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Why Pay For A Genealogist?

With all of the information available online, it may feel unnecessary to hire professional genealogist–why not just do it yourself? For starters, the sheer volume of information online is overwhelming and difficult to wade through. It takes years of experience to understand where to go and what information is considered valuable and reasonably accurate. The easiest-to-obtain information can be misleading or simply wrong. Letting a knowledgeable professional weed through the research relieves you of the need to sort the good from the bad. And in the end, you have a family history with the sources and data to confidently keep building your tree.

What Am I Paying For?

When you hire a professional genealogist, you paying an experienced researcher for their time. Every research project will include the agreed upon hours of research, including a research report to review the findings or the lack there of.

Sadly, due to the vagaries of time, some historical information no longer exists or never did. Fires, floods, wars, even time itself can result in the loss of documents. And the further back we go or the more rural the area, the fewer documents were available to begin with.

This means that not all ancestors can be found or reasonably deduced. So, while we hope every project results in new family members and new stories to share, sometimes we can only share all the rocks we turned over to find them. Regardless, the final report will include all the research performed, which can be useful for future searches.

What Makes A Professional Genealogist?

Professional genealogists are not like doctors, we don’t require years of formal education and an expensive degree. But, like other professions, we need years of experience, in both research and documentation. Most genealogists come to their profession indirectly, turning a passionate hobby into a successful business (including Michelle!). This is means that we’ve had plenty of time to make our mistakes and learn from them!

When the hobby turns into a profession, the bar is set higher. Professional genealogists adhere to industry standards, perpetually continue their education, and are honest about research expectations. Clients can expect well-researched and well-cited results at the end of their projects and should feel confident in the information they receive.

How Is Genealogical Research Different From Historical Research?

In some ways, genealogical and historical research are identical–the researcher is hunting down historical facts and making educated guesses about what cannot be found. We often even use the same references and sources!

But in genealogy, our focus is on the individuals who make up our family trees. History is then the context in which they lived their lives. We cannot understand our ancestors without understanding the context in which they lived. But we always come back to the people and finding their stories.