Can Someone Research My Family Tree for Me?
Yes. You can hire a professional genealogist to research your family tree for you. Whether you are just beginning your family history or have spent years trying to solve a difficult research problem, professional research can help you find records, evaluate evidence, and build a documented family history.
What Does a Professional Genealogist Do?
Professional genealogy involves much more than searching for names in an online family tree.
A genealogist begins with what is already known about a person or family and develops a research plan based on the question being investigated. Depending on the project, research may involve census records, birth and death records, marriage records, newspapers, military records, land and probate records, immigration records, church records, historical collections, and other sources.
The goal is not simply to find people with matching names. Records must be compared and evaluated to determine whether they actually refer to the correct individuals and families.
Can Someone Build My Family Tree From Scratch?
Yes. You do not need to have an existing family tree before hiring a genealogist.
Research can begin with information about you, your parents, grandparents, or another known relative and work backward one generation at a time. Names, approximate dates, locations, family relationships, photographs, certificates, obituaries, and other information you already have can provide useful starting points.
Even incomplete information can often be enough to begin.
What If I Already Have a Family Tree?
An existing tree can be extremely useful, but it should be treated as a starting point rather than proof.
Online family trees sometimes contain information copied from other trees without documentation. One incorrect relationship can then be repeated across many different websites and trees.
Professional research can examine the records supporting those relationships, identify conflicting evidence, and determine which conclusions are supported by the available documentation.
What Records Can Be Used?
The records used depend on the family, location, historical period, and research question.
Common sources include:
Census records
Birth, marriage, and death records
Church and cemetery records
Obituaries and historical newspapers
Wills and probate files
Land and property records
Military service and pension records
Immigration and naturalization records
City directories
Court records
Historical maps
DNA evidence when appropriate
Sometimes the most useful evidence comes from records that were created for purposes completely unrelated to genealogy.
What Happens When Records Disagree?
Conflicting information is normal in genealogical research.
A person's age may vary between census records. A surname may be spelled several different ways. A death certificate may give different parents than a marriage record. Two people with the same name may live in the same county at the same time.
Rather than selecting whichever record appears most convenient, the evidence should be evaluated together. The reliability of each source, when the information was recorded, who likely supplied it, and how it compares with other evidence all matter.
This analysis is often one of the most important parts of professional genealogical research.
How Far Back Can a Family Tree Be Researched?
There is no single answer.
How far a family can be traced depends primarily on the records that survive. Some families can be documented for many generations, while others encounter gaps caused by missing records, migration, boundary changes, courthouse fires, incomplete vital registration, or other circumstances.
Responsible genealogy does not assume a relationship simply because a record cannot be found. Each generation should be supported by evidence before research continues into the previous generation.
Will Every Genealogy Project Find the Answer?
No. Genealogical research cannot guarantee a particular result.
Sometimes records have been destroyed, were never created, remain inaccessible, or simply do not contain enough evidence to answer a question conclusively.
Research can still be valuable in those situations. Knowing which records were searched, what evidence was discovered, what possibilities were eliminated, and what research should be attempted next can prevent years of repeating the same unsuccessful searches.
What Should I Receive From Professional Research?
A useful genealogy project should give you more than a list of names and dates.
Depending on the scope of the project, the results may include documented findings, source citations, copies or references to important records, explanations of the evidence, and recommendations for additional research.
The objective is to create research that you and future generations can understand, evaluate, and continue.
Getting Started With Your Family Tree
If you would like help researching your family history, KB Family History offers a Build My Family Tree research service designed to investigate your family using historical records and documented evidence.
You do not need to know everything about your family before getting started. Provide what you know, and the existing information can be evaluated to determine where the research should begin.