claude-plugins/genealogy/skills/genealogy-methodology/references/fan-strategies.md

# FAN Strategies and Community Reconstruction

Detailed guidance on applying the FAN (Family, Associates, Neighbors) principle and reconstructing historical communities.

## The FAN Principle

Your ancestor did not live in isolation. They existed within a web of family, business, legal, and social relationships. When direct records for your ancestor are scarce, the people around them often left records that mention, imply, or contextualize your ancestor.

### Family
- Parents, siblings, children, spouses
- In-laws (often co-located, often witnesses)
- Step-relations and guardians
- Aunts, uncles, cousins (especially in migration — families moved together)
- Godparents (in church records — often indicate close relationships)

### Associates
- **Legal:** Witnesses to deeds, wills, and bonds. Executors and administrators. Bondsmen. Attorneys-in-fact.
- **Business:** Partners, co-signers, buyers and sellers of land. People who appear in the same merchant ledgers.
- **Military:** Men in the same company or regiment. Officers who signed documents.
- **Church:** Fellow members, elders, deacons. People who witnessed baptisms or marriages.
- **Government:** Fellow jurors, road overseers, tax commissioners. People appointed together.

### Neighbors
- Adjacent landowners (from deeds and plats)
- Same census enumeration district (census takers walked in order)
- Same tax district
- Same church congregation
- People who migrated together (appearing in both the origin and destination)

## Building a Target List

A target list starts with the people you know and grows as you research.

### Starting a Target List
1. Gather what is already known about the subject from the tree and existing research notes
2. Check for an existing FAN cluster in the notebook
3. Add anyone from the tree who lived in the same time and place
4. Add names from any known documents (witnesses, neighbors from census, etc.)

### Growing the Target List During Research
Every document you examine may reveal new targets:
- **Wills:** Executors, witnesses, beneficiaries, people mentioned by name
- **Deeds:** Buyers, sellers, witnesses, adjacent landowners named in bounds
- **Census:** Everyone on the same page or enumeration district
- **Tax rolls:** People listed near the subject (often geographic neighbors)
- **Court records:** Plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses, jurors, judges
- **Church records:** Other families in the register near the same dates

When you see a name you recognize from the tree or from prior research, note it even if it's not directly relevant to the current goal. Record it in the journal under "Target List Updates."

### Managing the Target List
The target list is part of the FAN research plan. Keep it updated:
- Add new names with a note on where they appeared
- Mark names that turn out to be irrelevant (but don't delete — they may matter later)
- Note relationships as they become clear ("Thufir Hawat — witness to Paulus Atreides's will; appears adjacent in 10156 census")

## Community Reconstruction

Community reconstruction is the practice of mapping the social, economic, and geographic relationships in a locality rather than researching a single family in isolation.

### Why It Matters
- Records are community records. A deed book contains everyone's deeds. A census page contains everyone's household. Researching one family means you're already looking at the community.
- Migration was social. Families moved with neighbors. Finding where the neighbors went often reveals where your ancestor went.
- Naming patterns are community patterns. If three families in the same sietch all name sons "Gurney," it might be a local tradition, not a family connection.
- Witnesses and bondsmen reveal trust networks. The people your ancestor chose for legal documents were people they trusted — often family.

### How to Do It
1. **Start with a document, not a person.** When you're reading a deed book or tax roll, note everyone — not just your target.
2. **Map repeated names.** Who appears across multiple record types? Who witnesses for whom? Who buys land from whom?
3. **Track geographic proximity.** Adjacent landowners in deeds, nearby households in census, same district in tax rolls.
4. **Note migration clusters.** If three families from County A all appear in County B within a few years, that's a cluster migration worth documenting.
5. **Record it in the FAN cluster notes** in Librarian (fan/[person-place]/ structure).

### What to Extract from Documents (Full-Page Reading)

When examining a document page, extract for anyone on the target list:
- Full names (with spelling variants)
- Ages, dates, locations
- Relationships stated or implied
- Property descriptions and values
- Occupations or status markers
- Marks vs. signatures (literacy indicator)
- Witnesses and their roles

For people NOT on the target list but in the same document:
- Note surnames that appear frequently (potential community members)
- Note anyone with the same surname as a target list member
- Note unusual details that might connect to the research question

## FAN in Practice: Working a Will

A will is one of the richest FAN documents. Here's how to extract maximum value:

1. **Identify everyone named:** Beneficiaries, executors, witnesses
2. **Note relationships stated:** "my son," "my beloved wife," "my friend"
3. **Note property details:** Land descriptions (neighbors named in bounds), enslaved persons (named, may appear in other records), specific bequests
4. **Check the probate file:** The will is often just the beginning. Estate inventories, accounts of sale, guardian appointments, and distribution records follow.
5. **Research the witnesses:** Who were they? Were they family? Neighbors? Did they witness other documents for the same family?
6. **Research the executors:** Why were they chosen? Family connection? Business partner?
7. **Cross-reference the beneficiaries:** Do they appear in census, tax, or land records nearby?
8. **Note who is NOT in the will:** If a known child is absent, that's potentially significant (predeceased? already received inheritance? estranged?).