By setting up a lineage worksheet, and documenting each statement of birth, marriage, and death as one goes along, the applicant is likely to find it all working out like a picture puzzle with a few missing pieces at first.
Meticulous documentation is the key to success in proving a lineage.
Family genealogies, town or county histories, are secondary source material, and are acceptable only when there are references to primary sources cited, or they are used only as back-up to primary sources.