Attention Genealogists in Ancestry Search Land – It's Time to Go Back Into the Closet

For all of you family genealogists out there in Ancestry Search Land, give your descendants a lasting gift that they will thank you for over and over. Pull that shoebox off the closet shelf right now – you know the one that is filled with photos and not shoes – and start sifting through it.

While online databases, ancestry websites, and fabulous genealogical research centers are the siren song of the family genealogist, how many of you realize – like Dorothy ultimately did in The Wizard of Oz – that the Emerald City of ancestor search resources is available in your own back yard. Helloooo! Just open up that little cardboard treasure box of genealogy tree goodies and start counting your booty. Become your own genealogy service. While it's a lot of work, it's a lot of fun, too.

If your family has been careful to note each photograph with identifiers (name, date, place, and relationship) – great! Now all you have to do is scan them and get them filed in acid-free containers. But, you know and I know that's probably not the case. That would be too perfect. Chances are you have a lot of photos depicting people with odd hairstyles, wearing dated clothes, looking stern, and staring back at you – and you have no clue who they are! You need to act quickly to get to know the ancestors' identities and then preserve them for generations to come.

There is nothing wrong with family genealogists contacting a forensic genealogy service that specializes in photo analysis to help identify who's in a photo. But let's face it, family genealogists are in a better position to start to trace family history than a genealogy service is. You have important information at your fingertips that will go a long way in shaking the answers out of your genealogy tree.

The most difficult part of the journey is starting it. If you hit an obstacle in the road, that's when you need to reach out to a full-service genealogy service. A genealogy ancestry service will provide helpful directions to get you back on the right path. We're Off to See Our Ancestors!

How Do I Research An Ancestor?

If you think ancestor search is a simple task and that all you need to accomplish it is to interview a few family members, then you might be totally surprised to find that it is an extensive undertaking that will usually take up a lot more time and effort than you originally thought. Moreover, there is a high probability that your family members are not thoroughly knowledgeable with respect to your lineage, causing you to end up getting incomplete or even worse, misleading information. In such a scenario, it is best to hire the services of a professional genealogist who will assist you in achieving this sometimes daunting undertaking. Genealogy research is an extensive field, requiring a great deal of know-how. A professional genealogist knows how to access certain beneficial documents, such as online social security records, death records, marriage records, birth records, land deeds, death certificates, and gravestone photographs, etc. A knowledgeable genealogist, with his/her skills in tracing ancestry, will research these documents, methodically analyze them, and then draw relevant inferences from them. This is one aspect of genealogical research that can best be accomplished with a genealogist for hire. Moreover, since the ancestor search process is usually time-consuming, you may need the help of a professional genealogist to work persistently in order to help you achieve your genealogical research goals successfully.