Professional genealogists - Friends or foe?

[sylvia]

I did find Elijah in the later day saints and i am pretty sure it is him but i cant find his actual birth to be able to send for certificate.and to varify that one.
I thought the one in west Brom was my man and sent for that cert as thats where his marriage records were.and much to my surprise two different people i think
on his marriage  it had father as John buton the birth was Thomas as the father.
And it wasn't Sedgley of course.And yes  i know what name i prefer out of Elijah and Herbert.But i did feel the same about Elijah at one time but i eventually warmed to it slowly.Now i wish i had known about it earlier and name one of my boys after him.
That would have been popular as they hate the names they have been given already.
I have noticed Later day saints has been playing up lately.Do they ever update in there.
Its a good site as it gives you more info if you are lucky enough to stumble on one of your ancestor's.
      cheers for now .
                                    have to go get tea
                                                                               Sylvia

[Darcy]

Hi Everyone

as Pam mentioned -   unfortunates, such as myself, outside the UK envy your access to the records.

Although I have researched the 1891 census and the BMD index at the Morman Church, I find it difficult to go backwards and forwards to order and view the various censuses.

When I  want a census lookup I pay a lovely lady in Lancaster to go to the record office for me. I tell her exactly where to look and who she should expect to find.

On one occasion in 1851 my ancestors had left the district so I went back to the drawing board and traced them through the marriage of their daughter 20 years later.

So, even though I pay for census lookups I don't miss out on the excitment of the chase. I have only ever paid for information that I knew would be there - if you catch my drift

Cheers
Aaron

[nutkin]

I have paid staff at a local historical society to perform research for me in a place I just could not get to and "NEEDED" to have more information.  I feel that payment to these local historical societies helps keep them in business and allows us a researchers to have great faailcites.  The donation assists to keep our acnestors records in good condition for our future descendents.

The assistance I have received allowed me to flush out more on my ancestors.  I found out through a chattel mortgage that my g-g-g-grandfather paid $50 to buy 2 cows and a hirse in 1889.  That was priceless to me.  I was happy it was not his 2nd wife he purchased from Germany.
-Krisitin

[Kazza]

Hi,

I think I would regard paying a Family History Society or Record office to do a search as different.  I would do that with no qualms,  most of the hunt has taken place by then,  and they do tend to charge more reasonable rates,  in most cases,  see this thread for a discussion on the subject:

http://www.rootschat.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6625.0

It is the employment of a professional genealogist that I would avoid.  Not that I have anything against them,  I would love to be able to earn my living doing something so enjoyable.   

And I appreciate that I am lucky in that I live in the country most of my research is concentrated in.  BUT as I do not drive,  I have a young child,  2 jobs and I live in a county where I have no ancestors,  yet,  it is difficult for me to visit records offices too.  So most of my research so far has been on-line.   

Kazza.

[janham]

Hi all,

Amy, I would be gutted if another member of my family would not share info with me, I enjoy passing on all the information I have to other members of the family. 

I have used a researcher, the cost was about £55, my son and daughter gave me the money for my Mother's Day pressie.  I needed somebody to transcribe some articles from issues of the Waterford Newspaper.

I supplied the microfiche numbers which I had found on the internet, at the time I did think it was quite exspensive but I was desperate to know what was in these articles.  I posted messages on a Waterford mailing list to see if maybe somebody who lived there would be willing to transcribe for me, but unfortunately I had no offers.  I would not have dreamt of asking if I had been able to get there myself.

Anyhow when I received the transcriptions from the researcher he had also searched some parish records for me which I did not expect, and he enclosed a map of the parishes of Waterford and Lismore, and gave information regarding various parish registers.  I think it was worth it, I would not be able to afford it myself but it was a wonderful pressie, however given the choice I would much rather do the searching myself. 

Jan