I can help you research your family history

[almeda]

Note: this is a somewhat-commercial post. But only on my own behalf.

I've been working through some online resources and search tools for genealogy for myself. Then I started doing it for a couple of friends. I'm finding that (a) I'm fairly good at it, and (b) other people don't have the time or inclination to necessarily do it themselves.

[ Rates and information last updated 18 Feb 2013 ]

I'd love to help you build a documented family history.

If you purchase an original-research or digital-confirmation package and I cannot successfully find information on your family, I will refund a significant portion of your money (you're only paying for what I CAN find); however, data-entry, digitization or printing charges are non-refundable.

Paper to Digital Package, $75:

• If you already have extensive tree research, but it's on scattered pieces of paper in various handwriting and hard to get a sense of, I'd be happy to do the data-entry for you.
• You will receive a digital copy of your tree information in standard GEDCOM format, and all paper documents provided will be returned by mail, with index numbers appended to identify and cross-reference family members.
• If your paper files are very extensive (more than 60 people), or for some other reason difficult to work with, a higher price commensurate to the required work will be negotiated.

Basic Original Research Package, $110, includes:

• (available a la carte if you know very little about your family, or as an add-on package to Paper To Digital)
• 5 hours of my personal time and attention working back and forth with you via email to find the things you didn't know you knew about your family, and expand it outwards as far back as I can (up to 1905) through supporting documentation and publicly-accessible records.
• A standard GEDCOM-format file containing everything I find out about your family. Any of the tree-viewing software out there will take GEDCOM input.
• I can get an awful lot done in a focused hour of work! Additional research hours, if necessary to achieve your goals, are available at $25/hr.
• If you like, I'd be glad to show you how to upload your tree to Ancestry.com so you can use any of their custom publishing-pretty-copies features. If you need help getting your family photos attached there, I can do that for you for a negotiable extra fee -- less if you already have them all digital, more if you want me to do the digitizing, of course. Ancestry charges a membership fee, but they have a 14-day trial (and if you're careful you can get in, print your books, and get out within those 14 days).

Electronic Documentation Package, +$40 add-on to either above. Includes:

• Flexing my online research muscles, I will acquire as many digital images of original documents confirming information about your known relatives as I can, potentially adding new information, like precise dates for marriages/births/deaths, or knowledge of the ship they arrived on, but not adding any new people to your tree.
• You will receive copies of all images, organized and indexed to the people on your tree, via email or burned on a CD.
• If I find I can trace your ancestors' documents outside US borders, I will need to charge an additional $25 to cover my fees for accessing international records.

A la carte package upgrades:

• Deep History, +$55: To trace your family back before 1905, I need to charge for the additional time and effort involved. This upgrade will usually be bought after the fact, if I find out I CAN take it back that far.
• Hard-copy documentation files, $20 plus printing costs: I can print paper copies of the supporting original documentation, organize it by family line, and mail it to you, in addition to the digital copies.
• Transcribed diagrams, $40: I can neatly hand-write tree diagrams summarizing what I find and mail them to you in addition to sending the database file. They won't be calligraphed and beautiful, but they will be clear and functional for future family historians (or your own reference).
• Chicago-local lookups and services: If your tree leads you to Chicago, I can go get official paper copies of birth/death/marriage certificates, photograph tombstones, etc, for a negotiable charge. Even if I don't do your tree. :->

If you have any questions, or are interested in family-research services not mentioned above, please don't hesitate to PM me, leave a comment here, or email me at 2ells2tees@gmail.com.  I have over ten years of positive feedback on eBay under the username 'eloisebd'.

I can also put you into contact with satisfied recent customers, if you would like. My rates post used to be here; there are some comments there that I want to make sure don't get lost track of.