Is it possible that you are a researcher who thinks that your “regular Joe” ancestor would not have done anything notable enough to have produced a federal record found at the National Archives?  Yes, you have searched the most common federal records that are well known and easy to find.  But it may be that you haven't completed that "reasonably exhaustive search" unless you include more than those usual federal records.  It really is a myth that our families weren't important enough to be in records preserved at the National Archives! 

Join us Linda MacIver as presents on getting more out of federal records.  Linda serves as the New England representative for the Essex England Record Office. Linda is an educator, lecturer, librarian, genealogy researcher and native of Manchester, NH. Linda is the Civil Records Director for Federal Records for the Massachusetts Genealogical Council and a member of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) and the Essex (MA) Society of Genealogists (ESOG.) She serves as the New England Representative for the Essex (England!) Record Office. Linda has a BA in History from the University of New Hampshire, an MEd from Boston University and earned her MLIS at Simmons College.