Researching Your Family History – Engaging A Professional
It may be wise to engage some professional assistance. This might be because you live a long way from the repository that could have the piece of information you need, or because you don’t have the necessary skills to undertake the work yourself. Understanding land transactions, reading old Germanic handwriting and knowing what the preamble in an English will says are a few examples of where employing an experienced professional may be a great move. While you may be reluctant to spend $200 getting someone to visit the record office on your behalf, their knowledge, experience and expert eye may be worth every cent if they can track down what you need and interpret it for you.
There are a number of professional research organisations worldwide whish offer research services. In Australia, the Australasian Association of Genealogists and Record Agents provides a membership list (www.aagra.asn.au), while in the UK, its equivalent is the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (www.agra.org.uk). The Association of Professional Genealogists (www.apgen.org) has a worldwide remit, although most of its members are in the US. At www.sag.org.au, you’ll find a list of people who have undertaken a Diploma in Family Historical Studies and who are now available for private commissions.
At the end of the day, having research problems and brick walls is what family history is all about. If it was easy to get back to medieval England or the Vikings, there would not be the thrill and excitement of finally solving that vexing research problem that has been keeping you awake every night for years. So don’t give up when you hit a brick wall. Go back to basics, review what you already know and see if there is a clue you’ve missed. Share your problem by advertising your research interests online and seeking out a local family history society that may have the expertise to advise you.
There may be a lot of chipping away at the base of the brick wall before it comes crumbling down for you, and your opportunities to leap over it in one single bound may be few and far between. However, the most important thing is to find a way over, around or through it – only then can you continue your journey and climb further up that family tree.
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