When you need a single document such as a copy of an ancestor’s birth certificate, census return or will I can obtain a copy of the document for you.
If you’ve ever wondered who your ancestors were, where they lived or what they did for a living I can help you to answer your questions.
The family history and genealogy services I provide are detailed below. Contact and payment details are on the contact and payment page.
Research services provided
Individual documents:
Finding a copy of a specific birth, marriage or death certificate, specific entry in a Parish Register, a specific census entry or will. I will post the document to you and can also send you a digital copy by email.
£7.50 per document + any copying charges imposed by the archive
Targeted research:
You may have a family story that you want me to investigate (for example that a great uncle left a fortune in his will, or that your great-great grandparents eloped) or a problem that you want me to help solve. If that is the case, please contact me with details so that we can discuss your requirements. I will prepare a free estimate of the work needed and the cost involved, broken down into individual tasks, so that you can decide how you wish to proceed.
£20 per hour.
In addition, I can provide a range of family tree packages if you don’t want to do the research yourself:
Twig package:
Tracing the direct ancestors of one individual back through the post-1854 Scottish Statutory Records. You will receive copies of all the birth, marriage and death certificates found and details of the records that have been searched.
£200
Branch package
Tracing the direct ancestors of one individual back through the post-1854 Scottish Statutory Records, census returns and Old Parish Registers before 1855. You will receive copies of all the birth, marriage and death certificates found, the census entries, parish register entries and details of the records that have been searched.
£350
Tree package
This covers all the areas described above for the branch package, and also includes a range of material which will give you background social history information about where your ancestors lived, their way of life, and what was happening locally and nationally at that time. The tree package will therefore include wills (if they exist), maps and extracts from contemporary sources such as the Statistical Accounts, newspapers and other local sources, where available. It will also include a bibliography of the sources used to provide the social history.
£650
The results of each of these packages will be presented in a binder containing:
- A narrative report that will include references to original documents, as well as to maps and other sources where appropriate.
- Copies of the original documents, cross-referenced from the report, so that you have the full information from every document used.
- A computer-generated family tree allow you to follow the narrative.
- A list of all the records used and the extent of the searches made in them so that you, or another researcher, can continue the research at a later date.
- If you have ordered the tree package, the binder will also contain copies of wills, maps, extracts from contemporary sources and other records, as appropriate.
All the documents will be filed in plastic sleeves to prevent wear and tear.
Please note:
It is not possible to say in advance exactly what you would receive for any given number of research hours or specific research package. This will depend on the information given to me at the start, the survival of the records in the archives and the number and length of searches that may be necessary to find a particular event or record. Therefore, for a specific package, the number of people, or generations, in a family tree, may vary significantly.