Hiring a Professional Genealogist
Your family history is important to you. You want to know more about your ancestors. What countries did they come from? What are their stories? Do you have any famous ancestors? Or perhaps infamous ancestors? Maybe a little of both!
The Internet can provide some of the ancestral names, birth dates, marriages and death dates, to a certain extent. Most people don’t have time to research their own genealogy. They have careers, families, homes and yards to maintain. Maybe someday, when life settles down, one can finally get around to it, perhaps as a nice retirement hobby.
Then there’s the problem of not having access to records, beyond the ‘low hanging fruit’ on the Internet. You may not live in the same area where your ancestors lived, which might require traveling, perhaps to several different places. And reading that old handwriting can be a real challenge.
Career Professional Genealogists
True professional genealogists are more than hobbyists. They are trained in the school of decades of experience. They make their living and pay their bills by researching people who lived long ago. They distinguish between ‘proof’ and ‘evidence’. They strive to locate ‘primary source documentation’. They are cautiously skeptical of pedigrees posted online, especially those without original source documentation. They are a distinct profession unto themselves. They go to a dentist for dentistry, an auto repair shop for car maintenance, and they obtain legal advice from an attorney. The dentist, auto technician and attorney would be wise to trust their genealogy research to the career professional genealogist. It makes good sense.
There are professional genealogists scattered all over the country, and in most parts of the world. How do you choose where to look for a genealogist? Your ancestors may have been scattered in various locations, and they most likely migrated from place to place. For those reasons, it is usually best to hire a professional genealogist who researches at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The Family History Library is the largest repository of genealogical records in the world, and it houses records from all over the world. A professional genealogist researching at the Family History Library has access to records in Iowa for your Scandinavian ancestors. They can follow your ancestors into Minnesota, and eventually into Sweden, or whichever country the clues point to, all under the same roof.
Beware of Pitfalls
Anyone can call themselves a professional genealogist, simply by researching for hire. Beware of new upstart companies, who claim to have thousands of genealogists all over the world. There are many so-called genealogists without credentials, or the benefit of many years’ experience. If they have a website, look for sample client research reports. How are their writing skills? This is a very important aspect of the profession. Do they have the technology skills to take advantage of newer software and subscription research websites? Ask plenty of questions.
Also, beware of the large corporate genealogy conglomerate that charges exorbitant hourly rates, based on their name recognition. They have a professional sales staff, who are not genealogists. They sell research projects, but are not qualified to give realistic expectations to potential clients. This type of company pressures their genealogists with long hours and quotas. They hire many newly graduated genealogy novices.
Heritage Consulting Professional Genealogy Research Services
When you call our toll free number, you will speak directly with a professional genealogist. We will give you realistic expectations based on our many decades of experience in family history research. We have been in the research business for nearly forty years. We have only seasoned professional genealogists, who support their families with this career they love. Our genealogists are skilled in various areas of the country and the world. Learn more about them on our website, www.heritageconsulting.com. Call us today at 877-537-2000, and let us hear your story, and your family history goals. Heritage Consulting would love to be your genealogists!