The Cost of Hiring a Professional Genealogist
Over the nearly forty years in the professional genealogy business, one of the first questions asked by a potential client is, “How much does it cost to get a family history done?” It’s a good question to ask, but a difficult one to answer! For starters, we should point out that a family history is never really done. When we discover the answer to the proverbial question of “Who’s your daddy?”, it raises two more questions. Who were his parents? And so it goes on. Rather than having such an open-ended request, it helps to narrow the scope.
Narrowing the Scope of Research
We suggest having more specific research goals. Below are some of the requests we receive for research:
- My ancestors came from Italy (or plug in any foreign country here). I want to know the name of my immigrant ancestor on my (plug in a surname) line, and where in (foreign country) they came from. Then please research back further into early generations in the old country.
- My grandmother said her great-grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. I would like to join the Daughters (or Sons) of the American Revolution. Can you help me find the necessary documentation linking me to my Patriot ancestor?
- I want to have a decorative pedigree wall chart made, showing five generations on all my ancestral lines. Is that something you can do for me?
- My family has a legend of a (fill in the blank) Civil War hero, Indian princess, bank robber, etc. Can you help me verify that?
The answer to the above questions and many more, is an enthusiastic “Yes!”
Defining the Cost of Research
Then our question for the client is, “How many hours would you like for us to research?” The client sets the limit on the total cost by the number of hours they contract with us. Of course, the more hours we are given to research, the more information we can find. But budgets differ, and we accommodate.
Our hourly rate is $90, which is competitive with other reputable genealogy research companies. It is about half the hourly rate charged by the big corporate company that advertises on TV. Plus, we offer a reduced hourly rate for a twenty hour order, and further hourly rate reduction for an order of thirty hours or more.
Quality Professional Genealogy Research
Heritage Consulting Genealogy Research Services uses only seasoned professional genealogists for our staff. Each one has many years of experience in their area of specialty. We have researchers who specialize in British Isles, Italian, German, all of western Europe, eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, Latin America, as well as all areas of the United States.
There will be genealogists who charge a lower hourly rate, but do they have credentials? How many years of experience have they logged? Can they manage a research project that traces a family from California into New York and then into Italy? Or Minnesota into Norway?
At Heritage Consulting, we do whatever our clients ask us to do. They decide how many hours we will research, and they provide whatever information they already know about the ancestors in question. Our research projects culminate in a comb-bound booklet containing a professionally written, footnoted report that explains each step of the research process and the findings. A research calendar follows the report, listing the sources searched, with comments on the results of each search. Next in the booklet are the pedigree chart an
d family group sheets, followed by copies of the supporting documents. Each document is numbered to correspond with the footnotes in the report. Our website has some sample reports for preview.
Call us for a free 20 minute phone consultation regarding your family history puzzles. We would love to hear your story, and talk about a strategy. At Heritage Consulting, we are passionate about genealogy research!
Stan & Raquel Lindaas
Heritage Consulting
877-537-2000
www.heritageconsulting.com
I am interested in gifting the family a chart of family heritage for Christmas if this is affordable. I think that it would be a gift of importance for them and more appreciated than most.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Hello, my name is Joey Sparacio and I am Sicillian Italian. My father took the 23 and me dna test and it came up Italian, middle eastern, north African, Scandinavian, Iberian (spanish), and Balkin (Greek). However, the test cuts off at the year 1690. I was always curious if there was French ancestry in my family. we looked into my moms family and she is, italian, greek, irish, english, scottish, and german, but not french. Is it possible to trace back past the 1600s into the 15,14,13, and 1200s? If you could please email me or call me at 631-707-0471 that would be extremely helpful! thank you!
Dna test for me, Sue Myers, links to Amy Maccarron and Amy long, both of Jamieson family decent. Task is to confirm which Jamieson fathered my dad., Ronald Horn, aka Kenneth Donald Goodall.
My dad, Ronald Horn was adopted, born of Jessie Helen Goodall. She was a young girl from Scotland who came toChicago as a servant in the Jamieson family. I made contact with the family of Jessie Helen in Scotland who confirmed that she was treated poorly by the Jamieson family. My sister has posted an extensive open Jamieson family tree on Ancestry.com, and has made paternal assumptions based upon DNA percentages.
From her:
“I haven’t made but a very few changes in the last few months. I realized that there are two George Jamiesons that were born only a day apart and the picture of the googly looking guy that I had attached to him before was the wrong George. (Remember we didn’t think he looked like Daddy at all. ) I think the picture on his gallery now is the right George. I’m not sure at all who the birth father is but if I HAD to guess, based on the DNA amount of match to you of the Jamieson relatives, I would pick George Stuart Jamieson even though he was only 13 years old. This is based on the fact that you have a higher dna match to Amy Maccarron who is two generations from Daddy than to Arlene Long who is only one generation from Daddy. This is the only explanation I could come up with. “
Task is to confirm who is my grandfather. All of the research work is done- it just needs an evaluation by a pro.
Than you for your estimate.
Hello,
I’m really interested in finding out a little more about my family history, particularly my Native American ancestry. I was always told that i have Native blood in my family and recently confirmed this through DNA testing. I would like to be able to pinpoint exactly what tribe and a person if all possible. Is this something that is all possible? Both sides of my family come from Southern Virginia/North Carolina. Both sides claim Native ancestry.
I have a tree done I’m(my mom) is just stuck on one person. I can not find any record. Conrad Kilburg he came to the united states from Austria but Born 1863 Varjas, Austria Hungary and Dies 1903 ?? my mom has worked on it for a long time. Its on Ancestry.com She has been stuck for a long time on this person.. She knows the ship he came over on. She just cant find any Birth or baptism or death record…. My mom has gotten real sick and I would like to solve this one piece for her. I can share the tree if it helps quote a price
I have done research thru the Mormon Family Research library and Family Search web site. I’m satisfied with information about the family line from 1860 Minnesota census until now. My interest is in where my ancestor came from in Ireland, how he got to the USA and where he landed in the US, approximately 1840.
John Keily (b. 1809 Ireland, d. 10 Dec. 1884))(spelling has changed to Kiley approx. 1844) had a son in Pennsylvania in 1840, Timothy Keily. From there three more children were born in New York (not sure where in NY). The “Kelly” family show up in the 1850 census, Southport, Chemung, New York. Regardless of the change of spelling, all parent and children’s names match up with the Keily family listed in Minnesota census 1860. John Keily’s death record shows that he arrived in Minnesota in 1857.
My Family Search web page and history is William Britt Kiley (WB).
I hope this information is of help if we can reach an agreement for your help.
Hello and good day to you,
I am interested in having my genealogy tracked and I have found the cost to be astronomical.
I am from an American family- back to 1744 and I think 3x a DAR.
I would appreciate your guesstimate as to what can we do with a limited budget.
Thank you,
Anne Pauley
I am beginning a sincere search for the birth place of my Great, Great, Great, Great Grand Father Martin May Sr
Born 1760-1766 and died 1834-1838 in Yadkinville, NC.
We have a pretty good idea of his children and their children.
I would like to know what your approach would be to get the answer to this question?
Hello Ralph,
We would be happy to help you with your May family research. Give us a call at 877-537-2000 and let’s talk more about it.
Thanks so much,
Stan & Raquel Lindaas
I have a strange and mixed ancestry. I grew up believing that I was at least 1/4 Irish and at least if not more 1/4 German. The rest should be English / British. I did the 23 and me and found out that I’m 1/4 Irish and 1/4 Jewish / Ashkenazi. Then I joined Ancestry DNA to see the difference. I think 23 and me is more granular and Ancestry is more broad. But comparing my family tree with a predicted 2nd cousin I zeroed in on my Dad’s Genetic Father’s family. It matched up to rumors but not conclusively. I wonder how much it would cost for 2 things. 1. Finding my Genetic Jewish Paternal Grandfather. 2. Finding good documents on my maternal grandfather and grandmother. They were supposed to be originally from Rochester and we are from CT. I can’t seem to get beyond birth and death. I would like to just get a jump start on being able to find their origins in Rochester NY if even that’s where they came from. Really just looking for a jump start on those two points. My dad does not know and I feel queasy asking him if he even has a better clue than I have. I really think I have a little more of a clue than him on his genetic Dad.
on the 2nd point my Dad’s Paternal Grandmother and Grandfather from Rochester NY (maybe) Not my maternal GG Parents. I have a real good handle on Mom’s family.
I have some info English-Spanish info on my family Would like to put it together and not know how to do it. No need for deep research. Basically a writing story with some pictures added. Would like to have -not a price-, but an idea how much it might be. Thanks