Genealogical Research

Record Retrieval

Consultations

Photography

-----------------------------------

Before You Hire a Genealogist

Genealogical Research:

• Compile multi-generation genealogies [long term project]

• Research descendants of an individual

• Historical research to discover your family’s religion, occupations, income level, land ownership, associates, neighbors, and other details.

top

Record Retrieval:

• Providing photocopies of records when the location is known [record retrieval]




• Searching for particular records when the exact citation is not known [short term project]

top

Consultations:

• Review of family colonial or antebellum legal documents to develop new clues or research strategies.

• Review and analyze previous research to evaluate quality of sources and proof

• Review and analyze previous research and develop a new research plan

top

Photography:

• Photographs of your ancestors’ homes, churches, cemeteries and gravestones.

• Digitize your existing family photos.

top

BEFORE YOU HIRE A GENEALOGIST:

• Review what you already know about your family

• Decide what you want to know next

• Get an estimate of the possible time involved to find what you want to know [or find out if the records you need even exist] An initial evaluation of a project is complimentary.

• Please be clear about your goals and expectations.

• State limitations clearly. [“5 hours per month for 6 months, with a report each month”]

• Be sure that there is a mutual understanding about the scope of the project and agreement on the research plan.

• Make sure that you really know, what you think you know. You don’t want to pay for research on your “ancestor”, only to find that a family member was guessing at a relationship and the "ancestor" isn’t related after all. Be particularly careful about any information that is being passed around on the internet without a documented source, or with only another database listed as the source. Poorly documented information should be verified to create a strong foundation, before beginning new research. An hour or two spent documenting a relationship will cost less in the long term than many hours spent tracing the wrong branch.

top