You Don't Need Much. But Here's What Helps.
The number one concern potential clients have when they reach out to me is that they don't think I have enough information to get started. Most of the time, they have more than they realize, and even when they don't, that's rarely the obstacle they think it is.
People come to me in all sorts of states of readiness. Some arrive with a shoebox of old documents, a family Bible, and a list of questions going back four generations. Others come with a first name, a country, and a feeling that something in their family story has never quite added up. Both are great starting points. Here's why.
Most official records, births, marriages, deaths, census returns, are sealed for 100 years. Which means that no matter how much information you walk in with, my only objective is to connect them to someone who was around 100 years ago.
That said, the more you can tell me at the outset, the faster I can start pulling on the right threads. So here's what I ask for, and what genuinely helps.
The Starting Point: Your Primary Person
Every research project begins with one individual, the person you know the most about. This is usually the oldest relative in living memory, or the person whose origins you're most curious about.
Primary Person
- Full name — including maiden name if applicable
- Date of birth, or an estimated year
- Place of birth — even just a country is a start
- Date and place of death, if known
- Spouse or partner names
- Parents' names, if you have them
Don't worry if you're missing several of these. A name and a rough birth year is often enough to begin.
What Are You Hoping to Find?
This sounds like an obvious question, but it shapes everything about how I approach the research. Someone who wants to verify a family story requires a very different strategy from someone who's trying to trace a birth parent, or simply find where their great-grandparents came from.
Your Research Objective
- Identify parents or grandparents
- Find a specific birthplace or hometown
- Verify, or gently challenge, a family story
- Confirm a relationship between two individuals
- Build out a broader family tree
- Understand a specific period of a family's history
If you're not sure what you're looking for, that's okay too. Sometimes the question becomes clearer once we start looking.
What You Already Know
Anything you've already gathered, however incomplete it feels, is useful. Family knowledge passed down through stories is especially valuable, even when it can't be verified yet. The detail that "great-grandma always said she came from a small village near Pilot Butte" is a real research lead, even without a document to back it up.
Known Family Information
- Names of siblings, if known
- Children's names, if relevant to the research
- Family religion or denomination, this determines which church records to search
- Occupations, these often help locate families in records
- Cities, counties, provinces, and countries where the family lived
- Approximate dates they lived in each place
In Ireland especially, whether a family was Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, or Methodist determines which parish registers survive and where they're held. It can be the difference between finding a baptism record and hitting a complete dead end.
Documents You Might Already Have
Before we search archives, I always ask clients to check what's already sitting in their own homes. You'd be surprised how often a crucial document turns up in a filing cabinet, a drawer, or tucked inside an old book.
Existing Documents & Research
- A family tree, on Ancestry, MyHeritage, GEDCOM file, or even handwritten
- Birth, marriage, or death certificates
- Census records you've already found
- A family Bible with handwritten entries
- Photographs with names or dates written on the back
- Obituaries or funeral cards
- Military records or service papers
- Immigration documents, naturalisation papers, or ship manifests
Scan or photograph anything you find. Original documents degrade over time — a digital copy protects your family's history for the next generation.
One Last Thing: What's Off Limits?
Genealogy research occasionally uncovers things families weren't expecting, and sometimes weren't ready for. Secret children, hidden identities, criminal records, and/or ranches of a family that were deliberately left behind. Read more here
Before we begin, it's worth thinking about whether there are any areas you'd prefer to leave undisturbed, or any living individuals you'd rather keep out of scope. I'll always follow your lead on this, and I'll always handle sensitive discoveries with care.
Research Boundaries
- Are there any branches of the family you'd prefer not to research?
- Are there living individuals who should remain outside the scope of the project?
- Are there known family sensitivities I should be aware of before I start?
You don't need to have answers to these questions upfront, we can talk through them in your free consultation.
The Absolute Minimum You Need to Get Started
- One name — ideally a full name, but a first name and surname is fine
- A rough date or decade of birth
- A country, region, or city of origin
- A sense of what you're hoping to find
That's genuinely it. One client came to me with nothing but a first name and a county in Ireland. We found four generations. The records are out there, sometimes you just need someone who knows where to look.
Ready to Find Out What's Possible?
Book a free 15-minute consultation and we'll talk through what you have, what you're looking for, and where we might start.
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