DETAILED ARTICLES (Linked from FAQ)

Our Geographic Coverage: Where We Can Help

United States — All 50 States

US research is one of our core specializations. This includes every state: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Some states present unique research challenges. States with burned courthouses — where historical records were destroyed by fire, war, or disaster — require creative workarounds and alternative record sources. States with limited vital record availability before certain dates require different strategies. These are not obstacles that necessarily prevent research; they're realities that a trained genealogist knows how to navigate. Andre can discuss the specific challenges and opportunities for your state during a consultation.

British Isles

The British Isles is one of our core areas of specialization. This includes:

England — All historic and ceremonial counties, including but not limited to: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London (City and Greater London), Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex (East and West), Warwickshire, Westmorland, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire (East Riding, North Riding, West Riding).

Wales — All counties, including: Anglesey (Ynys Môn), Brecknockshire (Breconshire), Caernarfonshire, Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Glamorgan, Merionethshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire.

Scotland — All historic counties, including: Aberdeenshire, Angus (Forfarshire), Argyll, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Bute, Caithness, Clackmannanshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, East Lothian (Haddingtonshire), Fife, Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Midlothian (Edinburghshire), Moray (Elginshire), Nairnshire, Orkney, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross and Cromarty, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Shetland, Stirlingshire, Sutherland, West Lothian (Linlithgowshire), Wigtownshire.

Ireland — All 32 counties across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry (Londonderry), Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois (Queen's County), Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly (King's County), Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow.

A note on experience levels: As with any researcher, my depth of experience varies by county and region. Some areas I've worked in extensively; others I may be encountering for the first time on your project. This is true of virtually any genealogist you speak with — no one has worked in every county of every country. When I'm less familiar with a specific area, I invest non-billable time learning about the available resources before your project clock starts. I don't charge you for my learning curve — I charge you for competent research in that area once I've done my homework.

Scandinavia

Sweden and Denmark are core specialization areas. Andre holds his ICAPGen accreditation specifically in Swedish genealogy. For Norwegian, Finnish, Icelandic, or other Nordic research, Andre can discuss your project during a consultation — in many cases we can handle it directly or connect you with a specialist.

Other Countries

For research in countries not listed above — Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Mexico, or anywhere else — contact us for a consultation. We can often handle the research directly after familiarizing ourselves with the relevant record systems, or we can work with qualified specialists who have deep expertise in that area.

A Note About Finding the Right Expert

Sometimes the ideal genealogist for your project is someone who has spent decades working in one specific region. If that ultra-specialized expert exists and is available and affordable, you should absolutely hire them. But here's the practical reality: you and I could spend hours searching for that person — and we might not find them, or they might not be taking new clients, or their rates might exceed your budget.

If I'm not your dream genealogist for a particular project, I can at least help you find the right one. I know what questions to ask, I know what qualifications to look for, and I'm building a network of researchers and specialists across different regions and specialties. In the end, we all have finite time and resources, and sometimes the best use of both is working with a competent, credentialed professional who can get started now — rather than spending weeks or months searching for a slightly more specialized one.

How Remote Genealogy Research Works

The Modern Reality of Professional Genealogy

Professional genealogy has always been a remote profession. The vast majority of genealogical research is conducted without ever visiting a local repository in person. Here's how it works in practice:

Most commonly accessed records are available remotely. Billions of historical records have been digitized and are available through online databases, institutional websites, and subscription platforms. Census records, vital records indexes, military records, immigration records, church records, newspaper archives, and much more can be researched from anywhere. Repositories with digitization programs typically prioritize their most frequently accessed collections first, which means the records genealogists need most often are increasingly available online.

Correspondence with repositories. Professional genealogists routinely work with courthouses, archives, churches, and libraries by mail, email, and phone — requesting copies, asking reference staff to check specific entries, or arranging for materials to be pulled. This kind of correspondence-based research has been a cornerstone of professional genealogy for generations.

Inter-library loan. Published periodicals, books, and some microfilmed materials can be accessed through inter-library loan programs. However, it's worth understanding that microfilm distribution is increasingly restricted. The materials used to duplicate microfilm are no longer manufactured, which means existing collections are increasingly kept on-site and guarded against loss while institutions prioritize them for digitization. This is one of the realities of modern research — the field is a mix of methods from decades past and new digital norms, and knowing how to navigate both is part of the professional skill set.

The FamilySearch Library advantage. We are located near the world's largest genealogical library in Salt Lake City, which holds an enormous collection of microfilm, books, and records from around the world — including materials that have not yet been digitized and may not be available anywhere else. This gives us access to resources that many genealogists in other locations cannot easily reach.

Collaboration with local researchers. When a project requires someone with physical access to a specific repository, professional genealogists work with trusted colleagues and record agents in those areas. Before sending someone to a repository — or making the trip ourselves — we do our homework: identifying exactly what we need, locating finding aids that help navigate the collection, and exhausting all remote options first. This ensures that any in-person visit is as focused and efficient as possible.

Research Planning Is a Major Part of the Work

One of the things that makes professional genealogy more complex than people expect is that we're not just asking "what records should we check?" We're also asking "in what order?" and "how do we access them?" Accessibility is often a major factor in planning and conducting a search.

Sometimes we know a particular source is so valuable that it's worth immediately making arrangements to access it — paying a local researcher to pull it, or making a trip if practical. But unless it's that clear-cut, a competent genealogist will usually consult more accessible collections first, looking for information that can be turned into evidence before investing time and money in harder-to-reach sources. This strategic approach keeps projects efficient and cost-effective for clients.

In-Person Visits Are a Last Resort

Many repositories actually prefer or require that researchers check digitized or microfilmed copies before requesting access to originals. Jumping straight to an in-person visit before doing remote homework often means paying premium prices for work that could have been done more efficiently — or arriving unprepared because you didn't know what the collection contained.

The reality is that most genealogical projects involve records from many different locations — multiple states, multiple counties, sometimes multiple countries. No genealogist lives in all of those places. The skill is knowing where the records are, how to access them most efficiently, and how to analyze what they contain. That expertise travels with the researcher, regardless of where they're based.

Professional Qualifications in Genealogy: What to Look For

Why Qualifications Matter

The genealogy field has a wide range of practitioners, and not all of them have the same training, standards, or accountability. Some describe themselves — or are described by clients — as "semi-professional" genealogists. That term covers an enormous range. Sometimes that person is a highly skilled researcher who follows rigorous professional standards but is simply being modest. Other times, it's an enthusiastic hobbyist who has been doing genealogy for years but has never had formal training in research methodology, evidence analysis, or professional standards.

Experience is a valuable teacher. But at some point, a professional needs formal education — not just years of practice, but structured coursework where someone with expertise lectured them on standards, reviewed their work, gave feedback, and verified they understood those standards in both theory and practice.

What Formal Training Looks Like

This doesn't have to be a college degree, but it should be something substantive:

Extended institute courses like the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG), the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR), or similar multi-day programs with structured curricula, homework, and instructor feedback. These are immersive educational experiences — not casual webinar viewing.

Intensive workshop programs like "Research Like a Pro" or similar bootcamp-style courses that require participation, assignments, and demonstrated understanding. A certificate from a program with attendance and homework requirements means someone formally evaluated that person's understanding.

Credentialing through a recognized organization like ICAPGen (accreditation) or BCG (certification), which involve rigorous testing, skill demonstration, and evaluation by experienced professionals. These credentials mean an organization of national or international reputation conducted multiple layers of testing and determined that person meets professional standards.

Neither training nor credentials alone are a guarantee of quality — but together, they give you a meaningful reason to believe the person knows what they're doing. There are, unfortunately, many people who start genealogy businesses without any formal training. They may be passionate and well-intentioned, but passion alone doesn't teach someone how to properly evaluate evidence, resolve conflicting sources, or conduct a reasonably exhaustive search.

Andre's Qualifications

Andre has completed multiple formal training programs over several years, including SLIG and other intensive coursework with structured curricula and professional evaluation. He then pursued and earned accreditation through ICAPGen — the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists — with a specialization in Swedish genealogy. That process involved multiple layers of rigorous testing and demonstrated skill evaluation. ICAPGen doesn't hand out credentials casually — they thoroughly vetted his research methodology, his analysis, his writing, and his adherence to professional standards.

He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and bound by their code of ethics. His work follows the Genealogical Proof Standard. Every project includes complete documentation — research logs, source citations, and analysis — that any other professional can review and verify.

If I'm Not the Right Fit

If after our conversation you feel you need someone with deeper expertise in a specific area, I respect that completely. I can help you find the right person — I know what qualifications to look for, what questions to ask, and I'm building a network of researchers across different regions and specialties. In the end, we all have finite time and resources, and the goal is getting you the best research possible, whether that's from me or someone I can point you toward.

Our Services in Detail

Family tree research — Tracing your ancestry through historical records, building and documenting your family tree with proper source citations and evidence analysis.

DNA analysis and genetic genealogy — Helping you understand DNA test results from any platform and using them to answer specific family history questions, including unknown parentage cases.

Lineage society applications — Researching and documenting your lineage for organizations like the DAR, SAR, Mayflower Society, and others, including navigating their specific compliance requirements.

House history research — Researching the history of a property, including previous owners, construction history, and the stories behind the people who lived there.

Heir search / forensic genealogy — Identifying legal heirs for probate and estate matters. These projects require attorney involvement and have specific requirements. [Contact us to discuss.]

Unknown parentage research — Helping people discover biological family through a combination of documentary research and DNA analysis.

Research reports and documentation — All projects include professional research reports, sourced documentation, research logs showing every source consulted, and relevant charts (pedigree charts, family group sheets). FamilySearch and Ancestry tree updates available if desired.

Coaching and guided research — For experienced hobbyists who want professional guidance while doing the research themselves. Andre can review your work, suggest new directions, teach techniques for navigating difficult records, and help develop research strategy. This is a paid service — not free mentoring — but can be a more efficient use of your budget if you have the skills and motivation to do the legwork yourself.

Pricing and Packages

Our pricing depends on the scope and complexity of your project. We offer several packages to fit different needs and budgets:

Starting point: Our most accessible option is a Premium Consultation at $59.99, which provides a preliminary assessment of your research question.

Flexible entry points: Unlike many larger genealogy firms that require a minimum commitment of 20 hours, we offer 3-hour and 10-hour packages so you can start without a large upfront investment. Not every question needs 20 hours to answer.

Larger projects: For comprehensive research, we offer 20-hour and 40-hour packages that provide more runway for complex problems.

Checkpoint option: On larger packages, you can pay 50% upfront and review progress before authorizing the remaining work. This keeps you in control of your budget.

An Honest Conversation About Package Size and Expectations

We offer smaller packages because we believe some questions deserve a professional answer without requiring a massive financial commitment. That said, Andre will always be direct with you about whether a smaller package is realistic for your specific problem.

Here's the reality: some genealogical questions genuinely require 20 or more hours of professional research to produce meaningful results. Complex brick walls, unknown parentage cases, international research across multiple countries, lineage society documentation — these are not 3-hour problems. When a client insists on a small package for a large problem — against the researcher's recommendation — the most common outcome is disappointment. Not because the researcher failed, but because the scope was never sufficient for the magnitude of the question.

This is, frankly, why many professional genealogists refuse to take small projects at all. The risk of disappointing a client who chose an insufficient package is high, and even when expectations are set perfectly — in writing, in conversation, in the signed agreement — clients tend to forget or minimize those warnings when the results don't include the breakthrough they hoped for. It's human nature. But it's also a real business risk for the researcher.

We still offer smaller packages because we believe in accessible entry points. But we pair them with honest advice:

• If Andre recommends a larger package, it's because your question genuinely needs more time — not because he's trying to upsell you.

• If you choose a smaller package against that recommendation, Andre will document the conversation and include it in the service agreement. You'll know going in exactly what the trade-offs are.

• A small package on a big problem means less runway. If we hit complications — and in genealogy, complications are normal — there may not be enough hours left to work through them.

• The absence of a breakthrough in a small package does not mean the research failed. It means the budget was exhausted before the problem was solved. The research log documenting what was searched and ruled out still has real value — it prevents the next researcher (or a future project) from duplicating that effort.

Andre would rather lose a sale by being honest about scope than take your money knowing the package is insufficient. If your budget is firm and the problem is large, he'll tell you what's realistic within that budget and what isn't — so you can make an informed decision.

Andre provides specific pricing recommendations after understanding your project during a consultation. The goal is always to match the scope of your question to the right amount of research time — not to sell you the biggest package possible, and not to take your money for a package that won't serve you well.

How We Work: Our Process

Step 1: Consultation. Andre learns about your research question, your goals, and what you already know. This is a conversation — not a sales pitch. The goal is to understand whether your question is something we can realistically help with and what the right approach looks like.

Step 2: Recommendation. Based on your project's scope, Andre recommends a package. He'll be honest about what's realistic within different budget levels and what trade-offs exist if you choose a smaller package for a complex problem.

Step 3: Agreement and deposit. You sign a service agreement that spells out the scope, deliverables, timeline, and cost. You pay a deposit to lock your project into the schedule. No work begins until both are in place — this protects both of us.

Step 4: Research. Andre conducts the research according to the Genealogical Proof Standard. Depending on the project, you may receive progress updates along the way.

Step 5: Deliverables. You receive a professional research report summarizing findings and methodology, a research log documenting every source searched (including sources that didn't yield results), source citations for all records used, and relevant charts. If desired, Andre can update your family tree on FamilySearch or Ancestry.

If you'd like to organize what you know before the consultation, visit our Getting Started page and download the Family Tree Research Packet under Step 2.

About the Free Consultation

The initial consultation is free, and that time is never billed — even if you go on to hire us. It is a longstanding policy, both at the firms where Andre trained and in his own practice, that no charges apply until a formal research project agreement has been reached.

We ask that you respect the purpose of the consultation. It's designed to help us understand your research goals, assess what's possible, and recommend the right approach. It is not a research session.

If it seems like we move quickly toward getting agreements and deposits in place, here's why: Andre genuinely cannot begin formal work until that happens. Every hour spent before an agreement is reached is time given freely — and while some of that is a necessary part of building a relationship with a new client, it has to be balanced against the reality of running a business.

For context, many of the larger genealogy firms have dedicated sales teams that handle all pre-engagement conversations, and you may never speak with the actual researcher until after you've paid. We try to be more personable than that — Andre handles consultations himself so you're talking directly to the person who will actually do your research. But that also means his time before an agreement is especially valuable, and we appreciate clients who respect that.

What Professional Genealogy Actually Involves

The Honest Picture

Many genealogical problems are time-consuming and present challenges that require careful consideration and skill to navigate. Sometimes what a professional does may look miraculous from the outside — but it's usually not magic. It's serendipity born from knowledge and experience meeting record availability and finding aids that the researcher is aware of and knows how to navigate and utilize better than the average hobbyist.

If you had unlimited time and resources, you might find the answer yourself. Most people don't have unlimited time, and that's where a professional comes in — someone with specialized skills, experience, and access to resources who can potentially shortcut the path to the results you're looking for.

But here's the honest flip side: there are many situations where all the low-hanging fruit has been picked. The easy options are exhausted. The indexed databases have been searched. At that point, a professional may be flipping through the same unindexed, non-keyword-searchable volumes that you would have to. The difference is that the professional is trained to do it efficiently, knows what to look for, and can recognize evidence you might overlook — but the work itself is still painstaking and time-consuming regardless of who does it.

When Hiring a Professional Makes the Most Sense

You have no idea how to start. If you're looking at your family history and don't know where to begin — what records exist, where to find them, how to evaluate what you find — hiring a professional makes a lot of sense. You're paying for someone to navigate a complex landscape that took them years of training to learn. The alternative is spending weeks or months teaching yourself things a professional already knows, and potentially making mistakes along the way that cost you time and lead you in wrong directions.

You've hit a wall you can't get past. You've done solid work on your own, but you're stuck. A professional brings different tools, different training, and sometimes different access to resources. They may see angles you haven't considered or know about record collections you didn't know existed.

You need it done right for a specific purpose. Lineage society applications, heir searches, legal documentation — these require professional methodology, proper evidence standards, and deliverables that meet specific requirements. This is not DIY territory.

You have more money than time. Your time has value. If you can afford to pay someone with specialized skills to work on your behalf, that frees you up for other things — including the parts of genealogy you enjoy doing yourself.

When Hiring a Professional Might Not Be Right for You

You've already done significant research and you're worried the professional won't add meaningful value. If you've gotten your hands dirty, searched the major databases, and you're sitting there thinking "I could have done that myself — why are they charging so much for that work?" — a full research project might not be the right fit. That doesn't mean a professional can't help you, but it might mean a different kind of engagement is more appropriate.

You enjoy the process and just need guidance. Some people don't want someone else to do the research for them — they want to learn how to do it better themselves. That's a legitimate preference, and it deserves a different service model.

Coaching as an Alternative

If you're an experienced hobbyist who wants professional guidance without handing the research over entirely, talk to Andre about coaching. This is a different kind of engagement — Andre can review what you've done, point you in new directions, teach you techniques for navigating difficult records, and help you develop a research strategy that you then execute yourself.

Coaching is still a professional service, and Andre's time is still billable — this isn't free mentoring. But it can be a more efficient use of your budget if you have the skills and motivation to do the legwork and just need an expert's eye on your approach.

Two Ways to Think About It

Think of it like hiring a guide for a difficult trail:

Option 1: The guide hikes it for you. You tell them where you want to go, they do the work, and they come back with photographs and a detailed report of what they found. This is a standard research project.

Option 2: The guide walks with you. You do the hiking yourself, but they help you navigate the hard sections, point out things you'd miss on your own, and keep you from wasting time on dead-end paths. This is coaching.

Either way, you're paying for expertise, experience, and trained judgment. The question is which model serves you better given your skills, your time, your budget, and what you actually want out of the experience.

The Three Variables That Determine Every Project's Outcome

There's an unspoken truth in professional genealogy that rarely gets discussed openly: the outcome of any research project is not primarily determined by the researcher. It's determined by the interaction of three variables — and the researcher is only one of them.

Variable 1: The Client

This is often bigger than anything the professional brings to the table, and it doesn't get paid enough attention. The client's circumstances, background, education, values, expectations, what information they have ahead of time, what research they've already done (or haven't), how organized their existing knowledge is, what records they can provide, how realistic their expectations are, what their budget allows, and how they communicate — all of this shapes the project before the researcher ever opens a database.

A client who comes in with organized records, a clear question, and realistic expectations creates the conditions for a successful project. A client who comes in with no records, a vague goal, a tiny budget, and the expectation of a miracle creates conditions where disappointment is almost inevitable — regardless of who does the research.

Variable 2: The Researcher

This is the variable most people focus on, and it matters — but it's only one piece. The researcher's training, knowledge, experience, access to repositories, familiarity with the specific region and time period, analytical skills, writing ability, and professional methodology all contribute. A well-trained, credentialed researcher with relevant experience will generally be more efficient and more thorough than someone without that background. But even the best researcher in the world cannot overcome the limitations imposed by the other two variables.

Variable 3: The Research Problem Itself

This is the variable nobody controls, and it's often the most decisive. The circumstances of the problem include:

• The time period. Earlier records are scarcer, less standardized, and harder to access. A researcher working in 1700s colonial America faces fundamentally different challenges than one working in 1900s urban New York.

• The region. Some areas have rich, well-preserved, well-indexed record collections. Others have burned courthouses, destroyed archives, scattered repositories, and gaps that can never be filled.

• What clues were preserved and what wasn't. History is selective about what survives. A family that left a paper trail — land records, church records, military service, census entries — is researchable. A family that didn't may be nearly invisible regardless of effort.

• Whether surviving clues can be found on documents that can be readily located. A record might exist but be buried in an unindexed collection, stored in a repository with limited access, or sitting behind a paywall that exceeds the project budget.

• DNA factors. If DNA is involved: have the right people tested? If we identify likely descendant lines, will those people agree to testing? You can't force someone to spit in a tube. The absence of the right match in the right database can stall a project indefinitely — and that has nothing to do with the researcher's skill.

• Repository accessibility. Archives, courthouses, churches, and libraries all have their own rules, hours, staffing levels, and willingness to work with outside researchers. Some are incredibly helpful. Others are slow, understaffed, or uncooperative. Many have paywalls. Records are often scattered across multiple repositories, each with their own access requirements and timelines.

• Finding aids. Whether adequate finding aids exist to navigate a collection can be the difference between a productive search and hours of fruitless browsing. Some collections are meticulously indexed. Others are boxes of unsorted documents with no guide to what's inside.

Mix all of these variables together — the client's circumstances, the researcher's capabilities, and the nature of the problem itself — and you get the predictable outcome of a research project. And this is only scratching the surface of the variables involved.

Why This Matters for You as a Client

Understanding these three variables helps you set realistic expectations and make better decisions about your project:

• You can improve Variable 1 by being organized, providing what you have, being honest about your budget and expectations, and listening when Andre tells you what's realistic.

• Variable 2 is what you're hiring — and Andre brings formal training, accreditation, experience, and professional methodology to the table.

• Variable 3 is what it is. Nobody controls it. The best researcher in the world, working with the best-prepared client, can still be stymied by records that don't exist, repositories that won't cooperate, or DNA matches that haven't tested.

When a project doesn't produce the hoped-for breakthrough, the answer is usually somewhere in the interaction of these three variables — not in any single failure by the researcher. Understanding that going in makes for a healthier client-researcher relationship and more realistic expectations about what any professional can deliver.

Documentation and Accountability

Regardless of which model you choose, a professional provides documentation you can verify. When you research on your own, it's easy to lose track of what you've already checked, miss sources you didn't know existed, or draw conclusions without sufficient evidence. A professional documents everything — what was searched, what was found, what wasn't found, and what it all means. That documentation has value whether or not the research produces the answer you hoped for, because it prevents the next person (including you) from duplicating effort.

About Free Volunteer Help Online

There are volunteer genealogy communities that sometimes help for free, and for straightforward questions, they can be a great resource. They'll search commonly available databases and get back to you. If they find your answer — great. But understand that was charity. They volunteered their time with no obligation to follow through, and there are definite limits to how much help they can provide or how complex a problem they'll take on.

A professional genealogist has built a career around this work. It's a full-time practice with credentials, professional standards, and a family to support. The time and expertise you're paying for isn't just the hours spent on your project — it's the years of training and experience that allow those hours to be spent effectively.

Living Person and Unknown Parentage Research

We can help with many aspects of biological family and unknown parentage research. However, it's important to understand the distinction between two very different goals:

"I want to know who my birth family is" — This is genealogy. We research family history through records and DNA analysis. This is core to what we do.

"I want to find and contact a living person" — This may cross into private investigator territory depending on the circumstances. We can attempt some outreach with a legitimate genealogy reason, but we cannot guarantee responses, we cannot be persistent, and if someone doesn't respond or says no, that's where it ends.

Andre would need to discuss your specific situation to give an honest assessment. Contact us for a consultation.

Lineage Society Projects

Lineage society projects — DAR, SAR, Mayflower, and others — are not standard genealogy research. They combine research with bureaucracy and compliance. You're not just proving a lineage; you're proving it to the satisfaction of a specific organization with its own standards, registrars, and review processes.

These projects typically involve multiple rounds of submission and revision, specific formatting requirements, and back-and-forth with society officials. We handle this work, but clients need to understand the timeline and budget realities before starting. Andre can walk you through what's involved during a consultation.