On Geneology:

The best way is to work backwards, yes.
Also, it is good to use other RELIABLE folks who have done the research already and work WITH them to check, confirm, and move the research forward (well, actually, backward and outward).

In my own case, as was noted in a past thread, there is a fair amount of research already done. I "fiddled" with it a bit, but was too busy with other things (college and graduate studies) to get as complex as I hoped and I gradually "fell out" of the work. For my cousin's wedding, his brother took time off and did the work further than I had done. He also confirmed all of my post-1800s suspicions (all in Georgia, USA). We are descended from a man named Joel Wages, born in South Carolina and moved to GA. Yet, no one knows exactly WHERE he came from. For over a decade, DOZENS of Wages looked and looked for ANY lead without finding ANYTHING. There are 2 Wages groups in SC (which SURPRISED everyone involved, as the numbers of Wages are SO small that we all thought we were the same family). One is German. This group was not known to be separate from the other until the Wages researchers spent years studying them and trying to see of there were any connections to Joel. The present descendants of that branch got interested in Genealogy and discovered they were NOT of the main, other branch that came down from Virginia. They, rather, came over in a separate migration.
The Wages researcher who did A LOT of work on the other (non-German) branch happens to be also a descendant of Joel, through a different son (and one I had emailed a bit in my period of research). Well, during this "dead" period, she researched and charted this branch back to a man named William Wages/Wager/Wagers (she has seen all three for him in the same source), who came over with 9 others as a group in 1691. One document is:
"WILLIAM WAGER Arrived Henrico, Co., VA Order Book and Wills, 1678-1693 Book 2, Pg 432. Peter Rowlett petitioned for 450 acres for importing 9 persons into colony: William Wager, Susannah Smith, John Unite, John James, Eliza Smith, John Potter, Thomas Nicholls, Eliza Clarke, George Smith.(cited in Henrico County, Virginia Deeds 1677-1705, Benjamin B. Weisiger III, 1986)"
NOW, NO ONE knows where William came from, though some THINK he may have been Scottish due to the OTHER names that came with him.
She, also, has good reason to believe that Joel is NOT of the German branch, but of the other mystery branch. It is hoped that the Y-Chromosone research may decide/prove once and for all. Once THIS bridge is crossed, HUNDREDS of Wages will be ESTATIC!!!
In this case, I trust her research, as what I looked at holds up (as does my cousin).
When I have time, inclination, and possible sources (people who may know something), I have asked about POSSIBILITIES as to where William may have come from and what holds water as worth looking into and what does not.

My point:
Sometimes a question is asked, that has A LOT of pertinant reason and research behind it. It may be VERY helpful to answer that question.
Mike DID that. She asked WHERE.
In the past, I have asked IF Wages/Wager/Wagers EXISTED in X group AT ALL. It may have been MADE UP too (The time provides the possibility that it was a Wallace or distiller (Wiskeyer/Uisger?) escaping the Mar/Erskine Jacobite Rebellion with an adopted "cover" name). The question is to eliminate possibilites, BUT I don't really want to get into all the details as to WHY I am asking.