Professional Genealogy Services

We've talked a lot about how you can do your own genealogy research on this Blog. But what if you don't have the time or your health prevents you from conducting a thorough search? The good news is that there are plenty of folks who would be happy to take over the search - for a fee, of course. In an earlier post, I discussed the perils and rewards of pay-for-database-access. This post relates to hiring a researcher.

Perhaps the greatest warning I can give you before you pay someone else to research your family tree is that it can take an enjoyable hobby and turn it into a money pit. If you know exactly what you want to spend and what you want to discover, you can probably rest assured that it will be worthwhile contracting someone to help. But, if you are just beginning and don't have any background information at all, I would strongly recommend against hiring someone. You need to review some of the tips I've presented and complete those tasks before you ever contact a professional researcher - for example:

Conducting an Interview
Internet Privacy
DNA Testing
Publishing a Family Tree Online
Taking a Genealogy Vacation
Connecting the Dots...

If you can most research on your own, you can sub-contract out the "hard stuff" to someone else. Often, this will jump-start your research again and then you can continue without additional help. If you ask someone to do too much, though, you may eventually discover that you paid a lot of money for something you could have found yourself, using free resources - especially ones online (that is painful!). But, if you absolutely feel that you have hit an unbreakable wall, you might want to find a person who can get you to the other side. Here are some examples of professional genealogy services available on the Internet (this is NOT and endorsement of any product):

GenealogyPro
Heirlines
Heritage Consulting
Lineages
TreeMaker.com

I hope you are able to use these tips and resources to discover the pesky roots in your family tree. Use the Comments section to add additional links. Happy hunting!