september 24, 2024 by Derek Tolman 2 Comments

How To Set a Genealogy Research Goal

Every year more and more records are made available from archives worldwide and family history industry partners continue to deliver technologies to make the research process more effective. These technologies range from using artificial intelligence to enable full-text search of handwritten records, to improved tools for analyzing DNA results to identify an unknown parent or break through a brick wall. Notwithstanding all these developments, genealogy research often still requires painstaking efforts searching for and analyzing all available sources to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard and ensure each project is as accurate as possible. Our team at Legacy Tree Genealogists consists of highly qualified professionals who love doing this painstaking research! Some of our clients hire us because they lack the skill, others have the skill but lack the time. Whatever your case may be, we're here to help!

When genealogical research is requested from a professional, we want to start with a clear and reasonable goal statement to make sure the researcher understands how the client’s valuable research time should be spent. What constitutes a goal and how do you know how much time (i.e. size of project) is needed to accomplish your goal(s)? In general, at Legacy Tree Genealogists, a goal is defined as research on one family line in one country or geographic location. We're happy to work on as many family lines as you'd like, but just keep in mind that the more family lines and/or geographical locations, the larger the project size should be so we have time to delve into the research and get you the best possible results. If time is spread too thin, results generally aren't great.

With over twenty years of experience and thousands of research projects, Legacy Tree Genealogists has developed the following guidance to help facilitate a successful research project for our clients.

Begin Your Genealogy Research From a Solid Starting Point

Researchers work from the known to the unknown and every research project should begin from a solid starting point. A solid starting point generally has specific birth, marriage, and/or death dates and locations.

An example of a genealogy research goal with a solid launching point: Research and extend the direct paternal line of John Paul Smith as far as time and records allow. John Paul Smith was born in Springfield, Illinois on 4 January 1921 and died in Chicago, Illinois on 3 June 1989. John married Evelyn Mayer on 24 December 1940 in Gary, Indiana
An example of a genealogy research goal with a weak starting point: Research and extend all ancestral lines of Antonio López Vega. Antonio was born in Spain in the early 1900s and died in Cuba around 1969.

In the case of the second example, we can still begin with this goal, but research will likely need to start by locating more records for Antonio to solidify his details before his lines can be extended. The last thing we want to do is extend the lines of the wrong Antonio Vega!

If you don't have a solid starting point right now, that's fine! Just share what you already know about your family history and we'll help you determine where we should start. Sharing what you already know ensures we don't waste time duplicating your information (though we will review and analyze what you give us in order to make a plan for what to look at next). We're most interested in dates and places of ancestors' births, marriages and deaths. Even just approximate information can help, though we love to see original documents when you have them.

Focus On One Country or Geographic Location To Reach Your Genealogy Goals

Legacy Tree Genealogists assigns each client’s project to a researcher or team of researchers who are experts in the applicable geographic region of the world and have an in-depth knowledge of the records that are available in their area of expertise. Examples of a geographic region are Southern United States, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the United Kingdom. Focusing on family lines in one country or geographic location allows research to progress efficiently and utilize the client’s research hours effectively. If you have more than one area you'd like researched, it's best to order a larger project (a good rule of thumb is at least 25 hours per geographic location) so that we can divide up the time and give each team an adequate allocation for their part of the research.

It is also important to know that some geographic locations are more time consuming to research than others and may require more than the standard amount of time. A client solutions specialist can provide those details based on your individual situation.

Focus On a Limited Number of Family Lines

The more family lines being researched, the greater the likelihood that the goal will span several geographical locations and record sets. Focusing on one family line per 25-hour block has the potential to extend that line further, versus researching several family lines that may encompass several geographic locations and record archives, which will likely yield less progress on each line.

Ensure Your Genealogy Goal Is Realistic To the Size of Project You’ve Purchased

Different parts of the world or regions within different countries have unique challenges in terms of record availability. For example, the Southern United States suffered significant record loss during the American Civil War in which many of the county courthouses were burned along with many of the records stored in them.

Research in Ireland is hampered due to a fire in the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922, creating the need to employ alternate record strategies such as searching parish records. In other cases, such as Colonial America, vital information such as birth, marriage, and death records weren’t kept by local governments or churches, so other records such as land or probate records may need to be searched to establish ancestral connections.

In short, record availability varies depending on the time period and geographic location, so the size of a research project should match the known research challenges. For this reason, some geographic locations require a minimum 50-hour project.

Also, if you want your whole family tree researched, or for more complex challenges such as research earlier than the mid-1800s and/or seeking an immigrant ancestor, we highly recommend starting with a larger project, because in many cases we'll need to determine ancestry through indirect of circumstantial evidence, and this takes much more time.

Ordering a larger project is also a benefit to you because 1) The hourly rate on our larger projects is lower (so you're getting a better deal); and 2) Each project -regardless of size – takes 4-6 months to complete, so ordering more hours to start gets more results per project. If you reorder later (which many people do, and we love this!) it takes another 4-6 months for the new project.

To help you decide which project size to start with, we offer the following general guidelines:

Basic 25-hour Project: Discover recent ancestors (post 1850), research one family line in one geographic location, begin a search for a birth parent, learn more about your DNA results, prepare to join a lineage society, or choose a customized goal.
Standard 50-hour Project: Search for early “brick wall” ancestors, research one or two family lines, work on identifying birth parents or grandparents, pursue more in-depth DNA analysis, or choose a customized goal.
Premium 100-hour Project: Research up to four family lines in one or two geographic locations or focus significant effort on one challenging research problem.

A clear and focused research goal following the aforementioned guidelines allows your research project to get off on the right foot. We recognize that hiring a professional is a big investment, and we want to get you the best results possible. For this reason, our Client Solutions Specialists will work with you to determine which size of project would be the best fit for the goal(s) you are hoping to work on. After you place your order and submit your starting information your personal Project Manager will help you define what the exact stated goal(s) should be based on what is most important to you, as well as what is realistic for the amount of project time you chose and the time period and geographic location(s) the research includes.

If you'd like to get a free quote for your genealogy research project, you can reach out to us and we'll get in touch!

juli 10, 2020 by Derek Tolman 2 Comments

7 Key Principles to Help Tell Your Story

While Legacy Tree can help you tell the story of your ancestors, you are the best person to tell your story. Learn how to document and preserve your story for future generations.

Legacy Tree Genealogists is committed to helping our clients discover and preserve the stories of their ancestors. Our researchers employ proven research strategies and adhere to the Genealogical Proof Standard when searching available records and often analyze DNA evidence to uncover facts and clues about their ancestors.

While Legacy Tree can help you tell the story of your ancestors, you are the best person to tell your story. Consider the following key principles and strategies for documenting, preserving, and sharing those stories that will enrich the lives of your descendants, and a simple methodology to make it happen.

Seven Key Principles to Telling Your Story

Tell your story. An unknown author said, “When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.” You’re the best person to write your story and the sooner you get started, the better. Not sure where to begin? We've created this free downloadable bookmark with prompts to help you get started!
Save the high resolution image to your computer by right clicking on the image and selecting ‘Save image as'. Print and keep in your journal to help you get started with telling your story!
Keep it short and simple: less is often better. More of your posterity will benefit from your life story if you keep it short and to the point. Consider the lasting impact of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This historic speech was fewer than 275 words and took less than three minutes to deliver, yet continues to inspire millions of people worldwide. If you’ve been a prolific journal writer, photographer, or scrapbooker, think in terms of an abridgment, executive summary, or Reader’s Digest version of your life history.
Focus on the key events and experiences that shaped your life. Your posterity will greatly benefit from knowing not only what you’ve accomplished during your life, but more importantly the experiences and life lessons that have shaped the person you’ve become.
Be honest, factual, and genuine. Keep the record of your personal history true to what really happened. Your descendants will benefit the most if your account includes both the highs and the lows and a healthy dose of your strengths, struggles, joys, and regrets.
Take it one story at a time. The prospect of writing your life story can be daunting because too often we think we need to publish a book or provide a comprehensive history of our lives. Instead, consider documenting the ten to twenty most important experiences and events of your life. Most of us know very little about our ancestors. What would we give to have a firsthand account of even a few of the experiences that most impacted their lives?
Move forward with urgency. Take a note out of Tim McGraw’s hit song, “Live Like You Were Dying,” because some day all of us will pass on from this life. Unfortunately, we don’t know when that day will come, so start this week to document, preserve, and share your story with your descendants. Even a little at a time is better than nothing.
Store your personal history where it can be preserved and shared. Keep a hard copy and two digital copies in your possession and one digital copy at a remote location like MyHeritage, Ancestry, or FamilySearch. At these sites you can upload your key stories, pictures, documents and audio clips to preserve and share them with your posterity. There are also private storage sites like Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive where such files can be stored if you prefer more discretion. Just make sure someone besides you also has the login.

A Simple Methodology

Most methodologies on writing a personal history start with a step that involves gathering and organizing all of your personal history artifacts (e.g., journals, pictures, memorabilia, documents, videos, audio, etc.). Unfortunately, most of us have been gathering and organizing for years and still don’t have much to pass on to our descendants that doesn’t require them to search, sift, sort, and organize after we pass on. Worse, we risk that our personal history artifacts will either be discarded or boxed up and stored in someone’s attic. Simply skip this step of gathering and organizing for now and move forward with urgency using the following simplified Document-Preserve-Share approach:

Document

There is no single methodology for recording a life history. Do what works best for you. The following approach is centered around the aforementioned principles and is focused on documenting the key experiences and events that shaped your character and would be of greatest benefit to your posterity. These steps are more simultaneous than sequential. As you go through the process of documenting your story, there are two primary objectives.

Create a life summary which will serve as a brief overview of the key dates and events of your life. Consider one or more of the following formats: a short chronology, a short narrative, or a short listing by topic.
- A short chronology can serve as a timeline for you and your posterity to reference the key dates and events in your life.
- A short narrative is similar to a life sketch you would hear at a funeral service or read in an obituary.
- A short listing by topic is similar to a job résumé which lists key events or accomplishments by category. Topics may include categories such as family, residences, education, career, hobbies, and church, community, and military service.

You can create your life summary in all three formats if you desire (chronology, narrative, and listing by topic), but a simple chronology of the key events of your life is a good place to start.
Your chronology might include the following information: your birthdate and birthplace, schools you attended, places you lived, your marriage date and place, birthdates and birthplaces of your children, your church, military and community service, your career highlights, your family reunions and vacations, etc.
As you draft the chronology of the main events of your life, think of the key stories and experiences that shaped your character. As you recall these memories, go ahead and brainstorm the details of the experience or event and record them in a computer document or in a notebook.

2) Record the key events or experiences that have shaped your character including those life lessons you want to share with your descendants. Think of these experiences as your “Greatest Hits.”

From the experiences you recorded as you created your chronology, start writing one story at a time. With each experience, include some of your personal history artifacts related to the experience you’re recording for posterity. These personal history artifacts may include photos, audio or videos clips, journal entries, letters, e-mails, social media posts, speeches, etc.
As you are reviewing your family history artifacts for each experience you’re writing about, you may stumble on other memories or experiences you want to record. If so, simply pause and brainstorm some of the details you can recall and document those details in your computer document or notebook and then set them aside till you’re ready to write about that experience in greater detail.
While the key experiences should be the core of what you write about, it is also important to weave in other details of everyday life to provide context and background information that will also be interesting to your posterity.
Set your draft aside and return to it later to refine it. Repeat this process until you have a final product which doesn’t need to be “perfect.”

Preserve and Share

In addition to keeping in your possession one hard copy and two digital copies of your stories, create a free account at MyHeritage, Ancestry, or FamilySearch so you’ll have a remote copy of your stories, pictures, documents, and audio/video clips. These free accounts allow you and your descendants to access your stories and other family history artifacts anytime from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection.
Before selecting an online service, compare the free storage space of each of these free accounts. FamilySearch is the largest non-profit family history organization in the world and doesn’t have any paid subscriptions. MyHeritage and Ancestry are for-profit organizations and have paid subscription options so their free accounts may have limitations as to the size of tree and the amount of free storage space. Sign up for all three and compare their features and select the one that suits your needs. Again, you might also consider file storage sites like Dropbox or OneDrive if none of these fit your preferences.
Once you have a completed story and a few pictures or documents associated with the story, upload the pictures/documents and the story to your MyHeritage profile, Ancestry Gallery, or FamilySearch Memories page.
While you’re living, take the time to share these stories with your children and grandchildren. Do this in person at family gatherings, but remember to keep it short (5-10 minutes) and leave them wanting more. Making a video of yourself telling those stories can also be helpful. Consider the free accounts that allow you to share stories and other artifacts with your family member via email or social media.
Make sure you always maintain your own copy and a backup of everything you place on these online services. Possible storage and backup solutions include your home computer, external hard drives, and cloud storage.

Connecting your descendants to your story and the stories of their ancestors can provide them with greater strength, inspiration, and resiliency to better face the challenges of life.

While you document, preserve, and share your story, Legacy Tree Genealogists can help you uncover the stories of your ancestors and ensure they are not forgotten. We are happy to help you compile family stories for yourself or your family members. Whether it’s writing a biography based on your information or conducting new research, our experts are ready and waiting to assist. Contact us today to request a free quote.