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Using a professional from the Association for Professional Genealogists is your best option. Or find someone who's certified through the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Anyone can charge you to do genealogy, but that doesn't mean they know what they're doing. If they're APG members, they've agreed to adhere to certain standards, and you have a consumer advocate venue, should you need it.
Be aware a good genealogist will charge about $20. an hour. So it would be very expensive to have someone do a while tree for you.
I've only hired a genealogist twice in my lifetime (I do genealogy because I love to do it, so what's the fun of having someone else do it for you!). One was horrifically bad. Overcharged and underserved. I had to dog him for about a year to get even a simple record. The other was via the BCG/APG route, and did a good job for me, finding the one record I was searching.
I would not recommend trying to hire someone through the LDS church. They're not renowned for their accuracy.
My own opinion is that if you hire anyone associated with LDS. Ancestry, Rootweb, or*anyone who works for these companies they all have an agenda and your information will be on the next Ancestry CD for sale. Why? Because you are essentially paying an employee or paid associate to mine records for their company.
It is the 800# gorlilla in the living room that is the dirty little genealogy secret. Google scrapes lists, emails, boards, forums for information it can sell to the highest bidder. Facebook, Tweets, andevery other social networking is scraped too. The only way to protect your family information is to do your own work and keep it OFF THE INTERNET.
You say that is okay, I wanna share. This is honorable and all well and good until you find your family premanetly entwined with people who are not your direct ancestors. They might be a SIL of one of your anster's BIL's but it is not your ancestor. Let me give you an example.
my mother's paternal aunt and her cousin married cousins from the same XYZ family and they had children. Their children were second cousins. The XYZ historian claimed my mother was related depite the fact auntie had no descenants -- because the XYZ historians' great-grandmother's half-sister narried my mother's great-grandfather and had no issue. I'm tied for life to this moron because a my great auntie's mother-in-law and her step-sister (3rd step-greatgrandmother) either had no children OR their children had no descendants. And this woman also tries to claim my grandmother as kin based on the fact her brother married the sister of the cousin who married the*XYZ cousin, and because grandmother's HUSBAND is antie's brother. Beware the Ides of March. This woman who clains she's done family genealogy for 40 years has no earthly idea what the bloodline is. Antie's sons are the only two cousins in a family of 80 XYZ cousins who are elegible for SAR entry on mother's paternal greatgrandfather. The XYZ historian cannot prove her ancestors served in the RW. She said she was going to claim on mother's greatgrandfather. I laughed. This is what you get today.
Neither LDS or Ancestry will make corrections; they are not interested in accuracy they are interested in gross nimbers or records and the corporate profit.
Neither LDS or Ancestry will make corrections; they are not interested in accuracy they are interested in gross nimbers or records and the corporate profit.
I fully agree with your comments.
Plus, I have also had my genealogy highjacked by an unethical jerk who then made FALSE additions to my information. I had to hunt him down at every genealogy site and demand that he remove my information.
My own opinion is that if you hire anyone associated with LDS. Ancestry, Rootweb, or*anyone who works for these companies they all have an agenda and your information will be on the next Ancestry CD for sale. Why? Because you are essentially paying an employee or paid associate to mine records for their company.
Neither LDS or Ancestry will make corrections; they are not interested in accuracy they are interested in gross nimbers or records and the corporate profit.
I agree with you about hiring a "company" to do research. It's a waste of money. However, I disagree with you on the second. It's incorrect. Pedigree charts submitted to the LDS, they will not make corrections to. They will only add your information. However, with Ancestry, the family trees (especially their newest version of family trees) are tied to the researcher who submitted it. You can contact that individual to correct information, and they can do it or not as they see fit (remember, your information might not be correct either!). Or, you can leave a comment on the record, giving what you believe is the correct information. As for their records and records abstracts, you can make corrections. If you find a name on the census transcribed incorrectly, you can correct it, and they will add that "version" to the search engine. You can even give additional information even if it's not on the census. And, you can make comments on the records, too.
I've got to say that though they are the big bad corporate giants in Genealogy, as a 40+ years' genealogist, they do have a darn good product, with some good safeguards. I have posted my genealogy there. But they're in protected tress, that I have to give permission for someone to access. And, they are not "dumped" into an undeletable group. I can delete the information at any time, should I wish to.
I must say that I disagree with the belief that only those who are with the APB or certified are worth using for research. There are many very good and highly experienced genealogical researchers out there who are NOT certified and they do just as good, if not better in many cases, than those who are certified. It comes down to ethics and any decent researcher, certified or not, should have plenty of good referrals to share if asked. Personally, I have glowing Letters of Recommendation from CEOs, CFOs, university librarians and one from a NJ County Clerk. I am not certified, but I do have 29 years of experience under my belt
I have posted my genealogy there. But they're in protected tress, that I have to give permission for someone to access. And, they are not "dumped" into an undeletable group. I can delete the information at any time, should I wish to.
I'm glad to hear posters can protect family trees from being messed with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyanna
I must say that I disagree with the belief that only those who are with the APB or certified are worth using for research. There are many very good and highly experienced genealogical researchers out there who are NOT certified and they do just as good, if not better in many cases, than those who are certified. It comes down to ethics and any decent researcher, certified or not, should have plenty of good referrals to share if asked. Personally, I have glowing Letters of Recommendation from CEOs, CFOs, university librarians and one from a NJ County Clerk. I am not certified, but I do have 29 years of experience under my belt
Cyanna, that sounds true to life. Credentials don't necessarily make a better researcher.
Yes, I can show you records THEY transcribed that has my ancestor and his son-in-law married in 1672. And I can show you records where they transcribed and completely bolloxed my grandfather name because the transcriber doesn't know the difference between the letter T and the letter Y. The wholly church of utah will not change IT with documented proof. Other churches will and do regularly. The Utah Holy Grail of Genealogy claims my copyrighted information belongs to them. I did not give to them. to a church or anyone else. They did not seek permission to use it. And they removed MY Copyright. I have yet to receive one penny compensation from their theft.
If you are smart, you will RUN from these people and their scams. Theydo NOT care not about you, your feelings, or your family. They do NOT care about your information. They WANT your checks and your credit cards. They WANT your current address and your current email, too. I have a P.O. Box, a throw away email, and a file of alias names. GiGo is GiGo is GiGo. It all smells the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EnricoV
I agree with you about hiring a "company" to do research. It's a waste of money. However, I disagree with you on the second. It's incorrect. Pedigree charts submitted to the LDS, they will not make corrections to. They will only add your information. However, with Ancestry, the family trees (especially their newest version of family trees) are tied to the researcher who submitted it. You can contact that individual to correct information, and they can do it or not as they see fit (remember, your information might not be correct either!). Or, you can leave a comment on the record, giving what you believe is the correct information. As for their records and records abstracts, you can make corrections. If you find a name on the census transcribed incorrectly, you can correct it, and they will add that "version" to the search engine. You can even give additional information even if it's not on the census. And, you can make comments on the records, too.
I've got to say that though they are the big bad corporate giants in Genealogy, as a 40+ years' genealogist, they do have a darn good product, with some good safeguards. I have posted my genealogy there. But they're in protected tress, that I have to give permission for someone to access. And, they are not "dumped" into an undeletable group. I can delete the information at any time, should I wish to.
Yes, I can show you records THEY transcribed that has my ancestor and his son-in-law married in 1672. And I can show you records where they transcribed and completely bolloxed my grandfather name because the transcriber doesn't know the difference between the letter T and the letter Y.
Have YOU ever tried transcribing hand written documents? And if you have, are you really telling me you never made a mistake? I'd find that hard to believe. It's easy to spot mistakes when you already know what the name is. Try transcribing some names you're not familiar with and lets see how long it takes you to make a mistake.
Quote:
The Utah Holy Grail of Genealogy claims my copyrighted information belongs to them. I did not give to them. to a church or anyone else. They did not seek permission to use it. And they removed MY Copyright. I have yet to receive one penny compensation from their theft.
I'm curious to know the answer too. For example, a recipe which consists simply of a list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted: U.S. Copyright Office - Recipes . So, I assume a list of names and dates would also not be subject to copyright. On the other hand, any commentary written using the writer's own words would be subject to copyright.
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