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  • Professional Genealogists

    Anybody used a profesional genealogist? Was it worth the money?

  • #2
    my half cousin did and when i found her she told me of family i didnt knw of,yes she says it was worth it,if i had the money i would most certainly do it.but friends on here are as good i have found all mine through ftf brenda xxx

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    • #3
      Bearger

      I wouldn't consider using a professional genealogist - what do you mean by a professional genealogist anyway?

      I was sent a load of info from a contact in Canada on our Holden family. He had paid a "professional researcher" untold hundreds of ££££ over a 15 year period.

      I was completely dismayed when I saw what she had come up with. All very wordy but completely wrong - most of it was just guesswork, for instance "his father must have been John Holden" - eh??? Why? Where's the proof?

      The thing which I found completely inexcusable in a "professional" researcher was the glossary of Latin words she had given to help translate the earlier registers in Latin.

      "Puer" (according to her) meant "a pauper" (it means male child)

      "Ex pochia" (according to her) meant "out of pocket"! (it means not of this parish).

      She had not consulted any Wills - this family is knee-deep in them, nor had she consulted any Land Records etc - it was all parish register work and she appeared completely ignorant of the many important collections of papers in the Lancsbmd office.

      So, based on that, no I would never use a professional genealogist unless I had a specific question which needed an answer, or the research was overseas etc.

      Anyway - why pay when you can get help FREE on here!

      OC

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      • #4
        OC
        I started research into my familty about 5 months ago. My fathers side was very easy to trace all through the ScotlandsPeople website. My mother's on the other hand has given me two major problems, one was expected but the second (her fathers side) was not. I contacted a "professional" through another website, she only charged £10 for half an hours work which seemed to breakdown this particular brick wall. But on doing my own check I cant verify it through the census records!
        As I'm new to this it is very possible that I've missed something, so was thinking about asking her for more help/proof. At the moment I'm completely mixed up by the number of different births, marriages, death & census returns giving me possible family members downloaded from ScotlandsPeople.
        As you say I can put an appeal for help on here, may take a few days to gather up what I'm sure of and post on here.
        Thanks for reply.

        BEARGER

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        • #5
          Old crone Holden is right mine rakes opinion completely.
          Try to get contact with all living relatives. Question about all memories and documents, photos etc.. Some have into at all a corner still documents been able to this one serve you as a clue, Yours tries to concentrate on the places, let this one necessarily for you are. Professional "of genealogists" pay himself after effort - liability-free on a result! Prefer to pay the copies of documents, to bring this one into harmony with your ancestors obviously are. In the forum you find sufficient support for the different places. I also only can more and more frequent practice warn only money - then goods - about this one unfortunately - of American libraries. The result then is: We are sorry, unfortunately, but we could find nothing in our data sets. This sentence had been paid before with $ 15. Therefore itself the man or the woman is.
          Wolf

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          • #6
            Bearger

            The other point I forgot - professional researchers only use the same records that we do! They don't have some magic access to secret documents. (Although a good researcher will know of places to look and that's 90% of the battle usually).

            Put your query on here. I will be very surprised if we cannot help you between us.

            OC

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            • #7
              Bearger

              People on this website have found much more information on my family (for no exchange of money) than the professional researcher a cousin employed.

              All very pretty and wordy, but nothing I didn't have and not as much as this lot of FTF found.

              I did use a researcher for military research, and would use him again, but he DID have access to records that were not easily available.

              Please use this board. I'm sure between everyone here you'll get some results.

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              • #8
                Yet another point, lol - even the best, most professional researcher does not have the tiny bits of knowledge that one has of one's own family.

                I doubt very much if any professional researcher would have shouted eureka, or even noticed, a tiny "coincidence" in the lies told on a marriage cert, which enabled me to be sure I had the right man, and why!

                It was only because the man and everything about him was burned into my brain that I noticed and followed it up.

                My great grandfather paid for a professional family tree to be drawn up in the 1910s. It makes hilarious reading, especially the bit about the Holdens being descended from one Geffrye de Haldane, a MONK who came over with Willy the Conk! (The de Haldanes are a complete and distinctly separate family from the Holdens apart from anything else).

                It also missed out the tiny matter that my great grandfather's father was the illegitimate son of the village trollop.

                OC

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                • #9
                  OC...................only you could word it that way.............lol

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                  • #10
                    I have just organised to hire a professional for a search for me......we have agreed on the price which I was happy with and what was to be searched.

                    I had come to a brick wall in my research and was unable to get past it....so I was quite happy to pay for it to be searched.

                    Hopefully all will work out well.

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                    • #11
                      Ann Swabey, a member of this site,

                      who obtained my great-great-uncle John McCusker's army records for me from the National Archives is very helpful; and I think she has become as interested in him as I have
                      Last edited by Joy Dean; 11-06-09, 13:35.
                      Joy

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                      • #12
                        Thanks for all the helpful replies. I will post later tonight asking for help on this, but before that will double check what I have and positive about. I will also speak to the last living relative who may have some further knowledge.

                        Thanks again.

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                        • #13
                          I was considering it then asked the lovely lot on here and it kept them all busy for about two days before they came to the conclusion he was fibbing about where he was born and where he came from


                          And the best bit it never cost me a penny and they all enjoyed the hunt far better value in my book and alot more fun because I could still be a part of the infomation gathering process




                          Laura

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                          • #14
                            I used a professional, many years ago, pre-internet.
                            However, she acted purely as "my eyes" at the Norfolk record office. Norfolk had very poor coverage on IGI and so I sent a series of requests for BMD searches in specified parishes, within specified dates, for specified surnames.
                            I just received the raw data (if any) and did the analysis and "thinking" myself. I remained in control of the research.
                            The arrangement worked well and was much cheaper than me trying to travel to Norwich and also pay for accomodation.

                            I wouldn't have considered using a researcher to "do" my tree though.

                            Jay
                            Janet in Yorkshire



                            Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

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                            • #15
                              I think Janet has a point. If you need information from somewhere that is difficult or expensive to travel to, then it is probably worth finding an "expert" in that area. Some of the Record offices offer research, but may be expensive. I have been tempted by the military specialists that might unravel my Grandfather's war papers, but haven't given up on it myself yet!

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                              • #16
                                Originally posted by Trina View Post
                                If you need information from somewhere that is difficult or expensive to travel to, then it is probably worth finding an "expert" in that area.
                                I certainly could not have learned as much as I have about my mother's family in Ireland without the help of a professional researcher. However, the gentleman in question works exclusively on a small region (about 6 or 8 parishes, I believe) in southwest Cork, and consequently has an intimate knowledge of the families from that area. He also has access to data which is not generally available - e.g., his own transcriptions of parish registers and MIs.

                                My impression is that the more specialized a researcher is - either in terms of geography, type of records or occupational group - the more likely they are to find information that you might not find on your own.

                                HTH -

                                Tim
                                "If we're lucky, one day our names and dates will appear in our descendants' family trees."

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                                • #17
                                  I agree with that, Tim. The more specialised the researcher, the more likely they are to find what you are looking for.

                                  But these kind of researchers are not specifically genealogists, they are professional researchers. I still would not employ a professional genealogist - I want the fun (hunh?) of doing my tree myself.

                                  OC

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                                  • #18
                                    Posted my request separately under "Archibald McKinnon Ancestors". Was the site down for a while or was it my just a local problem?

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                                    • #19
                                      I also agree, I have had help from a very local genealogist in a specific parish in Ireland.
                                      The charge was very modest and he found very good information so that I could focus my searches the next time I could get to Ireland.
                                      I am very grateful to him. However there is nothing quite like DIY genealogy - what a buzz when you find someone, I wouldn't miss that for anything.
                                      I just love my rellies and they are there for me to find if i can!!!
                                      herky
                                      Researching - Trimmer (Farringdon), Noble & Taylor (Ross and Cromarty), Norris (Glasgow), McGilvray (Glasgow and Australia), Leck & Efford (Glasgow), Ferrett (Hampshire), Jenkins & Williams (Aberystwyth), Morton (Motherwell and Tipton), Barrowman (Glasgow), Lilley (Bromsgrove and Glasgow), Cresswell (England and Lanarkshire). Simpson, Morrow and Norris in Ireland. Thomas Price b c 1844 Scotland.

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                                      • #20
                                        Originally posted by BEARGER View Post
                                        Posted my request separately under "Archibald McKinnon Ancestors". Was the site down for a while or was it my just a local problem?
                                        Yes it was down for a little while
                                        Barbara

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