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Finding a Professional Genealogy Researcher
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Thanks in part to the internet, finding a professional to research your family’s history isn’t at all difficult. The real problem lies in selecting between all of those you see. As you begin in your search, you will want to know a few things about the professional you are considering and the entire process as a matter of fact.
Most professionals do this part time and most will work alone. If they have many clients at one time, chances are that your job isn’t going to get the focus and attention that it might deserve, or that you want it to have.
Many genealogist will have a special area where they are best. One might do super work with native Americans, while another concentrates on British. The third may have no idea about the southern areas of the United States and thats where your family is centered. Needless to say thats the researcher you want to bypass in favor of another who has a different specialty.
The industy as a whole has no real professional standards for professional genealogists,. There are two places that will offer them certification or addreditation, however even without that certification someone can claim to be a professional and to know what they are doing.
Make sure prior to hiring them or contracting with them that you check references as you would with any other professional.
Most genealogists have no real set rate for their work. They will charge a fee for each hour they research, and combine that with processing costs such as the cost of a document fee, or to log into a site with informatin they need for your job. Most of the time it will be under 100 dollars an hour. If it goes a great deal more, you will probably want to really assess the return on your fees.
Lastly, there are no guarantees that their search will be successful or that you will gather the information that you want from the work that they do. While even the most careful genealogist deserves to be paid for their time, the chances of them coming up with an entire family tree are good, but it may not pan out the way you want it to.
