Help with brick walls

I hit a brick wall with my father's family almost from the word go - it took me five years to discover anything about his father's family but when I did so much more came to light. I've now hit another brick wall with the family but will keep looking. Also have come to a standstill with other research, there seems to be a gap in one family that I can't sort out and the other records were lost in a fire so am not sure I'll ever discover anymore about them. So if anyone comes across the Christie family in Cornwall before 1820, the Bartlam's in the midlands pre 1815 or can help fill the big gap in the Bagley family I'll be delighted for any info. The Bagley's were bell founders in the 15/1600s in Northampton then they go missing until they are found in Birmingham in the early 1800s as brassfounders.

Sometimes even now the passage of time breaks through the wall for you. I had been searching fruitlessly for years to find out about my dad's siblings who all died young. Then late one night (I do find family history keeps me from my bed!) I came across the names of two of the three siblings on a BMD site. They had definitely not been listed before and so I assume had recently been added by transcribers.

It was a major breakthrough for me as from that I was able to discover their living descendants and have now met a cousin and been able to expand my knowledge of our family. So do keep checking and re-checking - one day that knowledge may pop up when you least expect it!

I have come up against brick walls in my family research and am having a break but I do long to get back into it and consolidate it. The trouble is that I'm not very good at concentrating on one branch so tend to do a lot of juggling. One branch of my family has been researched (not by me!) back to the 1550s so Tudor times, and I find it amazing to look into what was going on in the world at that time. In another branch, in the 1880s I found that my g. g. grandparents had moved round the corner from their son, DIL and new baby, probably to help out, as both parents were working - some things never change! A very sad entry in the Scottish BMD register showed the death of a new-born baby boy who would have been my great uncle and 2 days later, on the same page, the death of his Mum following complications from the birth, leaving a whole family of little ones to be cared for. It's a fascinating hobby, but time-consuming and can be expensive.