RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Puffin81 on Friday 01 February 19 20:27 GMT (UK)
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Out of interest has anyone ever paid for someone to do a little of the research? My huge brick wall at the is Ireland. I keep coming back to a particular section that I know has to be out there
Just wondering how you went about it and kind of cost
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I haven't, but a very distant relation did. It's a long time ago now but we'd both drawn a complete blank with her ancestor, who was in the army. She paid a specialised military researcher and he unearthed some fantastic stuff. This was at a time when there was no internet!! But my point is, he knew his stuff, provided copies of all documents, knew where to look, and thought outside the box. His biggest reveals were that the ancestor was born on board a ship but he was indexed as a GIRL, and the second, he tried to imagine how an Indian clerk would interpret an Irish woman pronouncing the unusual Surname of her new husband (Donkersley). He found the birth registered as Dinhersley. Worth every penny.
There will be good researchers out there as well as not so good.
Be interesting to hear of others' experience.
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Yes! 3 times.
1. My great-grandfather was a railway station master, and all relevant records are at TNA Kew.
It was cheaper and quicker to pay an expert to look for me.
2. My maternal great-great-grandfather was born in Jersey.
Again, it was quicker and cheaper to pay someone (CI FHS) to find records for me.
3. After my twin granddaughters were born, I needed to supply Guinness World Records with an "Expert Witness Statement" from a "Qualified Professional".
I supplied all relevant certificate, and did all the hard work. Said Professional simply rubber-stamped my paperwork! Cost me £25!!
Nowadays, the situation has switched, and I undertake paid research on Isle of Man queries ;D
Have you looked at all relevant sources of records in Ireland?
Check the Ireland Forum here on RootsChat for some hints.
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Yes I’ve looked all over, it’s been something I’ve been looking at for prob at least 5 years now.
I’m just considering is it worth hiring someone who like you say knows where to look, it would give me enough to point me in the right location
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I've just remembered, further to my post above, I once paid someone to get copies of some deeds from West Yorkshire Deeds Registry as it was cheaper for him to go in person and copy the documents than for me to travel there or pay for the copies, which at the time were extortionately expensive. He did a good job.
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Yes I have, many years back now, chose someone who advertised in the appropriate FHS journal and was ffhs or whatever registered but it turns out this doesn't mean much more than they can afford the registration fee. Unfortunately the records I wanted checking were at SOG rather than the county in question and he wasn't familiar with them. Waste of money (thankfully not a great deal), later I had to repeat the exercise myself.
Choose with care and check your researcher's familiarity with the records/area you want them to cover, you don't want to be paying for their learning curve.
Jane :-)
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Presumably you have already asked for help on rootschat?
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Presumably you have already asked for help on rootschat?
Yes, the problem I have is I have a little conflicting info, and not much to go on except Ireland.
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Years ago I paid a researcher. This was around 2004/2005 and she charged about £80 for 2 hour's research. I asked her to sift through some Westminster parishes 1780-1795 for a any baptism of someone with a certain name. She never found a baptism that fitted but she found a few baptisms of people with the same surname and gave me them. She asked if any of these people rung a bell and I said no. She said if she found a instance of the surname she did not like to just leave it in case it could tie in with my family. I paid her for what she had found, even if there was no baptisms of someone with a certain forename and the surname I was after.
I still used her service for a 1851 census search of Westminster, Holborn, Pancras etc, as the 1851 census had a name index at the FRC, and she said she thought she found my ancestor. I had already told her the name, and she had her last child in 1828 as I have his baptism which gives date of birth.
When she gave me the result, this particular person was born in about 1770, meaning she would have been 58 when she had her last child. The researcher said it is not unusual in those days to have a baby at almost 60. I then looked through the civil reg death indexes and found what seemed to be her death and the late husband's name was wrong and different occupation.
I then decided not to use this researcher any more. I do all my FH myself.
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That’s kind of what I’m thinking, how reliable are they and one day I’d like to think I get the answer which would be really rewarding.
But on the other hand, if someone who knows can break the wall what else will I find myself
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Yes, once a few years ago, and they only came back with the information which I had given to them. I have done my own research ever since. My opinion was it was a waste of time. Ask forums for help or persevere on your own.
Good luck
:)
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That’s kind of what I’m thinking, how reliable are they and one day I’d like to think I get the answer which would be really rewarding.
But on the other hand, if someone who knows can break the wall what else will I find myself
I do often wonder if some researchers just pick a likely candidate so they can charge you for it, or pick random people with the same surname instead of the name you are looking for, so they can charge you for each entry. This one said she thought she found my ancestor in the 1851 census, and I was very excited until the one she found was 20 years older than I expected her to be. The researcher had a photocopy of the census entry which deffo gave her age as 81 in 1851.
When I obtained her 1854 death cert, it said she was 85.
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Be very careful spending your cash.
With the internet these days it is so much easier to do your own research.
If the records have been lost somewhere down the years or were never recorded in the first place pre official registration then no one is going to find what does not exist.
Sorry to sound so gloomy.
Dorrie
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About 3 years ago I employed a specialist firm to have someone look at some files I knew were at National Archives. I picked the firm from NA’s list. I supplied the references. I had to pay for a mimimum of 3 hours work, which was £90 . I thought about that long and hard, but it would have cost me £50 to pay for a relative’s train ticket to get there and they would have been inexperienced.
I had asked for a quote from NA to copy them and that was more than the £90
As it turned out, the person assigned to my query was very interested in the problem as it was a bit different from her usual work, and she knew some other places to look, and those documents opened up other avenues of research. Used up all the three hours. I paid for another hour and by that time she was so riveted she did another couple of hours no charge.
The total number of files we eventually found was enormous, I would never have found them. So in all quite a lot of money, but I didn’t begrudge a penny. Especially as it knocked down a branch of a family tree that has been in circulation since the mid 1800s (and of course is available on Ancestry and everyone just takes it for gospel, but there are errors.)
A side benefit was that she taught me how to use the Discovery catalogue more effectively. Her words “it’s called Discovery because it takes so long to Discover how to use it”!
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I think like anything there will be good and bad researchers, and sometimes even the good researchers won't be able to find what you are looking for.
Mckha489's experience is a very positive one. I think that knowing where to look for records that are no online or for additional records is key to a good researcher, as is honesty in saying that particular records do not exist. Someone who I discovered was a distant cousin paid for a researcher to research a branch of his family history. This cousin sent me a copy of the research and I was fairly impressed - it seemed very thorough. I was also pleased that what I had found independently tallied with their findings.
There have been a couple of professional researchers on rootschat who came into question. One in particular had a flash website offering her services, yet she was constantly on rootschat asking for lookups from Familysearch! :o Suspicions were aroused because of her non stop lookup requests for unrelated people from a free website despite being told she could easily find this information herself.
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So basically you guys did the work she got paid 🤣😊😊. Sounds like a good business model
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Years ago I was stuck on my 3g grandparents who appeared in the 1841 census in Scotland. Both were born in Ireland. I used a professional researcher who'd been very helpful (for free!) previously when I was just starting out, to see if he could find out anything about them. £60 later - and a negative result, which didn't surprise me - that was, until 2 weeks later when I found their marriage - on the IGI!!
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Not strictly research, but I have paid a transcription agent in NSW, to obtain birth and marriage certificates from UK for me.
Possibly could have done it myself, but the person was recommended by the NSW BDM people as an authorised person.
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If you have a clear direction for your research, a genealogist would be useful to you. If you are just generally confused, then a genealogist would be an expensive way to bring you clarity.
Who / what are you researching?
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As I live in Australia and all of my past relatives were born in England I have relied on researchers frequently. My grandmother has been my brick wall and I paid a researcher to try and find information about her. She was not able to provide anything other than what I already knew and in her last report stated that some people did not want their background discovered and my grandmother was probably one of these. She was able to look through records that I would not have been able to look through and provided quite extensive reports for me and suggestions as to where I could further look if willing to spend money. I have also used a researcher from the Sussex area who was able to partly answer my brief. She did provide a quite extensive report and gave an insight into what living in Sussex in the mid 1800s was like.
I also use a couple of researchers to hunt up newspaper reports for me, quite often an article where there has been an inquest by a coroner and this has been reported in the paper. These have been quite simple where I have simply given the researcher the date of death of the person and they look through relevant papers at the archives. I have found this to be very helpful and well worth the money.
My most successful researcher has been a person in Canada. He was fantastic and well worth the money spent. He was able to find out what happened to a great Aunt and her husband and also their child. The great Aunt moved to Canada in 1926 and it was very difficult to find out when and where she died. He was able to find newspaper articles, access death records and provided me with a will. He also was able to find out about their adopted child and details relating to his wife and children. A great researcher who was persistent and determined to find out what I wanted to know.
I do conduct extensive research into the researcher beforehand to make sure they are well qualified to complete research. Although I have paid quite a bit over the years I do not mind paying for research where I am able to receive a professional and comprehensive report of findings. Another person is really looking for something, maybe something very small but significant, that I have missed.
RootsChat has been helpful and I have posted a few requests on this forum which have resulted in successful outcomes.
Regards Kaybron
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If you have a clear direction for your research, a genealogist would be useful to you. If you are just generally confused, then a genealogist would be an expensive way to bring you clarity.
I think this is the important point.
I have paid for research several times, and have always been pleased with the results.
Twice in Scotland, at the NRS to obtain copies of sasines, (I had all the reference numbers prior to the visit), and to search some kirk session minutes. Also a few times in England at Record Offices - in Lancashire particularly to search the Earls of Derby’s land records; and a couple of other record offices where I paid for their own researchers rather than somebodyelse to go in and do it (I found this usually works out cheaper!).
This was because it would have been impossible for me to visit the various archives.
I think the trick is to do as much research as you possibly can yourself, and then to be very specific if you do go down the researcher route.
I contacted several researchers prior to any visit, got their costs, asked if they were able to do the specified work, and then set a limit on how much I wanted to spend. You get a feel for those who might be helpful and reasonable, and those who wouldn’t.
IF you are looking for Irish records, you need to be confident they do exist, as has been mentioned. As you no doubt know, there are a lot of missing records.
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You have to be careful though! A good while ago there was someone posting on Rootschat in regard to a member of my family! Thinking this person was a relative, I gave her A LOT of my info, including some family photos and certificates !
It turned out, from a pm, that Unfortunately, or more probably fortunately, I learned this person was actually a professional researcher!! Too late for me, I'd already given it to her - freely and happily! Preying on the kindness and integrity of genuine RC members, while this relative of mine would have been forking out money to her, left right and centre! I had previously requested that she send me her client's (my relative's name and email address), so I could send her more info directly! No response the first time, but after another couple of tries, eventually she sent me the name and email address! I nearly fell off my chair when she said in the email that "by the way" she was a Professional Researcher. I sent a quick email to my relative, and told her about it, and recommended her to urgently drop the charlatan, and send any more family enquiries, either to me, or become a member on RC where she would never be asked for research payment, but would be given the best level of assistance and more, from clever, honest people, whose aim is to help and assist people, and not rob them blind. I still get angry about it.... so yes, please be sure that you are dealing with a genuine accredited and registered researcher, if you're thinking about going down that pathway!
So, YES, we certainly do have to be on the alert!!
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
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A few years ago I employed someone who professed to be a (registered and recommended) researcher.
Basically I wanted research done on a specific person prior to 1780 in Herts. I received some "lovely" census (the 1911 was particularly impressive!!) Also received copies of a militia list which he knew I had... I even received a recommendation to buy a copy of a specific document from the archives. (Said doc was actually dated 1853 and had been donated by ME to the archives.)
He charged £100 to prove that he had no idea what "research" actually meant.
There's a BIG difference between a "look up" and doing "research"
Anyway, it taught me a lesson ::)
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I have paid a transcription agent in NSW, to obtain birth and marriage certificates from UK for me.
Possibly could have done it myself, but the person was recommended by the NSW BDM people as an authorised person.
Sorry a c, but why would you pay someone outside UK when the price would probably equate to someone in UK getting a 'copy' rather than a transcription?
I feel those people take advantage of peoples whereabouts & yes, for a transcription you could probably have done it yourself?
Annie
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
That's a bit harsh barry! And unnecessary.
Not really within the ethos of Rootschat I feel, which is a site to try and help people with their genealogy problems.
I spend a great deal of my time doing genealogy, and do not have a lot of money, but sometimes there is no other way.
All the things I have paid for have been things that are not available on the internet (and probably never will be).
There are millions of documents in thousands of depositories in the UK that will never be digitised.
And if you live 12 and a half thousand miles away, how are you supposed to get to them?
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
I agree but there are 'professionals' out there who aren't 'Professional' (I've read many stories) & will feed the enquirer with rubbish, knowing/not expecting their work will ever be questioned!
I would like to know what gives people the title of 'Professional' as I'm pretty sure (well, I know) there are many non-professionals on RC who are much better than the 'Professionals'?
My brother paid a 'Professional' for a direct line tree (not too expensive) prior to realising I was doing our family history (we live 100s of miles apart) many years ago but there were flaws which I sorted out myself!
If I had opted to believe what my brother sent me when he realised I was doing our family history, I'd have a huge brick wall to this day but as it happens when he sent me his info. from the 'Professional' I had already found inconsistencies from different sources although I couldn't quite work out the facts (complicated at the time) but I did find the truth & the problem was 2 people with same forenames being classed as the same person!
Their surnames were different but both had been living in the same house (aunt & niece) & the 'Professional' had assumed the person in my 'direct' line had assumed the surname of her relative (married sister) which turned out to be just that, an 'assumption' rather than fact.
I was on top of the world when I eventually discovered the truth/facts which was quite a task at the time, believe me :P
I believe thoroughness in my own research was key as my brother didn't have the time nor knowledge of how to 'do it' i.e. thought it best left to a 'Professional'!
I will add, the 'Professional' did state he 'assumed' his outcome to be the case but with the tree provided to my brother there were no references to where the info. was found i.e. nothing I could check/relate to & my own research through SP (scotlandspeople) was the answer, all downloadable for d's (pennies) i.e. it does pay to have a bit of knowledge of how to do your own research.
Annie
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
I also believe this comment is a bit harsh and unnecessary. As stated previously by goldie61, it is a bit difficult when you live twelve and a half thousand miles away to conduct some research. I personally devote many hours to family history research and take my research seriously.
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As I said in my earlier reply (first reply on this thread), I have used researchers for particular problems.
Railway Records can get very complicated, unless you know what you are doing - so I had no problems paying a researcher on TNA's list.
The Jersey records I needed weren't available online; so again worth every penny. I donated a sum to the Channel Islands FHS, too!
Guinness World Records insisted I use a "professional" with qualifications. I don't have formal qualifications in genealogy; just 40 years experience!
Paid for 1 hour, and got our family added to the relevant entry in GWR!
(Most successive generations of twins - we tied the record! ;D)
For my own part, I am able to research actual documents at the Manx Museum for people.
I always tell people my hourly rate, then ask how much money they want to spend; then I do that amount of research. If they want me to continue, then we come to another agreement.
It's important, for me, to allow the client to be in charge of the amount of money spent!
E.G. I have a client coming from Australia at the end of the month. She wants 1 hour of my time.
But I have done some (free!) preliminary work to ascertain which part of the island her ancestors came from, and in which graveyard(s) some of them are buried.
I would rather have a satisfied client, than fleece them for a lot of cash?
Genealogy is my hobby; for which I now (sometimes) get paid for.
I realise that not everyone is a nice as me?! ;D ;D ;D ;D
Try to use researchers who are recommended. Or at least listed by the relevant archive.
Agree a price, and stick to it.
But also start with some firm leads - the more research you can do yourself, the cheaper it will be.
Finally please remember that what you are paying for is expertise ;D
I can (probably!) find more info in 10 minutes than most people would find in an hour or two ;)
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
I don't think Barry was meaning anything untoward regarding people at a distance for their own research but a general comment meaning it is beneficial to some who don't have time or knowledge of 'how to' & nothing more i.e. not a comment relating to all/anyone.
I will also add, there are probably many 0,000s of people (already doing research) yet to discover RC as a 'Genealogy' site which helps people for free, albeit many of us use sub-sites which cost us £s.
Many people are dubious about 'joining' sites they don't know of/never heard of, for obvious reasons i.e. it's not until a link pops up with a 'google' search which brings up RC & of course curiosity takes over.
Annie
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Guinness World Records insisted I use a "professional" with qualifications. I don't have formal qualifications in genealogy; just 40 years experience!
Paid for 1 hour, and got our family added to the relevant entry in GWR!
(Most successive generations of twins - we tied the record! ;D)
KG,
Of course we know about this but what I can't fathom is why GWR couldn't sit down with your certs. & see the connection...not rocket science so what is it which determines a 'Professional' in genealogy as I've read there are no qualifications as such to become a genealogist?
Annie
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Guinness World Records insisted I use a "professional" with qualifications. I don't have formal qualifications in genealogy; just 40 years experience!
Paid for 1 hour, and got our family added to the relevant entry in GWR!
(Most successive generations of twins - we tied the record! ;D)
KG,
Of course we know about this but what I can't fathom is why GWR couldn't sit down with your certs. & see the connection...not rocket science so what is it which determines a 'Professional' in genealogy as I've read there are no qualifications as such to become a genealogist?
Annie
It's their standard Terms and Conditions!
You need 3 Expert Witness Statements to back up any claim; one of which MUST be a professional in the relevant field.
They have a list of people they are prepared to accept statements from - a bit like the list of people who can countersign your passport application!
Son-in-law's father was a policeman; so he had long term police friends we could use.
Daughter #2 (not the twin's mum) works at the hospital where 3 of the generations were born; so she got a statement from a paediatric professional.
For the genealogist, I was in Bristol at the time and asked at Bristol Archives.
Linked up with a lovely lady! ;D
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KG,
"It's their standard Terms and Conditions!
You need 3 Expert Witness Statements to back up any claim; one of which MUST be a professional in the relevant field.
They have a list of people they are prepared to accept statements from - a bit like the list of people who can countersign your passport application!"
How strange when 'witness' statements overide genuine documents which are easy to follow (at least to us non 'professionals') ;) , must have been a bit confusing to say the least ???
Annie
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Like a lot of people, they are impressed by letters after a name!
Actually, I don't think GWR do much initial verification?
That's why they want an "expert" to do it for them.
Anyhow, I simply played along; took me 6 months to get it all through and I now have a framed certificate on my wall ;D
ADDED: The lady I used was not only a member of AGRA, but also a qualified archivist registered with the Archives and Records Association.
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PROFESSIONAL GENEALOGIST ... in one of the guidelines documents from a Privacy Commissioner's Office (a statutory authority) of one of the eight jurisdictions in Australia ....
If you are not researching your own family, but are undertaking family history research, pro bono or otherwise, you are a professional genealogist for the purposes of our various Australian Privacy laws and regulations....
Infringing those laws and regulations brings huge penalties upon you .... and ....
Well in Australia, your given, middle and surname, date of birth, home address, etc are all part of your identifying data and thus are private.
So, You dont need any formal qualifications to be a genealogist, just know how to effectively research other people's family history.
Whether you charge any fee is beside the point, the 'trigger' is ...if you are researching your own ancestors or someone else's.
I notice that the search engines at family search, ancestry etc do have some possible understanding of that concept as they mentioned 'your ancestor' near the blank box to fill in for the look up ....last time I looked.
JM
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Thanks for your feedback, I think I’ll wait for a little extra info to come back that might help then see if the roots chat experts can help. I think all I need is to find a birth and marriage record, maybe I can’t see the wood for the trees.
From reading your responses I think there is a good chance I’d end up with someone who found anything rather than coming back and saying they can’t find anything if I paid
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I am staggered by some of the stories on here!
I do what KG does, only in Northamptonshire, and research for someone if they ask, since I have the local knowledge. And it is horrible having to go back and tell someone you couldn't find anything, or nothing very much. But I would never dream of asking on Rootschat, my client could do that themselves.
I used to be a professional librarian. with a degree in that and Maths. The librarian bit taught me how to research, and the Maths bit, logic.
One thing Pure Maths taught me was never, ever, to make an assumption. "Therefore" had to mean just that - that the next statement was a logical certainty! I will point out to clients where there might be an assumption which could be made, and leave it up to them whether they want to make it, if there is really no other way through. Never make it myself!
All very useful in this hobby!
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
I also believe this comment is a bit harsh and unnecessary. As stated previously by goldie61, it is a bit difficult when you live twelve and a half thousand miles away to conduct some research. I personally devote many hours to family history research and take my research seriously.
How many miles away you are makes no difference whatsoever when it is all searching on the internet. Some people have never been to a record office, or Kew, or a graveyard.
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A professional researcher is beneficial to those who have no time/inclination for genealogy but have money to pay for the service.
I also believe this comment is a bit harsh and unnecessary. As stated previously by goldie61, it is a bit difficult when you live twelve and a half thousand miles away to conduct some research. I personally devote many hours to family history research and take my research seriously.
How many miles away you are makes no difference whatsoever when it is all searching on the internet. Some people have never been to a record office, or Kew, or a graveyard.
I'm sorry, but you can't possibly believe genealogy research is 'all searching on the internet'.
What's available on the internet is but a drop in the ocean of information that exists.
That would be very poor research indeed, and would mean those people would a) come to a standstill when records on the internet come to a cease to exist or don't exist at all; and b) would be missing out on a huge range of incredibly interesting information held in hundreds of depositories that may relate to their families.
If it were all 'on the internet' Rootchat wouldn't exist, as everybody would be able to find everything they were looking for without any help from people who do 'look-ups', visit record offices, pass on information they have private sources, etc etc ..................
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Internet ... well if the only resource available was the internet, I would not have any family history records at all... all the internet has provided to me is an armchair access to validate my own research. The internet gives me access to INDEXES to official records, and in some instances those official records have been digitised and uploaded, BUT there are kilometres of stored archives held at NSW State Archives that are not digitised, same at National Archives, Canberra and throughout each Australian state and territory, likely same around the globe.
My earliest "Australian" ancestors came to NSW in 1790s and several were excellent record keepers. None of the family's private papers have been made available to any commercial organisation, but many a PhD student has been given access, and the papers are on restricted access at the NSW state Library's Mitchell library ....
Family history when studied in context with local history, and more broadly can be a wonderful way to enrich our knowledge base, but armchair lookups at individual pages of primary source documents can confuse the beginner who has joined up any commercial website just to 'do their family tree' in a weekend, or even in a lifetime.
JM
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The internet is a useful tool but as said you have to expand it with further research.
I must be very lucky because my father's family came from Ireland mostly and settled in Dundee in the mid to late 1800's. Most of my records on his side come from Scotlands People and Irish Records.
I have visited the records office in Edinburgh in person and with the help of surviving family members have found the graves of a number of ancestors in Dundee and been able to visit and pay my respects.
My mother's family were all from the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland and the above applies to them too.
It is a lifetime journey researching your family history and you never stop wanting to find out more by whatever means.
Dorrie
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I think, its difficult for a lot of people to maintain this hobby without the internet. My local records office isn’t open on a weekend, I work full time. Searching graveyards is fruitless as so far everyone was too poor for a stone, then another of my lines goes to Ireland, I would have to arrange at least a weekend to travel, which would be expensive plus at this time I haven’t a clue where to look.
A few years ago this hobby would have been impossible for me
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Ah, but there will be other people on here besides me who did genealogy BEFORE the internet was invented! (yes, there really was such a time!), so it never really was 'impossible'.
And we did it when not living in the UK.
This involved hours and hours of scanning through microfilms at LDS libraries, for which we had waited weeks to arrive from Salt lake City. If the film wasn't available (and there were some places which steadfastly refused the LDS to film their registers), it also involved writing letters to the ministers of churches for them to see if they could look for and provide copies of BMD entries in the registers. All very frustrating and inordinately slow.
Now with a couple of clicks, lots of this kind of information can be found, so yes, thank goodness for the internet, and those websites that provide access to it, but remember that is not the be all and end all of genealogical research.
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Yes,
:) that would likely be back in the era of the SAE and the book of stamps and
:) the exchange of research within and between family history groups, and
:) the lookups for other members in exchange for requesting a lookup, loading a reel of film to wind through and the light going 'pop' ... or the last person did not check the reel and its back to front, or :) :) ... open the mail and they have sent you 10 pages, but not for your enquiry and next day you get fresh mail with apology wrong contents in wrong envelopes .. and request for you to post it back plus send more stamps ... postage stamps ...
:) :) Or be the committee member opening the mail, read through, figure out which member will do the lookup based on your own knowledge of their ability to decipher the enquirers scribble and be patient, polite, etc and gently handle a genuine response to the extremely abrupt demand for priority info....
JM
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You left off International reply Coupons IRCs in lieu of stamps.
And writing your letters in a duplicate book so you could keep track of what you had asked for
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And I also forgot ...Sterling cheques via SAG ... and carbon paper and blotting paper and ... blank forms to record your finds ...
Exciting times back then
JM
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blank forms to record your finds ...
Exciting times back then
JM
I've still got some of those! well you never know when all that information you wrote down from a film might come in useful! :)
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And waiting patiently for the summer or Easter holidays to come round - and then making sure a useful Record Office was within reach of where you were going, so that we could spend a day of the holiday at the archive! ;D ;D Good job it was a family hobby!
Taking Grandma to the archive with you, and watching her sat there with a baptisms BT and telling you all about the people listed there that she'd known as a child! Wish we'd had a tape recorder running, but in those days they were massive reel-to-reelers.
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I do know that record offices can offer a research service, which can come in handy if you live hundreds or thousands of miles from where your ancestors lived.
The more genealogy records we get online the better really.
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Very interesting thread...
I employed a professional research company to find out details of my great grandparents in Belgium - I had tried looking before, but was handicapped by not knowing where to look, and being unable to translate documents.
They came back with a great deal of information, copies of documents, details about the history of the time - expensive, but very worth it in my view. It wasn't something I felt able to do myself, and indeed after many years of researching, hadn't been able to do.
Yes, of course the generous researchers on Rootschat are very helpful and also expert - but you would be surprised (or not!) how suspicious people are.
A remote relative had some 19th century photos of her ancestors (they were just family shots, nothing of general interest to anyone else, really) and couldn't as yet afford to have them improved, I suggested she post here on the Photo Restoration Board, for the experts there to have a go.
She was unable to do it, so I did it for her, and there were - as I confidently expected - some really great results. When I told her to look at the thread to see, she was horrified that the photos were 'on the internet for people to see and steal', and her husband suggested that Rootschat would take the photographs and sell them to 'pay for' the restorations, as he couldn't believe they would be free.
I had the thread closed, and - probably over-sensitive - I said that I had been rather offended by the suggestion that I would recommend a site which would play fast and loose with her photographs (although I did say I had never come across photographs being stolen from families and copyrighted).
So I wonder whether there is suspicion about the help provided here - can it 'really' be free and generously given?
People perhaps believe that employing a 'professional' is safer :o :o :o :o :o
Congratulations to all Rootschatters who donate their expertise and time so generously that others can't believe it.
;D ;D ;D