Genealogy Chat

Hi everyone, Having spent three years trying to locate family descendants in Australia I was wondering if it is worth the money to have a private researcher help? I have hit so many brick walls that I am totally bruised from head to toe. The details I have on my family over in Australia are sketchy and I cannot find any records of them on the BDM indexes. Have any of you taken advantage of researchers and did you find them a help or a hindrance? I have been quoted £60 deposit but they can give me no final figure but they do state that it could be hundreds - which frightens me. Any thoughts or comments would be good.....Lauren

I would be wary of an open ended quote too. No experience of Australia but we did employ some help with Irish research. He looked for what we asked, sent photo copies of the register entries and was very easy to get along with. Money well spent we thought. Have you posted on these boards for help with your names?

Steer clear of anyone who cant quote a final figure. Would you have work done on your house if the builder couldn`t give you a final price? Same as with builders, plumbers etc there are cowboy 'researchers' but there are some good ones too. Just be careful.

there was an item about this on watch dog not long ago, obviously there are the genuine researchers out there, but all too often the dodgy ones slip through the net..... on watchdog they contacted one, gave a fictitious 'family' and they were rewarded with a tree going back to the 1600's (with a few famous people thrown in too) a family crest and even some certificates...... I'd prefer to do it the 'hard' way, at least then you have the satisfaction of knowing you have 'your' family and you did it yourself Teri

Thank you for your replies. You raised a few issues that I hadn't even thought of - especially the bogus family trees. Which page should I use to seek help with the names involved? Is this the best section? I have placed advertisements with a few magazines in Australia but there has been no replies. I am beginning to think that they either do not want to be found or it could be that I am searching in the wrong place. Does anyone know if there are such things as Australian census? I would need on taken after 1920. ANy more advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much...Lauren

Lauren I know that there are some GR people in Australia, so I would suggest putting a thread up with 'Australia' in the title. They could probably give you an idea of what resources are available and how accessible they would be. As for quotes - its probably quite difficult for a researcher to give an exact quote for information as it depends how long it takes to find info. But they should be able to tell you how much they charge an hour. Before you go any further, it might be an idea to just jot down what you know and prioritise what you want to find out. nell

Lauren There are quite a few Australians on this site - Anthony Hull, Richard in Perth and Sharyn (Rebels Cause!) to name the ones I know of - all of whom are incredibly helpful if you need to pick their brains about anything. I'd be tempted to put a thread on the Records Office board titled something like Calling the Australians! or something and keep nudging it until they are around later. See whether you can pick their brains on your next best move before you spend hundreds of pounds that may not end up being money well spent. Anthony Hull also has a brilliant thread here on the Tips Board called Australian WWW's if you haven't already seen it. He's listed websites for everything you could possibly think of needing to look up down under! Lou

I agree with Lou. Tony has been brill for helping. I just found out I have Australian rellies, so he's pointed me in the direction of some sites that might help.

The advice on other routes to explore looks good to me but if you ever do decide to employ a researcher try to get one who has been recommended or who will let you contact previous customers and make sure that you a) let them know the all details you already have, however small, or you may find yourself being charged for information you already knew. b) get a statement of how much they charge per hour and a realistic estimate of how long the search may take c) set a limit on how much you are willing to pay for - ie commission them to carry out a set number of hours research for you to start with, then assess how good their results are and whether they are worth sticking with before continuing. Good hunting Judith

I have used a researcher in Oz called Judy Webster. She has proved to be brilliant. HOWEVER you must be patient. She is very busy. I send her something like $30 Oz at a time which is not a great deal. At the very beginning I sent her a very thorough outline of what I knew and what I wanted to know. Every time I learned something new I e-mailed her to keep her up to date. As I said, she is busy. Sometimes I have waited many months for a reply, but then she comes back with the death of a long lost great aunt 'missing in Oz' who died in an asylum in 1958--and it is worth the wait. She also helped me to find asylum records, and how to get bmd certs. I trust her totally. When she replies, she outlines her costs, and perhaps I owe something like £5. She then asks if I want her to do any more. So you only pay for what you want, a bit at a time.

Hi, When you want something specific they can be very good. I have a London researcher who goes to the Collindale library regularly and has found several articles and her charges are very reasonable. She found 2 articles about the death of an ancestor and his younger son in 1836 and copied them and charged £10. This is a fraction of the train fare to London. A Somerset researcher found an account of the trial and hanging of my 5xgt grandmother's cousin - £10. He also found and copied trial accounts and jail books of another cousin of the same ancestor. If you know what you want the charges are not too high. But, as has been said, open-ended research can cost a fortune. Gwynne

I asked for advice here on the same subject, I needed help for New Zealand, and got similar answers, many warnings too, but you have to do what YOU feel is right. I went with my instinct and I did pay someone, and I would now recommend him. I agree with Nell that it would be rather difficult to be given a full & final quote on any research not yet undertaken. I did wonder initially if the man I used was being evasive about the costs, but as he turns out he was not. He just did not want to hazzard a guess. I paid a total off £98, some sent in a bankers draft, the final £30ish sent in NZ dollars (I took the risk) He travelled to records offices and also sent me BMD certs I ought to say that my search was for 3 specific people, 2 of which would now be in their 80's/90's all of whom could possibly have been living. I can only speak from my own experience, but I know it was money well spent I too also had great help here :) Sam

Thank you for your replies. I do feel that a researcher is the only way forward as I have paid out quite a bit of money for certificates only to find that they are not for the correct people. I think the hardest part is finding someone you can trust and I am paranoid about being over charged. Wendy, I don't suppose I could ask you where you found your researcher? She sounds as if she works well and I have no problem in waiting. Thanks again.....Lauren