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Question:I am looking for one of those company that does your family history and prints a book and sends it to you???


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am looking for one of those company that does your family history and prints a book and sends it to you???

The companies you mention are a scam. They list a dozen people with your surname - related or not - who have been famous for something or other; presidents, senators, generals, bank robbers, inventors, sports stars, movie stars. Then they list everyone in the USA who has your surname, from the telephone directories, and tell you that they might be your long lost cousins.

This overlooks the fact that 15 of your 16 great great grandparents were born with a different surname than yours, and that not everyone who shares your surname is related to you.

That is in the USA. I suspect that there is at least one company just like that in Canada, the UK and Australia as well.

You don't get something for nothing, dear; nor do you get a huge amount of research for $29.99.

You can't lose weight while eating the foods you love in unlimited amounts, your e-mail didn't actually win the Euro Lottery, no one in Nigeria will really send you 20% of his 14 million dollar cache and there are no pills to change your 34B bosom into Dolly Parton.

There are people who will "do" your family, for love or money, but those companies are not it.

It doesn't sound like you want to hire a real genealogist to spend 40 -100 hours, at $20 - $50 an hour. That leaves love. ("Love" in the broadest sense; don't marry someone just because he is a genealogist.) If you are still interested and have a neighbor, co-worker, friend at church, great aunt, distant cousin . . . who is a serious amateur, you might ask him/her to poke around a bit in your lines. Someone may be willing to do it for the thrill of the chase and because they like you. A plate of cookies or the offer of a home-cooked meal would not be out of place here.

If you get it done properly it will be very expensive- sometimes it will take a researcher hours of going through records just to find one small piece of information especially if you are not lucky enough to have a distinctive family name.

If you just want one of those of those 'off the shelf' type books - they are not worth the paper they are written on.

Try the local university. There are genealogists that will work with you.

Next time you are in a newsagents shop, look in the back of the Family History magazines. You will find advertisements there.
If it is a UK family, you could try asking the Society of Genealogists in London if they could give you a list of Members qualified to do this type of research.