In-Depth Family Research

Research Services

In-Depth Family Research

If you are interested in learning all there is to know about your family history, then this is the search for you. This is my favorite type of research to do because it is very rewarding for both myself and the client.

Through in depth research, we get to know our ancestors very intimately. We learn all the details of their lives such as where they lived and attended church and what they did for a living. We may encounter and solve family mysteries. We learn their names and we we feel their joys and sorrows. They may be gone, but Sicilian Family Tree can help you record their story so they won’t be forgotten.

To begin in-depth research, I first review what you already know about your family and we discuss your research goals and budget. I determine what resources are available for your ancestral town and I make a plan of action to achieve your goals within your budget.

FamilySearch and the Italian State Archives are excellent resources, typically with civil records of birth, marriage and death from the early 1800s to the early/mid-1900s available entirely online. Some towns may also have church records available that go back even further. All records are in Italian, Latin and occasionally French. I also work with a Sicilian researcher who is able to help obtain documents directly from town vital records offices, churches and archives in Italy. In short, the amount of information available to those with Italian ancestry is enormous and usually allows for very extensive research!

Once we have a budget and plan in place, I can begin. I personally do all of the research, usually in 10-hour projects, although this can vary depending on a client’s budget and overall plan. Documents are saved as digital files so they can be easily shared, used in online family trees, and saved for future generations. I prepare a research report that incudes a description of the research that was conducted, translations where necessary, sources for all information found, a summary and suggestions for future research. Detailed ancestor and descendant charts are included with every report.

When research is complete, the genealogy software I use can generate a file that will allow your family tree to be uploaded to websites such as MyHeritage, Ancestry or FamilySearch.  Some clients also ask me to update their online family tree for them, which I am happy to do. We can also create beautiful family tree books that can be shared with your extended family if you wish.

In most cases, it is difficult to provide an exact quote for in-depth research because genealogy is quite unpredictable! There are so many variables that can affect how much time it will take to fully research an entire family and often we don’t even know what the variables are until after we get started. For this reason, it is generally better to determine your main goal and your budget (either total or per report) and then allow Sicilian Family Tree to work within that budget to meet your goal.

We can do as little or as much as you like and we can stop at any time. Each research report has suggestions for what can be done next and new research is not begun until the client has approved the next round. In this way, it is entirely up to the client how much we accomplish and learn.

My hourly rate includes:

Additional expenses include fees associated with obtaining documents that are not available online, i.e. ordering a vital record from a State Health Department or a naturalization record from the USCIS. The purchase of complete Family Tree Books is also the responsibility of the client.

I do not charge for new client consultation phone calls or emailing back and forth with clients except in some Dual Citizenship cases where that type of communication takes up a large portion of time.