It can be a highly exciting and deeply rewarding process to hire a genealogist to discover your heritage. Learning about your family’s history and discovering long lost family bonds can be a wholesome experience. People can even identify their biological parents, trace back their immigrant origins, join lineage societies, and more.
However, you can also face disappointment, frustration, and surprise if you’re not completely prepared for certain realities. Here’s a list of things you should consider before hiring professional genealogy services:
1. Keep the limitations of research in mind
Genealogists have access to the same database as the general public; they don’t have magic records stored away that only they can access. Their research takes a lot of time because gathering adequate proof is a lengthy process. The required proof is collected from DNA evidence and historical records.
However, they do have access to diverse genealogy websites to access records hidden behind paywalls through subscriptions. They also have well-trained genealogists that are skilled in finding records or analyzing DNA results. Trusted researchers across the world can also aid them in pulling records from faraway archives. The process is much more complicated than plugging in names on an online database.
2. Different challenges
Every family has their unique circumstances and challenges they must overcome. Desired results will not always be available for specific areas because they might have been destroyed in natural disasters, never created at all, or contain incorrect information.
Sometimes the records are locked for privacy reasons, restricting access to the public. Other times they might be organized poorly, requiring researchers to thumb through 500-page books looking for an ancestor. Genealogists tend to be aware of limitations and can warn prospective clients if their goals are too time-consuming or unattainable.
3. Establish your priorities
You’re in charge of the level of research that genealogists perform on your behalf. Usually, more research time equates to more results, assuming the availability of records. But the results can also depend on your personal preferences! Whether you want a basic pedigree with names and dates going as far back as possible or biographical details that brings your ancestors’ memories to life depends on you.
It is possible to learn about your ancestors’ occupations, religion, military service, land ownership, and cause of death. Sometimes you can get more specific details like the crops your ancestors grew on their property or any confrontations with the law.
Hire Professional Genealogy and Heritage Research Services
Experts at My Ireland Heritage can help you trace your Irish roots with their Irish ancestry research and genealogy tours of Ireland. From exploring government databases and records to digging deep into available documents and records, we go to all ends to trace your genealogy. We also offer competitive tour packages to ancestral lands. You can learn more about the lives of your ancestors by visiting these places.
Contact us to find out more today!
