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| STANDARD SEARCH I trace your ancestry as far back as records permit and I double-check everything on original records. Please note that genealogists work back much than 1837 - which is as far back as many computer records go. The hard work begins where computers leave off, and we turn to paper records and microfilm / microfiche. Electronic records are not guaranteed to be completely accurate as much depends on how the transcriber/s interpreted early handwriting. Vital clues may be written in margins but not entered into computer records. Also with databases it is important to check spelling variations, otherwise we can easily lose the trail. In tracing my own tree we were stuck for a while until we found that one Worthington ancestor was written as Wotherington a few generations ago. In past times it was more acceptable to spell words and names as they sounded and this led to some surnames altering over time. A human genealogist can get results whilst computers struggle. |
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| PRINTED OUTPUT I provide a printed report which contains all information found about each family member, plus a family tree chart. This is all presented in an A4 binder in loose leaf form so that you can add pages to it at a later date. You may, for example, decide to concentrate on one surname to begin with, and then explore another branch later on. This is also a useful way to spread the cost of research over a period of time. |
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| COSTS The standard package fee covers at least ten hours research time, and this is usually enough to produce some surprising results. My work often involves travelling to various record offices. The costs for this are included in my fees. |
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| CERTIFICATES These are optional and are not included in my fees. Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates are usually available from 1837 onwards. They can be ordered online at £7 each. Alternativeley I can order these for you at no extra cost. Before 1837 we have to rely on Parish Records and various other sources. Certificates add extra interest but you can order them at a latter date if you prefer. |
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| FREE CONSULTATION This means exactly that. In most cases it is possible to trace ancestors back into the 1700's or 1600's. But if we are unlucky it may not be possible to work back very far at all, in which case I do not believe in charging for something which I cannot deliver. A free feasibilty search enables us to take an overview of the amount of records which exist for your surname in the likeliest parts of the country, and estimate how far back we may be able to trace. If the prospects look reasonable then the next stage is to see which of these are related to you. Chuch records are patchy. Some survived, some didn't. Some records were destroyed during wars and other conflicts. If your family has lots of plain John Smith ancestors then it can be hard going. Uncommon names are a dream to work with. Most of us are somehwere in between. |
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| EMAIL In case you are wondering why my email address is padded out with spaces, this keeps out the auto-spammers and robot-trawlers which would otherwise bombard me with junk email! Their email bounces back and fills their intray instead of mine. |
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| WEBSITES I can create a website so that your friends and relatives around the planet can view your family tree, including pictures supplied by you. Despite my reservations about ancestry computer records, I am actually a computer buff! It was my day-job before I became a genealogist ten years ago. I reccommend using 'freebie' webspace provided by www.freeuk.com and others. This way you pay no hosting fees. My own charges depend on the number of pages on your site. A rough guide is £80 per page. A simple site can consist of a single page and we could add more pages gradually. |
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