family if you lock any part of or all that information in, that will then help you sort out your John Smith from the rest of the John Smiths in a specific community.
Another consideration that I just thought about for the birth life event is that a child born at a specific location means the mother was also at that location at the time of the birth. But it does not necessarily mean that the father was there at that same time. You cannot assume that the father was present at the birth or even in the same town. In fact, you also cannot assume the father was even alive at the time of the birth.
