Family and Archive Research Services

Family History (Genealogical) Research

My main geographical area of research relates to what is now the United Kingdom in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I can however advise about research outside those areas, both in relation to time and location.

I specialise in knocking down brick walls and problem solving,; census records; the records of the General Register Office; wills and probate; parish registers and records; the laws and the consequences of marriage;employment;court proceedings, apprentices and the Poor Laws, birth marriage and death records and asylum records.

I can take photographs like the one above a gravestone of some of my Scottish ancestors. The grave is in an historic place, at New Abbey, Dumfries. The graves are an historic and genealogical source in that they list the names of many family members.

I can advise on many aspects of family history and archive research. If I don't know the answer I will tell you and advise who does!

I can advise as to the feasibility of your quest, and I will always give you my honest opinion.

Although I am based in Lancashire I can advise on research in any area of the United Kingdom, and beyond in the event that your ancestors are found to be migrants.

In these pages at My Services you will see just some of the examples of what can be achieved as the results of family research.

However you may want something different; family history doesn’t have to end with a basic report, though it is a useful starting point. You may, for example, want to know more about an individual you have discovered yourself, an entire family, what became of the descendents of chosen ancestors or how the mysterious Aunt Emily is related to you.

You may prefer a report in a biographical style as the biography of Margaret Lindsay at One of My Ancestors.

All the reports on this site are the result of historical research.

Archive Research

You may not want genealogical research but archive research because there is a document or documents held in an archive near me. The documents may be a part of your own research, you may have a particular interest in them or they may be needed as part of a family history project I am carrying out for you

I regularly visit archives in Lancshire or Greater Manchester to examine  documents  or records.  If the archive has a copying facility I can obtain a copy (which will usually be  subject to the  copyright of the creator of the record). Subject to the rules of the Archive I may be able to provide a photographic of the record.

I would usually produce a report detailing the client's instructions what I have looked for and found, archive references of the relevant documents and if the document cannot be copied or photographed a transcription or summary of it.