InsaneJournal

An offer

Before I discovered fanfic, there was family history…

Over the last ten years, I have pursued my own family, il_grifone’s, and those of many of our friends, back as far as is practicable without extensive travelling.  In the case of il_grifone, many of whose ancestors came from Amsterdam, the quality of the Dutch records meant that ‘as far back as practicable’ meant ‘the seventeenth century’.   However, I’m not planning any more trips to Amsterdam in the near future.

What I’m getting around to (slowly) is – is there anyone on my flist who would be interested in my pursuing *their* family history?  For free, I mean.  This would be limited to people who can produce at least one ancestor in England or Wales between 1841 and 1901.  It can be done whilst maintaining anonymity if you wish - it is possible for me to work forwards from the beginning of the 20^th century, but it is extremely hard work and costs me actual money; in fact, I’ve only done it once, with the cooperation (and funding) of the individual concerned.

Naturally, I have no idea how successful I’d be - I can say without false modesty that I am good at it, but a chain of research can be broken (especially for a common surname) by a family who elected to be travelling on census night, or moved to Scotland or abroad temporarily.  Scottish records are excellent, but they are not free.

I realise that, by now, most people who are curious about their ancestry have probably done their own, but one of you might simply not have got around to it.  This offer may also be passed on to anyone else on your flists you think might be interested, though if I get several responses I’ll have to prioritise.

A warning – you have to be prepared for a few surprises: I rarely fail to find at least one unauthorised birth.

So – any takers?