Professional Genealogy
Professional family history research
We provide a professional genealogy and family history research service by subscription. You will receive reports including charts at regular intervals and a private online tree. Choose the direction the research takes and we will carefully trace your ancestors using the wide choice of online resources available to us as professional researchers.
Family history is about how people lived, worked and played in context with the world around them. People’s lives were and still are influenced by wealth and poverty, medicine (or lack of), politics, religion and location. People did not and do not choose where they are born or choose their parents – that is the lottery of birth. How their lives developed was dictated by many things outside their control and therefore it’s important for us to understand what influenced the decisions our ancestors made.
Our job is to try to bring their stories to life by understanding who they were. What shaped them?
What were the stresses and strains of the time? How did they live? What did they eat? How long did they live? What military conflicts touched their lives? Our approach to providing professional family history research is novel and we look forward to working with you.
The unique feature of our professional genealogy service is the availability of payment by a subscription that you can start and stop at any time which means there are no large upfront charges and you have the freedom to start and stop whenever you choose.
Background
A variety of TV programmes and rapidly expanding online resources have encouraged interest in genealogy and family history.
Many of us are intrigued and want to know more about our ancestors. What did they do? Where did they live? How did they live? Did they have money? If they did what happened to it? Were there criminals in my family? Were they famous or notorious?
For this type of research it is common is to quote a price for a project. For example, a package of research might be a four-generation report for one person with a fixed price. For the client that can be rather frustrating since it can leave unanswered questions followed by the need for another proposal and another quote for a fixed charge. The alternative is an hourly rate, but the nature of research makes it is impossible to say in advance how long things will take and it is unlikely to be a satisfactory approach in many circumstances.
Where time is of the essence, in cases of probate and inheritance for example, this is probably the best option but for general family history there is a better way that is fairer to both the client and the professional genealogist.
That is with a monthly subscription. You will be able to stop the subscription at any time. If we feel we have reached the end of the road – or perhaps top of the tree with a line of enquiry we will tell you and will stop taking payments.
Key Points
- This is a subscription based service where we build your ancestral tree over time in much the same way as we build our own.
- Subscriptions can be started and stopped at any time. If we think we have exhausted available records we will stop taking the subscription.
- We will research one surname at a time from your ancestral lines. Research as many names as you like one at a time.
- We do not generally carry out research on living relatives. The only exception is when we provide services related to DNA investigations where consent has been given.
- Bespoke reports are available where there are time constraints such as cases of probate and inheritance. Contact us if you have a specific requirement and we will be pleased to provide a quotation and timescale.
How much will it cost?
Monthly subscriptions start at £7 a month for DNA management and £10 for mentored research. For full genealogical research it depends on the potential volume of records and the research location.
Are there extra costs?
Birth Marriage and Death Certificates
Yes there can be. The cost of birth, marriage and death certificates that are needed to provide evidence. The cost of these varies according to type and the country in which the event was registered. It helps if you already have certificates for your most recent ancestors, ie parents, grandparents and siblings. And, of course, your own.
Other records that may incur additional costs are some military records and wills not available online. We will always explain why records are required and the costs involved. We will not order any documents without your agreement.
Reliable information
There can rarely be absolute certainty about the information found about your ancestors, but we take very seriously our responsibility to provide as accurate information as possible from the records available. We will not guess or assume relationships. We seek evidence and at the core of what we do is the Genealogical Proof Standard. You may wish to read the article in our blog about the nature of genealogical records. Our aim is to get as close as possible to the primary source of information to reduce the number of errors between the event and now.
Your information
We only keep your details for as long as we have a working relationship. These comprise the minimum needed to keep in contact with you for the duration of our relationship. We will not share you information with third parties.
See more about this on our privacy policy.