Genealogy -- Family History -- History

RESEARCH SERVICES

With 22+ years of experience doing genealogical research, Mosaic Research Project and Management is ready to assist you with your family history inquiry or project or any other research involving historic documents.

We are a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists -- your assurance that we provide quality research services.

We have experience doing research in several areas of the world and also within the United States.  We are happy to give a FREE 30 minute consultation on any project to let you know what we can do for you. 

We take digital photographs of many of the documents and/or book pages (and covers) and/or other resources consulted, including visits to cemeteries!  You then receive a disk (or e-mail) with these digital images that you can then print and/or view in an enlarged state for reading, transcribing, etc.  Just one of the ways that we try to give you "more" value for your research dollars.

• Check out our "ads" on Dick Eastman's (EOGN) new GenQueries web-site, the ExpertGenealogy and Ancestry Expert Connect web-sites

• Check out Mosaic RPMs Genealogy and Family History Services brochure (.pdf format)!  You can now download it.  Please do share it with family, friends, colleagues and even strangers!

• Check Diane out on Facebook!

• Starting in September -- we will be making regular trips to Richmond VA (Library of VA) and DC (home of NARA etc) -- if we can assist with document acquisition at any of these facilities, please contact us. To facilitate your contacting us for this, we have established a DC phone number -- when you call this, you will be asked to leave a message which will be e-mailed to us and preserved as a voice mail, no matter where we are!  (202) 495-1474

• Doing UK research, check out Diane's article at Genealogy Archives, Locate Ancestors with UK Vital Records and UK Census Records Uncovered

==> After the section on specialty areas ... there is a menu of important topics regarding genealogy/family history research, our services and our credentials!

We do have more experience with some types of research than others and the research areas that we have done the most work in are:

If you would like a copy of our brochure mailed to you, please "contact us or click on our brochure cover to see it as a .pdf file"

1a. North Carolina --  we have unique access to the records of North Carolina by living in it's capital, Raleigh!  We can help you with any records available at the NC State Archives and the State Library of North Carolina.  This means we can either do "specific" records research for you or you'll know that we have these resources available to us as we research your NC family.

We also have familiarity with and access to ...

1b. Wake County records in the Olivia Raney Collection (a wonderful local history collection focusing on Wake County)

1c. RTP-Area Repositories -- ready access to the Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill and the Duke University Libraries - Special Collections, as well as other local collections.

1d. NC African-American Research -- there are some unique challenges to researching African-Americans whether ancestors were Free Blacks or Slaves.

3. Emigrant families who came to the United States between 1880 and 1920 -- we have personally spent over 750 hours researching individuals/families from Belarus, Finland, France, Galicia and/or Poland, and the UK.  This means we have experiences with records of these countries, emigration ports and passenger records, census records, birth/marriage/death records, cemetery records, directories, citizenship (naturalization) records and more.

We have also researched earlier emigrants ... some from France in 1850 and from French Canada in the late 19th century!  The period 1880-1920 encompasses the period of the highest levels of emigration to the US ... with peak from about 1907-1910.

4. Finland -- we have personally spent over 350 hours researching the records of Finland -- Finnish Church records (in Finnish & Swedish back to the formation of some towns), Finnish emigration records (including Finns using Finnish, Swedish & other ports) and more.

This means we have experience with the church records, the patronymic naming convention used, researching farms and many other types of records.

5. United States -- we have personally spent over 750 hours researching the records of Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania, California, North Carolina and Wisconsin. 

This means we have experience with census records and the various local records of these states.  Please remember that there are "few" records kept on a national level in the US.  Most records are kept on a state and/or county level and this various tremendously state-to-state and community to community!  So, any project is pretty much a new adventure!

6. England & Wales & Scotland -- we have personally spent over 1000 hours researching families with connections to at least 15 different UK counties,  though with a particular emphasis on England -- Greater Manchester area (including Oldham, Hollinwood, Chadderton, Manchester, Failsworth and area), Wales -- Monmouth & Glamorgan, and Scotland -- Kirkcudbrightshire & Wigtownshire. 

This means we have experience with census records, civil registration (Birth, marriage, death), directories, church records, tithe & apportionment documents, wills, burials and more.

7. General Research -- increasingly we receive inquiries about doing research to support a:

>> historical book project

>> claim to be made

>> screenplay

>> script

>> building background, like on "History Detectives"

>> etc... 

The research may be to learn more about an individual or family involved or something of the history and/or people of the place and time in question. 

Given that people make history and that history helps define people -- we are more than happy to do these types of research!  If it involves researching historical people and/or places ... that's what we have been doing for almost 20 years!

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Check out:

• What is the difference between Genealogy and Family History?

• Related Genealogy Links on this web-site

• What we can do for you -- recent activities

• What we can do for you -- overview of services

• Our Genealogy and Family History Credentials

• Why Hire A Professional Genealogist?

• Samples of completed and ongoing projects

• What we won't do for you.

• Some of the topics we have researched

• Researchers we recommend!

• Family Tree Maker 2005/Genealogy from Scratch

• Payment Options

• Samples of Personal Genealogy and Family History Projects -- Individuals and World-wide locations

We also have a listing on an Expert Genealogy Professionals Page ... check it out!

Related Genealogy Links on this web-site

Genealogy & Family History Research Resources

Samples of Personal Genealogy & Family History Research

Research Services Pricing & Affiliated Services

What is the Difference Between Genealogy and Family History?

"While is common for people to use the terms 'genealogy' and 'family history' interchangeably, they actually have a subtle but different meaning. Genealogy, the study of ancestry and descent, refers more to the actual search for ancestors, while family history, the narrative of the events in your ancestors' lives, denotes the telling of your family's story. Family history is genealogy come alive."

So, for us, Genealogy is the bare bones find the facts type activities whereas Family History tries to bring some color and story to your ancestors lives ... Since we don't believe that any of us would like to be remembered as just a bunch of statistics such as when we were born, married, had children and died, so we believe that to do our ancestors justice, we need to try and learn more than the dates of events ... we need to learn about where they lived, where they went to church, what their occupations were, their involvement in the community and anything else we can learn.

What We Can Do For You -- Recent Experience

February 2010: Snow and lots of it greeted us this month -- enough to keep the kids out of school for 3 days as we tried to defrost, though, nothing compared to Snowmageddon as it's hitting VA and north!  Lots of articles written so far this month (1/3rd of the way in) and also lots of research!  Projects focusing on land in colonial Chatham county to those families who migrated from NC to the Mid-west and seemed to stop in every state along the way, to African-American/Slave search -- trying to determine parents and/or plantations of birth, searching on 20th century families who left their NC farms in the 1920s-1930s for elsewhere such as NYC, Philadelphia, DC, Norfolk/Portsmouth, etc., many "born in NC" projects where we are desperately trying to connect them to their ancestral homes, lineage application requirements from DAR/SAR to Sons of Colonial Wars to Society of the Cincinnati have us deep in Revolutionary War era records seeking "proof" of ancestors service. And not to loose sight of just basic "deep" research into early 19th and mid-to-late 18th century documents, of the more obscure variety, to try and learn as much as possible about those North Carolinian families with deep roots.  And, let's not forget the quest to try and find "where" an ancestor emigrated from -- for many of the families I research, the answer will be England/Wales, Scotland or Ireland -- the hard part is determining which, trying to find information on their passage and then identifying specifically "where" back home might be.  And, that's just the first 10 days ... let's see what the rest has us doing!

January 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR! We don't know about you and it was hard to return to work after an enjoyable holiday break.  Though, visits to the Library of Congress (researching the patent card file and books for an early 1900s Tin Pan Alley musician was fun) and the National archives (unfortunately, no research there and did visit the public displays) were a great treat for this genealogist!  We hope to spend about one day per month at these and other great DC facilities doing research.  Otherwise, there are projects not completed in December on our plate -- involving many types of records, across centuries of time, for both NC and other locales!  Once we catch our breath mid-way through the month, we'll update you on what we've been up to!  Articles have been written an proofed, much research at the NC archives has taken place, project binders filled with family documents and reports have been created and so much more!

December 2009: Hope you had a super Thanksgiving and have an enjoyable time preparing for the December holiday season. We have just published another article at Genealogy Archives, UK Census Records Uncovered. This will mostly be a month of starting and completing projects promised in time for Christmas -- whether it's a lineage application, producing binders of research already completed, starting research or meeting some article deadlines -- we will be busy between now and years' end.  A trip to UNC-CH as well as regular visits to the NC archives will also be on our plate. We are happy to report that some long-term projects finally had some breakthroughs late last month -- as they say "patience" is a virtue though impatience is probably a middle name had by many of us!  It's time to complete those projects ... best wishes for a wonderful holiday and a safe, healthy and prosperous 2010!

November 2009: Hope you had a super Halloween and remembered to turn your clocks back 1 hour!  We have a just published article at Genealogy Archives, Locate Ancestors with UK Vital Records, and Diane is polishing up her talk for the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum.  The topic of her talk, "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a case study," (you can read about this same topic in a Discovering Family History Article titled "North Carolina and Beyond," Discovering Family History, May/June 2009, pages 8-11) is timely since in the last two weeks we have received about 8 inquiries where in each case, from the 1850 census or some other resource, an ancestor has been identified as "born in NC" with no other information provided!  These are tough projects and success if possible ...  Involved with several projects where families just love to use the same names over and over again in each generation and across generations -- when combined with somewhat common surnames, we have been kept busy with the Glenn and Turner and Jackson families -- trying to separate out the various branches and generations of these family trees! Will visit the Greensboro courthouse this week for some estate papers, having been researching estate records for slave lists, and am searching diligently to see if proof can be found that some individuals "served" in the Revolutionary war while living in North Carolina.

October 2009: We have already been busy writing Net Notes and an article for Internet Genealogy, spending every afternoon at the NC archives looking at land grant documents, maps, tax records, marriage records and so much more for several NC counties. We continue to help many individuals with two classic questions -- My ancestor was "born in NC," can we figure out where and to whom? (both those who learn this from the 1850+ census and those who through other records know this for an 18th century ancestor) AND My ancestor was either a slave (negro or mulatto) or free black, can we learn what plantation they came from and possibly who the parents were?  These are both challenging questions -- both focused research and some serendipity normally come into play to answer these questions.  We continue to support research in Wake County and the Wake County Genealogical Society (WCGS) -- Diane is now President of WCGS and continues to spearhead "publishing" volumes of abstracted/transcribed material for those researching Wake County Ancestors.  And, next month will be the 4th Annual NCGS Speakers Forum -- if you are in the Raleigh area, do check out the exciting day of talks (Saturday November 7) including one by Diane titled "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a case study." 

September 2009: Hope you had a super Labor Day weekend -- we all know that it unofficially marks the end of summer! Kids are back in school and life takes on a new rhythm!  We have started the month by writing, writing, and doing more writing!  We are working on articles for Discovering Family History and Family Chronicle right now and the Oct/Nov edition of Internet Genealogy has been published with our article "Understanding County Boundaries Through Time!"  We have welcomed some new clients via the Ancestry Expert Connect service.  We will be writing a piece for a newly just "opened" new web-service (we'll let you know more once our article is posted!).  We continue to regularly visit the NC archives and State library of NC (Raleigh), later this month we will trek out to Duke (to examine some manuscript collections) and we also plan to take our first foray to the National Archives (NARA) and the Library of Congress (LoC) as we familiarize ourselves with the DC-area repositories.  Several lineage related projects have been worked on as well as some special projects meant as gifts!  Not directly related to work and we've had a spate of computer and printer issues -- given how much we use both to research on, document and share with others -- it has slowed us down a bit! We continue to acquire vital records documents for individuals (in NC, SC, NJ and elsewhere) to help facilitate our clients and their needs. We know we have much more up our sleeve this month and we'll tell you about it later, when we catch our breath!

August 2009: Besides bringing some extremely hot weather it has seen us doing research for a variety of NC-focused families, non-NC-focused families and migrant families across the US.  And, before going further we want to express our continued appreciation of our clients and their extreme patience with us this year -- we have never experienced such a personally chaotic year (husband work lay-off, illness, NGS conference, more illness, child graduating high school, husband finding job in DC -- 4+ hours away, child going off to college and so much more ... hectic to say the least and the dust has mostly settled).  Projects are being completed and started which are meant as "gifts" for their recipients -- we consider these one of the best gifts someone can get!  We have been working on several projects of the group we call "born in NC" -- in the 1850 census, someone is found living outside NC and their birth date is listed as in NC -- these can be very challenging projects.  A lot of individuals/families migrated through NC on their way to their final destination.  Sometimes we are successful in determining the NC birth county and other information and sometimes not. Separating out families using land, tax, court, will/estate and other records where they just loved to use the same forenames in every branch of every generation! Tracking down revolutionary war era information for those that "served" as well as others continues to keep us busy.  Additionally, tracking down land grants and deeds as ways to document where a family lived and/or connect them to one another, continue to keep us busy.  How about those families who we find in NC that migrated from VA -- we have tracked a family from Wake County back to Bertie and figure that they probably came from Isle of Wight VA -- the hard part is "proving" this!  Two active projects are ripe with name variants -- though names are pretty standardized now, back in the 1700s and 1800s it was not unusual for a single document to spell one name a bunch of different ways -- compound this with different clerks, different pronunciation, illiteracy, etc and you can find yourself having to check out 15-20 variants as you trawl through the records!  So, what is the "correct" name for a branch of the family and can we read any significance into these name variants in the early records?  Hopefully our research will answer those questions as we review documents and signatures to figure out who is who.

July 2009: Needless to say, the month of June was so busy that we didn't get back to letting you know what we've been up to.  First, we hope that everyone had a super 4th of July weekend.  Second, starting next month, we'll be regularly traveling to DC and will be available to access any of the wonderful archives and repositories located in the greater DC metro area.  Third, the August 2009 editions of Discovering Family History and Family Chronicle are now available and we have articles in both -- "First Things First" and " Godfrey Memorial Library" in DFH and "Looking for a Man Who Didn't Want to be Found!" and "Capturing WWII Veteran Memories" in FC.  And, I don't think we mentioned that just in time for the NGS 2009 conference in May, the Wake County Genealogical Society has made available via lulu.com several new publications and a reprint of the much-in-demand Wake County Heritage Book -- check out the society's store, http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1837949, to learn more!  So, obviously not "lazy days" for us this summer!  As far as research we have continued to search in Revolutionary War era records to learn more about a Duplin County family.  We are also working on about five Wake County focused projects covering from the county's formation in 1771 to the circa 1830s time period!  We continue to work on some lineage projects and will be starting another one shortly.  We have also continued to work on some families who loved to move around or were itinerant emigrants -- necessitating research into the records for several different states.  Never mind "crossing the pond" for some families with the main focus being on the records of England, Wales and Scotland. And, there are the projects where we start by knowing "born in NC" and little else and so we try to determine "where" in NC the ancestral birth place might be.  We also are still working to straighten out several like-named like-aged individuals in Randolph County -- which ones are the target family!  And, so much more ...

For earlier months, check out our Genealogy Experience page!

So, let us create the gift that will keep on giving for your family!!

Here are a few more specifics of what we can do!!

What we can do for you -- Overview of Services

• Research a specific life event such as a birth, death, marriage, census record, passenger record, will, etc...

• Research a particular person (for example, Ernest Taylor), a particular family line (for example, the Taylor family of Lancashire England), a branch of your family (for example, the Taylor, Wolfenden, Crossley and Newton families) or research broadly across your family

• Help you organize and make sense of a collection of family papers that may be sitting in your attic or house (you may have inherited from a relative) -- possibly perform follow-up research  or suggest research avenues

• Take DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHS of documents and/or other resources consulted at the NC Archives, NC State Library, Olivia Raney Library, UNC-CH Wilson Library et al and either e-mail, post on secure web-server or create & mail a CD to you

• Research those "family stories" that we all have and try to substantiate some of the details.

• Provide some guidance -- we offer a FREE 15 -30 minutes consultation to suggest what you might research.  If we don't feel we are the best researchers for your project -- we'll let you know! After 15 minutes, the rate is $10 per 15 minute period or the hourly rate given on our rate page. 

• Research a branch of your family covering a specific time period or maybe it's a particular ancestor you are interested in.

• Anything you can think of that has to do with historical research on a member or branch of your family!

• For non-local NC research, preserve DIGITAL IMAGES of documents and/or other remote resources consulted and either e-mail, post on secure web-server or create & mail a CD to you

• Work with DNA test results -- DNA test results only have value if used in conjunction with a well documented family history!

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Mosaic Research and Project Management
~~
Genealogy & Family History Credentials

>>

23+ years of genealogy & family history research experience, 15+ years internet research (Also, Master of Engineering and Master of Business Administration)

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Subscriptions to numerous resources, including and not limited to Ancestry.com, Godfrey Memorial Library Online, GenealogyBank, Scotlands People, Emigrant Register (Finland), and access to many others!

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NC State Archives, State Library of North Carolina, Wake County records via Olivia Raney Collection and access to other central-NC archives

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Support of a project to index the England Census -- The Genealogist ... we transcribed a Registration Area for Oldham (240 pages of census) for the 1861 Census

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Experience doing genealogy research as a sub-contractor for larger genealogy research firms

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our Personal Genealogy & Family History Library (we maintain a list of titles at LibraryThing -- check it out)

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Listed by the NC State Archives & NC State Library (met North Carolina Administrative Code provisions) as a researcher available to perform genealogical research

Listed at UNC-CH Wilson Library as a researcher.

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Memberships (National & International):

National Genealogy Society (NGS)

Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)

>>

President and VP (Communications) for Wake County Genealogical Society (2006-Present)

Coordinator for Wake County USGenWeb site (2005-2008)

Regular contributor to WCGS Updates -- Pieces that focus on new resources @ Wake County GenWeb site, NC State Archives & Library, Wake County GenWeb archives, etc. and a column titled "Research the Cosmos - Learn about internet resources all over the planet"

Regular contributor to WCGS Wake Treasures

~~ "Looking for Scots Heritage Becomes a Lesson in the History of Wake and Johnston Counties" (Winter/Spring 2007)

~~ "University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill – Manuscripts Department" (Summer/Fall 2007)

~~ "Wake County Court Papers, UNC-CH, Willis G. Briggs Collection #3077" (Winter/Spring 2008)

~~ Articles acquired from early 19th century Raleigh newspapers for publication
 

 >>

Other Memberships (NC & Local):

Association of Professional Genealogists -- NC Chapter --

• Secretary (current), Co-Program Chair (2008-2009)

• Presentations ...
  ~~ "Internet Resources for family research" (September 2007)
  ~~ DVD by Sharon Sergeant titled The Misha Defonseca Holocaust Fraud: Forensic Genealogy Lessons for Your Own Family History (November 2008)

Association of Professional Genealogists -- Capital Area Chapter

North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS)

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Digital images -- can easily take digital images of found documents/books/maps et al via a digital camera (sometimes used with real-time transfer to a laptop)

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Presenter of "Help I live in Raleigh and My Family Comes from Outside North Carolina!" (alternately titled "Research the Cosmos - Learn about internet resources all over the planet") Main focus is researching US records though information is also provided on researching family in England and Finland.

The accompanying resource guide, Internet Genealogy Resources - Searching “Anywhere” USA!,  is available at Lulu.com. (Updated 9/18/2007)

 >>

Internet Resources for Genealogy and Family Research in North Carolina (available at lulu.com) contains 21 pages of internet-based resources for NC ancestral research -- 19 pages cover NC-focused resources and 2 pages cover some broader databases/subscription services that you definitely want to check out! (January 2008)

[NOTE: this will be updated soon -- a lot has happened in the last 2 years!]

>>

Author for "Internet Genealogy" (you can download a 24 page sample version)

April/May 2006

* Net Note -- Illinois State Archives

June 2006 (special web issue)

* Article -- FamilyHistoryOnline

June/July 2006

* Article -- My Trees Website

August/September 2006

* Article -- CA Vital Search 

* Net Note -- Immigration History Research Center

October/November 2006

* Net Note -- Iron Range Research Center

December 2006/January 2007

* Article -- A New Dawn for Online Databases (cover story!)

* Net Note -- Online Searchable Death Indexes and Records

* Net Note -- Historical Directories

February/March 2007

* Net Note -- Old Historic Maps

* Article -- Finnish Resources

* Article -- It's Not on The 'Net: Now What?

April/May 2007

* Article -- 20 Billion Names: One Year Later

* Article -- Are You Ready to Unlock Your Genealogy

June/July 2007

* Article -- Family Search Labs: You Be the Judge

* Article -- Searching Digital Documentation on HistoryKat

* Net Notes -- 1. Immigrant Servants Database, 2. Prologue, 3. OCLC/WorldCat, and 4. Free on Ancestry

August/September 2007

* Article -- Footnote

October/November 2007

* Article -- Chronicling America

* Article -- Black Studies Center

* Article -- When Disaster Strikes: Genealogy and Mother Nature

* Net Notes -- 1. GenWeb Search, 2. Encyclopedia of Genealogy, and 3. Geni and Zooof.

>> ThinkGenealogy listed us as the most prolific of the "Top 10 Genealogy and Technology Most Published Authors of 2007!"

January 2008

* Article -- Lineage, First Family and Pioneer Societies on the Web

* Article -- National Genealogical Society

* Article -- World Vital Records

* Net Note -- Free Public Records Directory

March 2008

* Net Note -- LostCousins

* Article -- Passenger Records and Naturalization Records

May 2008

* Article -- Accessing Family History Books Online

* Article -- US Passport Applications Online

* Net Note -- Paper of Record

July 2008

* Article -- A New and Improved World Vital Records

* Net Notes -- 1. Ghost towns USA and US Ghost Towns, 2. ResourceShelf, and 3. The Poorhouse Story

September 2008

* Article -- Project StoryKeeper and LifeLenz

* Article -- CPS Alumni: School's In on the Web!

* Net Notes -- 1. FamilyRelatives and 2.  Bloodlines of Salem

November 2008

* Article -- Explore Maps From the Comfort of Your Home!

* Article -- What's With All the Fuss About Wikis?

* Net Notes -- 1. Voici Ma Famille/That's My Family, 2. NARA, 3. AncestryBank, 4. Antietam National Cemetery Payroll, 1866-1867

January 2009

* Article -- Chicago Records Go Online!

March 2009

* Article -- Read up on Research: Genealogy Book Reviews

* Article -- Family Tree Connection and Live Roots

* Article -- Family Research Labs: One-Stop Genealogy

* Article -- Olde-English Handwriting: An Online Course

* Net Notes -- 1. In the First Person, 2. Slave Trade, 3. Cassini Maps, 4. Memeo Share

May 2009

* Article -- 1911 UK Census Goes Live and Direct!

* Article -- Facebook for Genealogists

* Net Notes -- 1. Irish Mariners, 2. Archives New Zealand, 3. Institute of Jewish Life Digital Archive Project, 4. Family Old Photos

July 2009

* Net Notes -- 1. 1891 Canadian census, 2. PlaceNames.com, 3. Prague Residence Records, 4. Public Profiler

September 2009 * Net Notes -- 1. Discovering American Women's History, 2. Early California Population Project, 3. Swiss-Italian Migration Project, 4. Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy * Article -- North Carolina Online * Review -- The Genealogist's Internet November 2009

* Net Notes -- 1. Canadian Headstone Photo Project, 2. It Runs in My Family, 3. Valley of the Shadow, and 4. Non-Conformist UK Records

* Article -- Understanding County Boundaries Through Time

{note: any item, article or reference, that is a bold underlined title is able to be downloaded or viewed, just click on it!}

{note: most articles become available 1+ years after they were originally published}

 >>

* NGS 2009 Blog  - Moderator and author
* Local chair - Vendor Area

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Presenter at North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) Speakers Forums

~~ 1st (2006) "Help I live in Raleigh and My Family Comes from Outside North Carolina!" (see above)

~~ 2nd (2007) "Looking for Scots Heritage Becomes a Lesson in the History of Wake and Johnston Counties" (Companion article published in Winter/Spring 2007 edition Wake Treasures (WCGS)

~~ 3rd (2008) "Explore NC through maps from the comfort of your home!"

~~ 4th (2009) "Born in NC: making the connection back to North Carolina, a case study" (Companion article published in June 2009 Discovering Family History "North Caroline and Beyond")

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Presenter at Various Local Meetings

Wake County Genealogical Society
~~ Nov 2006 "Research the Cosmos"
~~ April 2008 "Explore NC Through Maps From the Comfort of Your Home"

Durham-Orange Genealogical Society
~~ June 2008 "Exploring North Carolina through Maps from your easy chair"

Carolina Meadows
~~ Oct 2007 "Researching for Your Ancestor's Immigration and Naturalization Papers"
~~ Feb 2009 "Exploring Maps for Research or Curiosity"

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Author for "Discovering Family History" This new, in early 2008, publication comes from Moorshead Magazines, who brings you Internet Genealogy and Family Chronicle. You can download a copy of the 56 page preview issue.

Since the 1st issue (June 2008) we have authored a recurring piece ...

First Things First -- This is a forum filled with short news blurbs on database updates, new books, new web-sites, new resources ... the coverage is global and covers anything we think might be of interest to both the novice and experienced genealogist.

* September/October 2008
* November/December 2008
* January/February 2009
 

Additionally, we have authored these articles.

August 2008

* Article -- Black Sheep and Bad Seeds

October 2008

* Article -- Linkpendium

* Article -- Making of America

December 2008

* Article -- reCAPTCHA

February 2009

* Article -- If I Were to Start My Genealogy Now

June 2009

* Article -- North Carolina and Beyond

* Article -- Coming to America, Eh?

August 2009

* Article -- Godfrey Memorial Library

December 2009

* Article -- Who is Joe Beine?

* Article -- AGES-Online Review

February 2010

* Article -- Irish Made Easy, The Irish Family History Foundation (see an excerpt)

{note: any item, article or reference, that is a bold underlined title is able to be downloaded or viewed, just click on it!}

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Author for "Family Chronicle" (you can download a 24 page sample version)

May 2006

* Forum Piece on "Polish Roots"

October 2006

* Contributed to piece on "Essential Books"

April 2007

* Article -- Genealogy Web Sites Worth Surfing

June 2007

* Article -- 40 Fabulous Websites

June 2009

* Article -- Forgotten Patriots: A Book Review

August 2009

* Article -- Looking for a Man Who Didn't Want to be Found! (with Dr. M.A. Boyle)

* Article -- Capturing WWII Veteran Memories

October 2009

* Article -- Couldn't Make It (a few websites to help find records of the conferences we just didn't get around to)

* Article -- Genealogy Web Sites Worth Surfing

December 2009

* Article -- Case Study of the Miles Family

February 2010

* Article -- Family Bibles (see an excerpt)

{note: any item, article or reference, that is a bold underlined title is able to be downloaded or viewed, just click on it!}

 >>

Author for the Expert Series at GenealogyArchives
* Locate Ancestors with UK Vital Records
* UK Census Records Uncovered

OUR PROMISE TO YOU -- we take our Genealogy & Family History Research seriously!  We have always produced footnoted (or end-noted) research ... it is always vital to know the source of the information used!  We have always indicated our confidence in the conclusions drawn or whether more substantiation is needed ... we always deliver what we promise and never promise what we cannot deliver!

"we provide research assistance by researching only authorized services requested...and understand this is not a guarantee that the request will be located..."

"please note that you are paying for us to do your "leg work" as there is no guarantee the documents or answers you are researching will be available..."

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Why Hire A Professional Genealogist?

• Promote a coherent, truthful approach to genealogy, family history and local history;
• Clearly present research results and opinions in a clear, well-organized manner, with accurately-cited references;
• Advertise services and credentials honestly;
• Explain without concealment or mis-representation all fees, charges, and payment structures;
• Abide by agreements regarding project scope, number of hours, and deadlines or reporting schedules;
• Refrain from knowingly violating or encouraging others to violate laws and regulations concerning copyright and right to privacy;
• Give proper credit to those who supply information and provide assistance.

Remember -- Professional Genealogists take an oath to uphold the standards of the associations to which they belong!

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Samples of Completed and Ongoing Project Examples

These projects were all completed about 4 years ago, for a more modern example, just ask us to see one! Since every project is unique, we have evolved several different types of reports -- depending on the nature of a project!

Project #1 --

Focus: North Carolina families -- several counties

Duration: 15 minute consultation + 2 hours of research + 1.5 hours of writing research results (included) and providing suggestions for future research

Click on Census graphic to see resulting research report

"I was impressed with how much you found in a short time."

Project #2 --

Focus: Project for a family member that involved several UK counties, emigration to the US, a focus on Scottdale Pennsylvania (involving several families with some renown in the area), a link to Chicago from families that migrated via many Illinois counties and from Indiana and the creation of a mini-biography of an artist, Robert Oliver Skemp.

Duration: 15 minute consultation + 10 hours of research + 4 hours of writing research results and providing suggestions for future research (included -- we did some "preliminary" research to substantiate our ability to perform the suggested research and what we would find)

Click on the Advertisement graphic to the left and you will see the resulting research report.

"Wow!!!! What a fantastic report. I can't wait to show XXXX's family. I would love to go back further like you suggested ... Thank you so much.  It is an amazing how much info. can be found."

Project #3 --

Focus: Personal Family project -- ongoing -- so far family branches have been researched in: Chicago, Delaware, Alsace Region France, Monmouth & Glamorgan counties Wales, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Poland and Russia.

Duration: 120 hours+

Click on Russian Passport page graphic to right to see research reports produced to date

Project #4 --

Focus: Personal Family project -- ongoing -- so far family branches have been researched in: Salem & Peabody Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oldham & Failsworth & areas in Lancashire England, Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire & Yorkshire & other counties in England, Scotland, Ireland, Finland (Ylistaro & Soini) and Galicia - now Poland (Deszno & Wola Pietrusza)

Duration: 1000 hours+

Click on Ancestral tree graphic to left to see research reports produced to date

What we won't do for you.

• Agree to perform your research if we do not feel that we can give you value for your money either due to the nature of the request, the types of records involved, the locale of the records or other considerations

• Research to find living persons.

• Pretend that we are able to directly access genealogy records around the world.  We are a US-based (in NC) firm that specializes in using internet research, e-mail & written  correspondence, library services, genealogy services and any pertinent resource or research tack that is appropriate.

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Some of the topics we have researched

These are all places that we have done some research in and this list is NOT complete and has not been updated since Summer 2005!  Every project introduces us to something new whether a location, record type or resource!  To get a better flavor of our more current work, see the section above, What we can do for you -- recent activities

• England -- countrywide, though have more experience with Lancashire including Oldham, Chadderton, Failsworth, Hollinwood, Manchester and environs,  also Bristol (& Gloucestershire & Somerset), Cheshire, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire -- industries including Hat Manufacturers, Saddlers, Cotton Industry, Weaving, Basket & Skip Makers -- religions including both conformist and non-conformist (particularly Baptist) -- all census years, 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901

• Ireland -- particularly Dublin and Limerick (late 19th century)

• Scotland -- particularly Dumfries and Galloway including Newton-Stewart and Penninghame and Minnigaff -- some familiarity with Inverness

• Wales -- particularly Glamorgan and Monmouth Counties ... includes the communities of Bridgend, Coity, Llangynwyd, Maesteg, Newcastle, Newport and Swansea.

• Emigration from European & English Ports -- particularly the late 19th and early 20th century time period -- including the English and European ports of Hamburg, Antwerp, Bremen, Hango/Hanko, Hull, Liverpool, Copenhagen,  Rotterdam, Southampton and the U.S. ports of Boston and New York

• United States -- access to all censuses (1790-1930) and many other records across the country

• Chicago -- particularly as it relates to Polish and Russian emigrants as well as general search inquiries

• Illinois -- several counties within the state ... BMD, burial and other types of research

• Massachusetts -- particularly Salem and Peabody -- also Boston passenger records and citizenship process/papers, BMD certificates and much more!

• Minnesota -- particularly Eveleth and environs -- early 20th century -- Finnish emigrants to the lumber and other industries

• North Carolina -- Wake County as a specialty and any NC county in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries

• Ohio -- particularly Ashtabula -- Finnish emigrants

• Pennsylvania -- particularly the Mauch Chunk (Carbon County) and Allentown areas -- with Scottdale (Westmoreland County) thrown in!

• Russia/Poland -- these areas are particularly difficult to research due to language and wars and we have some familiarity with records and their availability. Have researched in Belarus (Minsk Gubernia), Wola Pietrusza & Deszno (previously part of Galicia, now Poland) and Kalisz (Poland).

• Finland -- whole country and Ylistaro and Soini and environs -- church records and passenger and passport records

• France -- Alsace Region (family that emigrated to the US) and Soultz-les-Forets (an overseas death)

• Galicia -- now modern-day Poland, including Deszno and Wola Pietrusza

• Quebec (French-Canadian) -- some research into French-Canadian families from Quebec who emigrated to Wisconsin

Researchers we recommend

We recognize that sometimes you have very specific research needs or a need for services other than what we offer.  We also recognize that it can be a challenge to find those researchers that are scrupulous and provide great service value!  Listed below are "select" researchers that we have personally worked with and whom we highly recommend!

CHICAGO

Chicago Genealogy

ILLINOIS

Illinois Genealogical Research

A variety of records available in Springfield and area.

Check the web-site for full details.

Examples of records available for lookups Statewide Deaths (1916-1984)
Statewide Stillbirth Certificates (1916-1947)
Federal & Illinois State Census
Civil War Muster Rolls
WWI Draft Registrations
Illinois Newspaper Project Holdings

Sangamon Valley Collection

Check the web-site for full details.

Examples of records available for lookups
Soundex indexing for naturalizations from 1871 forward and naturalization paperwork.
Wills/probate
Divorce 
Obits, either indexed or not

AGR specializes in forensic genealogy and probate research as the premier missing heir search firm in Boston, MA. We locate missing heirs, beneficiaries, legatees, property owners, and stockholders exclusively for attorneys, lawyers, and bank trust officers. We will locate beneficiaries, trace real property ownership, and identify heirs-at-law.

(NOTE: a distant relative of a grandmother's passed away intestate in MA and Dr. Boyle was engaged by the state to ferret out the living relatives ... we provided our family research and she engaged a researcher with Polish/Ukrainian connections -- all living beneficiaries were found and the estate proceeds distributed)

Family Tree Maker 2005/Genealogy from Scratch

Early in 2005 we tried out Family Tree Maker (FTM) 2005.   Having abandoned "formal" genealogy software back in the 1980s, we thought it time to revisit this software genre given the improvements that have occurred and the expectation that a Genealogy Services firm uses a recognized Genealogy software program.  

We created a type of blog called "Genealogy from Scratch" for this project that encompassed the Cortwright, Kaminsky, Matthews, Ozark/Ovcarik, Richard,  Robichaud, Woulf and affiliated families hailing from Chicago, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Poland and Russia.  This is an opportunity to track a new genealogy (family history) project.  5/1/2006 -- we discontinued this project to focus on other work. We can report that we continue to use FTM to create family charts for new client projects or we import data (.FTW or Gedcom files) from Clients to update with new research results.

If you want to check out the software, click on the graphic above or check out a review done by Dick Eastman, of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

One capability this software has is it's great at making family history charts... ask us about including family charts in any research project we do for you!

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Payment Options

The details of our service pricing are found by clicking on the image.  Don't see something that quite fits your situation ... ASK!  We customized work and so have customized pricing!

We accept CHECK,  MONEY ORDER, CASHIER'S CHECK or you can use PAYPAL -- which accepts all major credit cards.  You do not have to be a Paypal member for us to invoice you, through them, for our services.  Note that you will be asked to become a member and that is optional.

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Below is a sampling of some of the projects that we have been involved with. Just because we list particular places and/or names, in most cases, research techniques we have used will be successful for similar searches. 

Additionally, new records are always becoming available.  Each of these projects was revisited a year or two after completion and an addendum was created reflecting new resources and new lines of inquiry (see sample addenda for the NELSON family, PDF 1.1 meg and the WOLFENDEN family, PDF 500K) .

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We are currently involved in an ongoing research project involving Chicago, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Belarus, Poland and more ... the documents produced so far can be seen at: "DAVE'S FAMILY" (this is the companion page to the the "Genealogy From Scratch" project mentioned above).

George Nelson

He was a fascinating person to research.  The fascination was because through George, we learned about a period of history that we weren't really familiar with ... the age of Air Races.  He participated in a harrowing Air Race held in 1937 that went from Marseille to Damascus to Paris; it was almost a catastrophe for George and A. E. Clouston and their plane, called  the "Orphan."  Tragically, George died in a place crash in India in 1938.  The file contains newspaper clippings and book excerpts.(5.7 Meg file!)

There is a page set-up just for you.  On this page you'll find a link to a genealogy resources page, abbreviated family trees and references to over 20 PDF documents full  of family history covering Finland, Galicia/ Poland, England/Scotland/ Ireland and Salem/Peabody Massachusetts.

Family History and Genealogy Resources that we are affiliated with can be found on our Service Fees Page and Resources Page.

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England

Research into English records spanning the early 1700s to the early 1900s.  Special focus on Lancashire, particularly Oldham, Hollinwood, Chadderton, Rochdale and area.  Also have worked with records in Cheshire, Lincolnshire, Nottingham & West Yorkshire.  Some of the family names researched include:  Butterworth, Chadderton, Crossley, Fountain, Guest Hodgkinson, Newton, Oldfield, Smith, Taylor, Torkington, Western, Wolfenden and allied families. You can see an excerpt (PDF 500K) of the BUTTERWORTH genealogy.

European Emigrants

Though one would anticipate that emigrants from one region would consistently use one departure port and one arrival port, that is frequent-ly not the case.  For some families, every member used a different departure port!  Frequently Eastern Europeans used any of the European ports and sometimes even departed via an English port.  Scandinavians frequently used Liverpool or Southampton!

Finland

Research into Finnish records spanning the late 1600s to the late 1800s.  Special focus on Ostrobothnia, particularly Ylistaro and Soini regions.  Some of the family names researched include: Blom Kujanpää and Rajala. You can see an excerpt (PDF 1.3 meg) of the RAJALA genealogy.

Galicia/

Poland

You will no longer find Galicia on a map.  What was once Galicia is now split amongst Poland and the Ukraine.  Such Ruthenians, as they are sometimes called, are a challenge to research and yet the area has such fascinating history.

See families under Massachusetts for more info.

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Massachusetts

Large numbers of Finns and Ruthenians congregated in the industrial areas of Massachusetts; even though many people associate Scandinavians with the Midwest.  In Massachusetts, Peabody had a large Finnish population as did many neighboring communities. For the Ruthenians, they gathered more in Salem and other nearby communities.  We have found extended families that have emigrated to a single community and other families who have spread to the four corners of either a state or the entire country.  It is interesting to note that those from Galicia did not always share a common ethnicity.  In researching the Barna and Malecki families who came from communities 20 miles apart in Galicia to meet at a Salem boarding house, we learn the Barnas spoke Russian, have a Polish name and were Russian Orthodox while apparently, the Malecki family came from a community that was considered Catholic. You can see an excerpt (PDF about 1.3 meg) of the MALECKI genealogy.

Scotland

Though Scotland and England are both part of the UK, what records are available are not always the same.  Our familiarity is more with the lowlands of Scotland, particularly Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. The families researched are Ne(i)lson, McCartney and Walker.  With a name like Nelson, we could be talking a Highlands Scot or an Irishman! You can see an excerpt (PDF about 750K) of the NELSON genealogy.

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Individuals

The projects above refer to whole families.  Mosaic Research and Project Management will also do research that focuses on an individual.  This means gathering as much information as possible on this person covering a dedicated period of time.  Sometimes the focus is a twenty year period and sometimes it is the complete life of a person.  You can see an excerpt (PDF 2.5 meg) of the Margaret Joyce Fountain Acey genealogy.

Memories

This project  "A Window of Memories" (PDF 1 meg) focuses on the early memories of Edith Lewis Warburton (part of the NELSON clan!).  The author added  memories from recent correspondence and inserted some relevant family photos into the document.  The completed document is a compendium covering early 20th century life.

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