Paying for Research

This blog entry is an important one - if for no other reason than it could save you money! I've hinted for a few months that you can find a LOT of genealogy information on the web without paying for it. Proper key word searches (coupled with knowledge of how to view cached pages and how to follow basic links into the deepest depths of transcribed-records sites) can keep you going for many years without having to spend a lot of money on this FUN hobby. Eventually, however, you may discover that the data you've found isn't trustworthy or doesn't contain enough to continue.

That's when you need to take a moment to ask yourself some crucial questions about what to do next. I've included a couple of brain teasers for your consideration:

Main versus Collateral?: If you are looking for your direct ancestors and hit a brick wall within the last 100 years, it is probably worth some money to break through to more distant relatives and records. However, if you are trying to learn more about Cousin Frank who disappeared in the 1920s, you may want to put that task on the back burner and move to another person. In either case, just remember that even if pay-for-research services are warranted, you can probably find useful genealogy data at Ancestry.com before you have to pay a professional genealogist.

What's Actually Online?: Some records just aren't available anywhere but the place where they were created. The Web has grown exponentially during the last few years but there are still pockets of records from Third World Countries, US States with privacy laws (etc.) that you can't find on the Internet even if you pay for a membership at Ancestry. That's crucial, too, since you could end up paying for a lot of data you already have. Instead, I recommend you consider putting your money to good use on a trip to your ancestral home-town (with pre-arranged meetings with the Parish Priest or Archivist).

Source Document versus Transcribed Index: Do you want a copy of a certificate? You will probably have to pay someone for it (online, library or genealogist). But are you about to pay for an online membership so you can see the family tree posted by "joe.smith (at) worldnet.com"? I would advise strongly against that, since the family tree may be full of errors that simply steer you in the wrong direction. Most likely, anyway, the person who posted the tree got the information from a source document you can access somewhere else.

The bottom line is: Be very careful not to get lured into memberships when the return is minimal. Don't get me wrong - there are lots of valuable resources on pay sites. You may find that your family research is at a point where you have exhausted all other avenues to continue. Great! That makes spending the money on a membership or professional genealogist well worth the effort. For the rest of us, though, there are plenty of interviews, libraries, cemeteries, microfilms (etc.) to review before we take the leap. Happy hunting!