Last month we reported on an O'Neal Cemetery found by Jerry Miller in rural Pennsylvania near Cleareville. (Volume 1, Issue 1, September, 2001). Cousin Kenneth O'Neal set out on Saturday, October 13th to find the cemetery.

Here's Ken's report, sent Sunday, October 14th........

Went to Bedford Saturday, got there about 1:00 o'clock. Found road # 2018. It is named Fenton Rd.,2 miles South of Everett.  But could NOT find cemetery. 
Not many people were home in that are, guess they were either at Fall Foliage Festival in Bedford or Festival in Everett. 
Did talk to several people, but none know of this cemetery. One man,  a Mr. Calhoon knows a Fred O'Neal,( don't have him in tree) and tried to call him for us , but he was not home. 
Stopped at another house and talked to people named Robbinette. They bought their house from a John O'Neal 20 years ago. They told us of a Leroy O'Neal  (he is a relation and in tree) who lived up road, but he was NOT home. 
We did find a overgrown  cemetery, buried in blackberry bushes. Dug out several SPARKS stones, but have no info on them in Family tree. 

Cuz Ken

This was rather discouraging news, but then on October 22nd, Ken sent the following message.........

Just received a call from Jim Calhoon, a man we met when we were looking for the O'Neal Cemetery near Everett. He found the cemetery. If the weather holds will try to go back in the next few weeks. Will let you know what we find.

Ken

Thanks a lot for the reports, Ken. We'll keep you posted on this as events progress. 

One of the more frustrating aspects of  pursuing genealogy is the ratio of "HITS" to what I call "NOT RELATED." 

In the month of October I met and corresponded with three researchers who I was actually able to find links and/or possible links (HITS) to.  Two of these were secondary surnames. (One Whip and one Lauderbaugh.) One was a possible hit, and was placed in my "MAYBE" file.. 

Then there were the Not Related researchers. In October I was contacted by and corresponded with 8 different researchers looking for O'Neals. All 8 turned out to to not related. I remember thinking that if this were a baseball game my stats would be terrible. In October I got two walks, an unearned hit and 8 strike outs.

Not wanting to be negative, I thought "what good could come out of this?"
The answer soon became obvious. Instead of tossing the notes taken on these not related persons who I had just spent hours researching, I started a NOT RELATED FOLDER and dumped the info joyously inside. 

It wasn't a week later when I got a mail asking if I had any info on a John Britton O'Neal. Lo and behold there he was in the not related folder. So, my strike out now became a home run. Sure it may have been a run for the other team, but it was a triumph for me. I was able to connect two researchers looking for the same guy and to provide them with the info I'd tucked safely inside the not related folder, instead of the trash can.. 

I soon found another use for the not related folder. While searching, I found a Charles O'Neal, born in Maryland and moved to Pennsylvania. I thought, "Md to Pa? He's got to be one of ours."  I looked in the not related folder and there he was. I wonder how many times in the past I've looked someone up, and then repeated the exercise months later.

I guess the point of this article is not to waste your time and research, save it. While it may not help your effort directly, it could help indirectly. It's a win-win situation.