QUALIFICATIONS

Experience:

• Previously the Archive Researcher for postal research at Staffordshire Record Office (Staffordshire County Council).
• Society of Archivists' registered record searcher for the West Midlands Region.
• Over 1000 research requests completed in the last 7 years, including genealogy, family history, local history, house history, and transcriptions of old English documents.

Professional Qualification:

• University Certificate in Local History, passed with Distinction (3 years part-time study).

Further training:

• Palaeography.
• Basic medieval Latin.
• Building History.

Professional Associations:

• Society of Genealogists (London).
• Staffordshire Parish Register Society.
• Staffordshire Record Society.

SERVICES

Ancestry Research

I offer a comprehensive research service, using traditional archive searching skills as well as taking advantage of modern information technology.

I appreciate that clients find their family history exciting and want their results as soon as possible, so I will book an office appointment as soon as I receive your instructions.

Your report is confidential, and will contain:

• detailed results of all records searched (with positive and negative results), including confirmed family links.
• ideas for further research & recommendations about best value approaches.

Location Photography

I can take photos of the Staffordshire churches where your ancestors married, christened their children, and were buried, including churchyards and monumental inscriptions on tombstones. You might like photographs of the street, village or town where the family lived.

Consultation & Planning Service:

'How do I start?' or 'Where do I go next?'

You might want to research your Staffordshire family history yourself, but don't know where to begin, or found that the trail has gone cold.

Tell me what you want to find, and what the problem is. Send full details of what information you have so far, and the sources that you have already searched Where possible, I will suggest sources that could be searched, and their whereabouts in the UK.

Transcription Service

If you have difficulty reading old English documents, such as wills, I can transcribe the old 'Secretary Hand' writing for you, revealing information that might lead to new sources to search.

Please see my website for further details.