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Time to get inventive.
There is absolutely no substitiute for information gotten from the principles. A knowledgable person can give you more information in 15 minutes than you could track down in years of research. And, individuals know things for which there are no records.
To do genealogy you need basic facts. One very important fact is EXACTLY where people came from. Without that you are dead in the water. Once people are gone their memories go with them and some of what they knew will never be recovered.
So my advice is to devise whatever gimmick you can think of,an appeal to family history, tears, pleadings , whatever to get the information you need.
It is not nice to lie to your mother but I would do it in a heartbeat if I had another chance to get my late mother to talk.
If elderly people do not suffer from mental deterioration they have occurances of old memories popping into their heads for no reason. They suddenly remember things that happened when they were little kids or the time they went to Niagra Falls in 1922. Also, inquiring about people or occurances from long ago often triggers a similar reaction. Within a short time they recall things they hadn't thought about in years. Ask a question and come back in a week and ask it again. If the person being queried is normal thay will have ginned up memories of the person or occurance in the query.
You have a choice. Figure out a scheme to get the recalcitrant to talk or settle for what little you can dig up on your own.
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