What is an ancestor search?
An ancestor search is researching a specific person to find out their life story.
Why would I need one?
Perhaps you know a bit about your family history but there’s one individual who has an interesting story that needs telling. Maybe there’s a story in your family that needs proving (or disproving!)
What’s involved?
That all depends on the question! But unlike building a family tree, which looks at connections between family members, I take all the information you have about an individual; their name, age, birth place, perhaps their profession and I search specific resources to build a picture of them alone. In my examples there is the story of an ancestor who is thought to have been transported to Australia as punishment for a crime. On that occasion I anticipated having to visit the National Archives to view court records but as the person in question was sentenced at the Old Bailey then everything I needed was online.
What do I get?
Again this depends on the question but you will receive a report containing the results of the research. This report could also contain documents relating to your ancestor. For example, copies of newspaper articles or court records.
What will it cost?
Every ancestor search will be different and so they are priced individually. I will discuss the process involved in performing the research and together we can work out a budget. I currently charge £40 per hour, plus incurred costs. Click here for an example of an ancestor search, including the cost.