You find the following (very simple) pedigree of Samuel Nelson. You believe he is your great great grandfather. The year of birth is about what you expected and you suspected he was from North Carolina.

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Known	Conclusions	Clues

The answers to the above...

Of course, you will want to verify all of this information using other sources.

Fact	Reason for the Fact
William is nine years older than his wife Sarah	1815 is nine years before 1824
William died forty years before Sarah died	1865 is forty years before 1905
William died at about age 50	1815 to 1865
When son Samuel was born William was 35 years old and Sarah was 26 years old	1815 to 1850 for William 1824 to 1850 for Sarah
William was born in Virginia but moved in North Carolina by 1850	Assumption since Samuel was born in North Carolina
William and Sarah both died somewhere in North Carolina	Given on pedigree
William and Sarah most likely lived in or near Troy, North Carolina in 1850	Since their son Samuel was born there then
Sarah died at age 80	October 1824 to August 1905 (not quite 81 years)
Sarah’s maiden name probably was Collins	Since given on pedigree

Conclusion / Clue	Reason for the Conclusion/Clue
William and Sarah were probably married sometime between 1840 and 1849, probably in North Carolina	Assuming Sarah was at least age 16 when married and that they were married by the time their son Samuel was born, thus, will want check the marriage records for that time period
William may have been a widower before marrying Sarah	Since William was nine years older than Sarah, thus, will want to check marriage records between 1833 and 1847 for William Nelson
William’s parents probably lived in Virginia in the early 1810’s	Since William was born there, thus, will want to check various records of the early 1800’s for any Nelsons
Sarah’s parents probably lived in North Carolina in the early 1820’s	Since Sarah was born there then, thus, will want to check various records between 1800 and 1825 for any Collins
William moved from Virginia to North Carolina either sometime between 1815 and 1833 as a child with his parents, or, sometime between 1833 and 1848 as an adult	Assuming William lived in North Carolina in 1850, at the time of the birth of his son, he moved there from Virginia sometime between 1815 and 1850. If before age 18 (in 1833) then he would probably have moved with his parents
Since Sarah was age 26 when Samuel was born she and William could have had one or more children born earlier	Given that many women in this time period married by age 18 and had a child every other year, thus, will want to check birth records between 1842 and 1860 for any other children born to William and Sarah
Sarah could have married someone after William died	Since she lived for forty years after William’s death will want to check marriage records after 1865 records for a Sarah Nelson whose birth year would be around 1824
If Samuel was the first child that William and Sarah had then it is possible she could have had a previous marriage. Possibly she is the widow of a Mr. Collins.	Given that women of her era often married around age 18, thus, will want check the marriage records between 1840 and 1847 for a Sarah who was born around 1824
William is probably buried somewhere in or near Troy, North Carolina	Since that was his last known probable residence, it is at least a place to start checking cemetery records unless a military record is found and says otherwise
Due to the death year of William, he could have died fighting in the Civil War	Thus, will want to check the Confederate Civil War records starting with the North Carolina regiments
Sarah is probably buried in North Carolina but if she remarried she would have a different last name than Nelson	Thus, will want to check marriage records and cemetery after 1865 for a Sarah whose birth year would be around 1824

NOTE: For when you get to the sections covering Extractions and Relationships, note that this pedigree example has five extractions (3 births and 2 deaths) and three relationships (1 marriage and 2 parent-child).