7
Hire a Demolition Expert
No one can be an expert in everything. As you walk through the forbidding forest and encounter a difficult barrier, it is quite acceptable to think to yourself, “I lack the knowledge and skills to get past this wall.” You could return home, check the online professional directories for “Brick Wall Demolition Expert,” and, after deciding which one to hire, turn your problem over to that person for a solution.
It is no different in the world of genealogical research. Your brick wall problem can often benefit from some professional help. So what might stop you from hiring a professional genealogical researcher?
Perhaps you think that it would take the fun out of doing research. Most of us are motivated to engage in researching our family trees because we enjoy solving the puzzles. We don’t hire people to solve the Sunday newspaper crossword puzzle for us, do we? But let’s assume that you’ve attempted to put into practice all of the other ideas already covered in this book, and nothing seems to be working. Is it all that much fun to keep banging your head against a problem that you can’t seem to solve? If a professional researcher can get past your brick wall, you may find yourself once again in a position to solve the easier genealogical puzzles involved to extend your research on that target subject.
Perhaps you’re worried that the next time you run into this kind of problem, you’ll have to hire a researcher again. But part of a typical researcher’s service is to provide the customer with a detailed report outlining what was searched, what was found, and what was concluded. Reading the professional’s report can give you ideas on how you can approach future research problems.
Perhaps you’re worried about the cost. But doing it yourself could be even more expensive. Imagine, instead of hiring a researcher who lives in the area where the records that apply to your brick wall problem are stored, you choose to travel to the location yourself. The cost of transportation, housing, and other expenses could easily far outstrip the cost of hiring someone who is already there and who already knows the geography and the available records.
Perhaps you’re worried that you’ll hire someone who is unskilled or unreliable. But we face this kind of problem whenever we hire professionals for the things we need. What do you do when you choose a doctor, an attorney, an accountant, a landscaper, or a housecleaning service? First, you depend on professional organizations that provide forms of accreditation. Doctors have to be licensed to practice in your state, and attorneys have to have passed a bar exam. No matter the type of professional, you consult online directories for details, you ask friends for their recommendations, and you go online to read reviews. The same kinds of things can be done in terms of hiring a genealogical professional.
What Can a Professional Researcher Do for Me?
A professional researcher can potentially advance your genealogy and, in doing so, overcome brick wall problems that you may have been unable to solve on your own. It is important to understand that people who want to accept clients and provide genealogical research services come in several varieties.
Professional Genealogist
A professional genealogist is one who has the knowledge and experience with accepted genealogical research methodologies and techniques, is familiar with a wide variety of genealogical record types, and has conducted research in many environments. They also have experience working with clients and producing concise reports on their findings on a timely basis. A person who uses the title “professional genealogist” may or may not be certified or accredited by a standards body.
There are other people who are experts in assisting in the creation of successful applications for heritage and lineage associations. They are usually members of these organizations themselves and have successfully helped other people compile the appropriate documentation and complete the applications.
Other people may be conversant in legal matters and documentation, and they can be invaluable in conducting research into estates, inheritances, and missing heirs. They may be qualified and have the experience necessary to work with the legal system to research adoption cases.
You will need to evaluate the type(s) of research you need and to screen the professionals to locate the right person for the job.
Accredited Genealogist
The term Accredited Genealogist (AG) originated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists, internationally recognized as ICAPGen (http://www.icapgen.org), now administers this organization, and its board of commissioners has many years of professional experience. (See Figure 7-1.)
FIGURE 7-1 Main page of the ICAPGen website
ICAPGen offers accreditation in many different U.S. and international regions. Examinations are given to applicants to verify that they have sufficient theoretical and practical research backgrounds. A different exam is given for each geographical region, so that individuals who pass the exam are rightfully designated as research experts in that region. Exams may also include subjects of specialization. A successful individual is accredited for a period of five years, after which time he or she may apply to renew the accreditation. Each AG is must adhere to a code of professional ethics. The person may use the credential of Accredited Genealogist in a resume and may use the postnominal of AG after their name in professional situations.
The ICAPGen website offers a search facility to locate a professional researcher by name, location, area of specialization, language proficiency, and other criteria.
Certified Genealogist
The Board for Certification of Genealogists, also referred to as BCG (http://www.bcgcertification.org), was begun in 1964 “to foster public confidence in genealogy as a respected branch of history by promoting an attainable, uniform standard of competence and ethics among genealogical practitioners, and by publicly recognizing persons who meet that standard.” (See Figure 7-2.)
FIGURE 7-2 Main page of the Board for Certification of Genealogists website
BCG is a certifying body that evaluates portfolios of research work samples submitted by applicants wishing to attain the credential of Certified Genealogist. Applications for certification are judged on whether they meet the standards delineated in the BCG Genealogical Standards Manual, published in 2000. Its standards contribute to the level of credibility in genealogy referred to as the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). As a result, genealogists who are certified have demonstrated their ability to do work that meets the GPS.
The organization offers two categories of certification, one of which is the Certified Genealogist. This category requires submission of detailed research work, documentation, and client research reports. The postnominal of CG is available for use by this individual.
Certified Genealogical Lecturer is the second category. It is an extension of the CG, and is the BCG teaching certification. The applicant provides detailed materials relating to two genealogical presentations, including digital audio or video copies, for evaluation. The postnominal of CGL is available for use by this individual.
BCG certification for the CG category is for five years, after which the certified individual must apply to renew the certification. The CGL certification coincides with the individual’s CG certification. It, too, must be renewed at the conclusion of the CG five-year period. Each Certified Genealogist must adhere to a code of professional ethics.
The BCG website offers a search facility to locate a professional researcher by name, location, area of specialization, language proficiency, and other criteria.
Other Organizations Representing Professional Genealogists
Both ICAPGen and BCG are based in the United States, but the people holding credentials from those bodies represent research expertise in many areas of the world. There are also credentialing organizations in other parts of the world. These include the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI) (http://www.apgi.ie), the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) (http://www.agra.org.uk), the Association of Scottish Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (http://www.asgra.co.uk), the Australasian Association of Genealogists and Record Agents, Inc. (http://www.aagra.asn.au), the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) (http://www.sag.org.au), the Genealogical Institute of the Maritimes (http://nsgna.ednet.ns.ca/gim/), and the Union Chamber of Genealogy and Heraldry of France (http://www.csghf.org), among others.
The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) (http://www.apgen.org) is “an international organization dedicated to supporting those engaged in the business of genealogy through advocacy, collaboration, education, and the promotion of high ethical standards.” It is not a certification body, but its members ascribe to a Code of Ethics. (See Figure 7-3.) The organization monitors compliance and disciplines any members against whom complaints have been received and who are found to have violated that code.
FIGURE 7-3 Association of Professional Genealogists web page
Professional genealogical researchers who have been certified or accredited have been tested on their research skills in specific areas and have produced satisfactory results as judged by a group of other professionals. Remember that no single professional is skilled in every area of genealogical competence. For example, one researcher may focus on a particular geographical area while another may specialize in a particular set of records. The sections that follow explore some areas of specialty that you will want to consider as you search for a professional genealogical researcher to help solve your brick walls.
Geographic Specialization
A professional researcher will commonly indicate that he or she specializes in a specific geographical area and has extensive experience. You will be interested in reviewing which researchers work with records from the specific area where your ancestors lived or from which your ancestors migrated. This will be true either if you don’t have the expertise to conduct effective research in that area, or if you don’t want to personally travel to the area.
Perhaps your ancestors emigrated from a foreign country whose language you don’t speak or read. Your European, Middle Eastern, or Asian ancestors’ language may present a seemingly insurmountable roadblock for you. Your Canadian ancestor may have lived in an area where French was the official language. Official documents in England and Wales from the 1800s and before were created and maintained by ecclesiastics, and they were written in Latin. Documents for your Jewish ancestor may have been written in Hebrew or Yiddish, and stored in a synagogue under a person’s Hebrew name. Even if you do speak the language of your ancestors, you may not be familiar with the vocabulary, culture, or handwriting styles of their time period.
In addition, the types of records that may have been created in other countries may be quite different from the American records you have used. In that case, a professional researcher who perhaps lives in that area and who is familiar with the records and the repositories where they are found would be a great help to your research. The researcher can identify where to seek records for your ancestors, visit or otherwise acquire copies, read and interpret the information, provide translations of the information, and evaluate the evidence in the correct geographical and historical context. The professional will produce a written report for you and provide copies of the materials located.
Specialty Areas
There are a multitude of specialties that professional researchers can provide. The following list, while not exhaustive, provides a strong representation of the geographies and/or record types in which professionals might specialize. Many professionals have experience in multiple research areas.
Specific centuries, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century Acadian research
Adoption research
African-American
American Revolution
Australia and New Zealand research
Cajun research
Canadian records—subsets include English and French records
Caribbean research
Catholic records
Cemeteries
Cherokee research
Chinese research
Choctaw research
Church records
Civil War
Colonial United States
Court records—subsets include federal, criminal, family court, probate, and other court records
Cuban research
Czech and Slovak research
Daughters of the American Revolution
Divorce research
DNA and genetic genealogy
English and Welsh research
English manorial records
Emigration records
European research—subsets include various countries, past and present
Federal records
Five Civilized Tribes
Freedmen research
Genetic genealogy research (DNA)
German research
German-American
German immigration records
Heir searches
Heraldry and Coats of Arms
Hispanic research
Historic houses and property research
Holocaust research
Huguenot research
Immigration records (ships’ passenger lists)
Irish research
Irish-American
Irish immigration records
Italian research
Italian-American
Italian immigration records
Jamestown lineages
Jewish—subsets include Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and other documentation
Land platting
Land and property records—subsets include State–Land State records, Federal Land records, Land Patents, Homestead records, and others
LDS research
Lineage society applications
Mayflower lineages
Mennonite research
Military records—subsets include military service and pension records, various U.S. eras
Native American—subsets include specific tribes and geographical areas
Naturalization records
Norwegian research
Palatinate
Palatine research
Palatine immigrants
Polish research
Protestant religious groups
Quaker research
Scotland research
Scotch-Irish research
Scotch-Irish immigration
Sons of the American Revolution
Sons of the Confederacy
Swedish research
Russian research
United Daughters of the Confederacy
U.S. States research (individual and regional)
World War I military records
World War II military records
Contracting with a Professional Researcher
A professional researcher should always be willing to provide evidence of his or her credentials or proficiencies. That should include evidence of accreditation or certification, information about other professional organizations related to genealogy to which he or she belongs, and/or certificates or other proof of educational accomplishment. Remember that numerous professional researchers may not have sought certification, and that many of these are highly experienced and capable candidates to assist in your brick wall research. Some of the educational institutions that award educational certificates include:
Brigham Young University
Boston University
Samford University’s Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR)
National Institute on Genealogical Research (NIGR)
National Institute for Genealogical Studies
Request client references from your researcher candidates, and follow through by contacting each person. Ask about the quality of the research that was conducted, the responsiveness of the researcher, and the overall experience.
Your relationship with a professional researcher should be formalized with a written contract. This sets forth the terms of the relationship and the deliverables, and protects both of you in the event of a conflict. A good contract will cover specifics:
The goals of the research—What is/are the question(s) you want answered for what person(s)?
What have you already researched? You don’t want to pay a researcher to duplicate your research unless, of course, you both believe that the professional should reexamine the evidence.
What is the scope of the research? What geographical area, time period, record types, and document repositories should be included?
What are the researcher’s fees?
What will you pay? Does that include travel, lodging, meals, document copies and photocopies, and other expenses? Will you be invoiced in increments and, if so, what are the measurable milestones? Will you be invoiced instead at the conclusion of the research and on receipt of a final report?
How will approval of additional expenses be handled?
Does the researcher plan to subcontract any of the work, especially in cases where the subcontractor has unique skills involving records in a particular language or in a particular geographic area where it would be too expensive for the researcher to travel? If so, how will you be able to judge the subcontractor’s qualifications?
How often will you receive status reports and in what format?
What is the final deliverable that you want? This will typically consist of a client report describing all the research conducted, including information and evidence located and not located, copies of all documents, and complete source citations. A final, detailed accounting should also be requested.
If you have never hired a professional before, you may be unsure as to how much work you can expect for the fee you are willing to pay. It is a good idea to talk to others who have hired researchers so that you can set reasonable expectations. You can also expect that fees are going to differ depending upon the researcher’s qualifications and experience. You may think that you will save money with a less experienced researcher, but keep in mind that the less experienced researcher may take longer to do the work than a more experienced researcher can do. When you’re paying by the hour, you may not therefore be getting a bargain.
Another good idea when working with a professional for the first time is to contract for a relatively simple, inexpensive service, so that you can get an idea of the quality of the researcher’s work and you can decide if you want to contract with them again to do more extensive work. In this way, you’re not risking much the first time.
You and the professional should each sign and date the contract in the presence of witnesses or, if you are geographically distant from one another, each of you should sign in the presence of a notary public. Each of you should have a signed copy of the contract in hand before any work begins. If you later decide to modify the contract, such as to change the schedule of work done, the amount of work done, or the amount to be paid for the services, be sure to get those changes in writing, at the very least in e-mail form.
If and When Things Go Wrong
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that you have hired a professional genealogist, specifically one who is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, and things haven’t worked out quite as you expected. First, let’s be clear that we don’t mean that the professional genealogist didn’t solve your brick wall problem. There are no guarantees here, and if the professional actually made such a guarantee, you weren’t dealing with a true professional. And second, let’s be just as clear that the vast majority of professionals do not disappoint their clients with the work that they do.
When we talk about a professional not meeting expectations, we mean that they didn’t honor the contract by providing the services that were contracted for at the agreed upon price in a timely manner. When there are complaints about the work of professional genealogists, those complaints are normally about the professional not communicating in a reasonable manner with the client, or not providing the promised report in the expected format or according to the expected schedule.
Clearly, your first step is to make a serious attempt to work things out with the professional. It is certainly possible that the professional was delayed by a personal problem, such as a health-related issue or a family emergency. It is also entirely possible that the professional underestimated the amount of work involved or the amount of time needed to produce the expected results. In these cases, your best course of action is to attempt to renegotiate the contract so that both sides get what they want.
But sometimes your best efforts still don’t result in a reasonable response from the professional. If this happens, and the professional is a member of APG, you can use APG’s process for filing a complaint. In such cases, APG has a Professional Review Committee (PRC), which is charged with looking at any such complaints and addressing them according to standard procedures. There are some things that the PRC will not address. For instance, if your disagreement with the professional is based upon a verbal agreement and not a written one, then the PRC won’t have any evidence to examine in order to render a decision. The PRC will need to see an agreement that was in writing, whether in a written contract, a letter, or an e-mail.
If your disagreement relates to something other than an agreement for some sort of genealogical services, or if the complaint is based upon something that happened more than a year before the time the complaint is filed, the PRC won’t look at those either, so it is important not to wait too long if you plan to file a complaint.
If your complaint meets the criteria required by APG and the policies of the PRC, then you will be advised that the PRC will investigate the complaint, and APG will advise the member who is the subject of the complaint so that they can make a written response and provide whatever evidence that they feel is relevant. This material will also be forwarded to the PRC so that the PRC can examine both sides of the issue.
In many cases, the very fact of having a complaint filed against them will result in the member’s quickly making good on whatever the problem was, and in such cases, the case may be closed. Ideally, APG wants the professional and the client to work out their issues without the need for any official action taken by APG against its member. However, in some cases, when these situations are not resolved between the professional and the client, any of several results may occur. The PRC will make a recommendation to the leadership of APG regarding the complaint, and the leadership of APG will make a final decision as to how to handle the situation. APG may come down on the side of the complainant, and instruct the member as to what they should do in order to rectify the situation. If the complaint is sufficiently serious, APG may suspend the professional’s membership in APG for a period of time (one or more years), or may permanently expel the member.
In other cases, APG may reject the claim because it decides that the member did not violate the contract, or that the complainant hasn’t provided sufficient evidence to show that the contract was violated. In some cases, no conclusion will be reached, usually due to a lack of sufficient evidence to make a decision.
If the professional you hired is certified by ICAPGen, BCG, or another certifying body, you will want to make certain to contact the respective body to apprise them of your experience.
It should be noted that APG cannot address complaints against professional genealogists who are not members of APG, and in any case, complaints represent a very tiny percentage of all transactions between professionals and clients. Even so, it is nice to know that there are methods of recourse if the terms of a contract are not met. Professional genealogists depend very much on having an excellent reputation, and nearly all will make every effort to deal honestly and appropriately with their clients.
Summary
It’s not always possible to do your own genealogical research. The reasons can be numerous. Sometimes it isn’t logistically or financially possible to make a trip to the locations where your ancestors lived.
You may not have the knowledge and experience to locate the evidence and to prove facts to justify your hypotheses. Your inability to understand the language in which the records were written or to decipher the handwriting or script used at the time the records were created may be major stumbling blocks.
Whatever the reasons, it may be more practical to engage a professional researcher to help you get past your brick walls. He or she may be the demolition expert you need to use. Each type of researcher we’ve discussed in this chapter will need to possess appropriate credentials and references. Your job is to conduct an interview and investigation process to make sure you have the right person with the appropriate experience and credentials to successfully conduct research on your behalf.
