Genealogy successes often require a certain amount of luck. Perhaps you've travelled extensively and made numerous visits to libraries and archives - but how often do you have a "Eureka" moment? The famous/infamous reputation of your relatives may pay off with a newspaper article now and then - and, if you are lucky, you may find it. Vital records, censuses and directories may also yield a number of key details about your family history. But to truly hit the jackpot, you need to try to find a published record of your relative's life story.
Biographies can include surprising amounts of information about a person. You might find birth and marriage details, names of children, occupational pursuits and memberships in fraternal or professional organizations. You might even find a photograph of the person. But you might be surprised to learn that a biography may also contain, as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story." I've seen examples where the story doesn't even focus a lot of attention on the person it is purportedly written about - it can tell about the difficult immigration of his parents from the Old World or business successes.
Some great examples of sites that post biographies:
American Genealogical-Biological Index
Archive.org
GeneaBios
Google Books
You may have to take your search for biographies off-line. Many books are available only in printed form and at certain libraries. It may take years to track those down. But you should never give up looking - finding a bio of your relative may be the best genealogy discovery you ever make. Happy hunting!
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