Why Should You Hire a Professional Genealogist?
While navigating your ancestral history, you may have learned how challenging and time-consuming it can be. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as creating a tree on Ancestry.com or sending in a sample to 23and me. Beyond these technological advancements, there are several common situations where people hit many brick walls that prevent their research from moving forward. Therefore, in this blog post, we’ll discuss the 6 incredible reasons why you would hire a genealogist for your research needs. It’s a rewarding experience when brick walls aren’t a daily occurrence, and you’re not spending every free minute you have researching.
Why Should you Hire a Professional Genealogist?
To Break down brick walls
A brick wall is when you've tried everything you know how to do but can't make the connection you need to make, for example, accurately identifying parents from another generation. Anyone who has attempted to trace their family line has unfortunately faced the dreaded brick wall at more than one point during their research. Brick walls are the killjoys that transform a fun and exciting process of finding your ancestors into a process that creates frustration. They test your patience, make you question whether you want to give up or continue, and are dead ends that can be exceedingly difficult to move past.
Yet, professional genealogists are master researchers whose expertise allows them to solve challenging genealogical problems and use their skills to overcome any roadblocks. Many brick walls can’t be solved with common genealogical sites like Ancestry or 23andme. Often, they need in-depth research and analysis that requires carefully looking at tax, land, and probate records - many of which aren’t available online.
To save time
Navigating your family history is not an easy process that involves simply creating an account and having every answer you want to appear without effort. Instead, it requires a great deal of patience and, of course, time. Unfortunately, many people don’t have the luxury to spend hours making connections through multiple generations to discover how their past links to their present. Or they may prefer to spend their time in other ways.
Whatever the reason may be, professional genealogists know the ins and outs of the time-intensive research needed to connect your ancestry. They know the most cost-effective and time-efficient ways of handling records not always available or easily understandable. Even better, if you have an important event coming up or a time-sensitive issue like discovering whether you’re eligible for dual citizenship, a genealogist can jump right in and complete it for you much more quickly.
TO GET ACCESS TO Skills and experience
Another common problem is proving your ancestral relationships before 1850 - this is a major brick wall that stumps even the most passionate and ambitious aspiring genealogists or hobbyists. Unfortunately, the census doesn’t include all the names in a family before 1850. Instead, it names the head of household, usually a male, and contains little to no further information.
It often takes time-intensive research to find and analyze records before 1850 to prove your parent’s ancestry. For example, probate records (wills and court actions), deeds, analysis of early census, tax records, military records, and maybe even early church records if available. If these records prove ineffective, professional genealogists will need to compile evidence into a proof argument that might indirectly prove parentage. Sounds confusing, right? Thankfully genealogists have high-level research skills that can overcome these obstacles, and this is one of the biggest reasons why you would hire a professional genealogist.
TO Navigate LOCAL OR foreign research
Do you need records from a specific archive that is far away from your home? This is a common reason to hire a genealogist. Or you may want to trace your ancestor’s lineage from Europe but are unsure of what happened to them beyond migrating to the United States.
At some point, your ancestors traveled from another location and spoke a language you may not know. You may also find records written in several languages - hello, brick wall. Professional genealogists can help you move past these obstacles. They work with one another for referrals, network with other professionals to complete research in various countries, and can get translation services for multiple languages. This is a helpful skill because they can trace your ancestry beyond their migration, receive more information from their country of origin, and link your family history to another country - so exciting!
TO Understand how your family fits into history
More often than not, people want to invest in their family history to create a legacy for their children. Perhaps they have a family business and want to document their business's unique history, plus reveal any ancestral connections. Professional genealogists can help you establish historical context and receive more information than you could with your current access to databases. For example, they can unfold mysteries, explain family secrets, and connect your family to historical events. You may also be surprised at the amount of information still available within and beyond the internet. For example, a professional genealogist can help you determine:
The land your ancestors owned hundreds of years ago
Obtain a passenger list when your ancestors crossed the Atlantic
Learn about the migration trails they might have used
Receive information about their everyday activities (Many events were reported in the local paper, similar to social media today)
Discover information about their careers
And so much more!
When I became a professional genealogist, I learned one of my ancestors made cloth from wool and flax by reading his probate file. I also learned that another ancestor was a hog farmer in the mid-1800s from an agricultural census. By helping a client, I discovered their ancestor was a farmer who, in his mid-50s, studied law and changed careers. Another client was also surprised to learn that her grandfather was part of the 1920s Chicago political machine.
These are all interesting facts that come from deeper research and knowledge of less-common sources.
TO Enjoy valid results without the stress
Finally, why you would want to hire a professional genealogist is to determine whether your research is accurate. There has been a lot of poor research completed over the years, and it is spreading at the speed of the Internet! One reason for this is establishing identity. For example, common mistakes occur when trees connect people with the right name, but insufficient research doesn't determine if it was, in fact, the right person - occurs more often than you might think.
Also, perhaps you’ve completed an impressive amount of research or inherited some work completed by another family member, but you’re unsure if everything is correct. A professional genealogist can meet you halfway, review your research, find any possible errors, and set you down the right path.
Having a fresh set of eyes can provide different perspectives, help you cover any holes in your research, and help you ensure your sources are credible and trustworthy. If they find an error in your family tree, you can feel confident knowing your research is in good hands - plus it’s always interesting to receive expert feedback.
Experiencing any of these obstacles in your research?
Currently, you may be researching your ancestral history and building your family legacy. As you may have already discovered, learning more about your past and the lives of your family members is a rewarding experience. For example, learning how your grandmother served as a nurse in the civil war or how your great-grandfather immigrated from Lithuania to Illinois provides another layer of who you are - the gift of genealogical research.
If you need more information, including how much it costs to hire a professional genealogist or how they can personally help you, please schedule a free consultation with my team at Heritage Bridge. It would be an honor to help you navigate any brick walls, save you time, gain access to older research, or any other obstacle preventing you from receiving the information you deserve. We can’t wait to help you!