Specializing in Genesee County Research, but experienced in MANY research areas!
Need help finding info on your Western NY ancestors? If so, then THIS is the place to be! Why? Because I live in Genesee County, NY, and I LOVE to research genealogy and family history! Even better for you....if I don't think you have enough information to work with, I will tell you that UP FRONT, before any money changes hands! I also don't charge by the hour to read your e-mails, or to send e-mails to you! I've heard of far too many "professional" researchers who do just that, but I get paid to research, not to chat!!
Okay, so here's my story.....I've been researching genealogy for 10 years, both for myself, and for others, and my number ONE goal is to find what I'm looking for!! I'm like a dog with a bone when it comes to digging through dusty old files! For me, there's no greater "rush" than finding a new piece to a puzzle.
PLEASE understand, I am a genealogist and family history researcher.....I do NOT put together charts, I just help find the data needed for you to put together your own family tree. There are plenty of great software programs out there, including a decent, FREE version of Personal Ancestral File available for download here.
I CAN put together charts, but my number TWO goal is to keep costs down whenever possible, and why pay me to do something you can easily do for yourself?! My job is to help with what you can't easily do yourself, and that is the hands on research that I love so much!
So without further ado.....
LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!!!
Before any money changes hands, I need to know as much information as you can provide regarding who and what you are looking for!! If I don't think you have enough info for me to work with, I will tell you that UP FRONT!! If you still want me to go on a "fishing trip" in an attempt to eliminate this area as where your ancestors were, I'm willing to do that, as long as that is understood UP FRONT!
Once I have the basic information, I will tell you what, when and where I can search for information, and then you tell me what you want me to do for you. For records research, I charge a $25 fee for the first hour of research for EACH DAY that I work for you in Genesee County, and $40 for the first hour in either Livingston or Wyoming Counties. This fee covers my transportation and time to get to the research facility AND the first hour of research after I get where I'm going! It’s about a 30 mile round trip to Batavia, 60 to Warsaw and 80 to Geneseo. Because of this higher charge for the first hour PER DAY, it is in your best interest to make sure and communicate to me EVERYTHING that you are interested in....the more I can get in one trip, the less expensive it is for you!!!! On the up side, like I said above, I tend to be like a dog with a bone, so I DO get the most out of every research trip that I make! On the down side, some of the research facilities in Livingston and Wyoming Counties are open very limited hours, but I WILL make every effort to find as much as possible in one trip!!
After that first hour, I charge $15 an hour to research, which includes MOST all copies that I make, as long as the actual cost per copy is 50¢ or less, AND I'm not just copying EVERYTHING with a certain surname!! Some copies are far more expensive, such as vital record copies and copies from some of the government offices, for which you will be charged whatever they actually cost me. Most of the government offices have brought their copy prices back down to within reason, but some still charge $1 or more per page! In addition to any higher priced copy fees, I also charge a $3 fee for packaging and a $5 fee for shipping your material to you unless there is a TON, and then I will take it to the Post Office for pricing before you send your final payment, and your charge will be rounded to the nearest dollar of the actual postage.
If you have a spending limit, you need to let me know that BEFORE I WALK OUT MY DOOR!! Keep in mind that an 8 hour research day in Batavia will total $130, and $145 for the other counties, although it's rare to be able to get in a full eight hours, due to the limited hours that some places are open! I will contact you after the first day, to let you know what I have searched and where, what I have found, what your bill is, and what, if anything, I think is still out there to be located. You can then decide if you are interested in another research day. PLEASE keep in mind that, while I will e-mail you after a day of research to tell you what I have found, I will not mail out any material until full payment has been received!
RESEARCH OTHER THAN RECORDS RESEARCH
BATAVIA DAILY NEWS INDEX ONLINE
(HERE IS A BIG EXCEPTION TO MY PRICING RULES!!)
There is a partial, searchable
index of the Batavia Daily News online here.
In the drop down box for Newspaper, make sure to check BOTH NY: Genesee Co: Batvia Daily News AND NY: Genesee Co: Batavia Daily News. If you find articles in here that you need, and if you send me ALL of the info found on the website, I will get copies at a rate of $5 for the first SEARCH, and $2 for each additional SEARCH (even if the article is NOT found!!). I DO NOT charge by the hour for this, but I do charge regardless of whether the article is found, to cover my time searching!
When searching the Batavia Daily News online index, PLEASE keep in mind that this was transcribed from the original index, so if the original name was spelled wrong, illegible, or transcribed incorrectly, you won't get a hit for the correct spelling! That DOESN'T mean your person wasn't in there, they just might be hiding a bit!! Also, just because an article is indexed, does NOT mean the article still exists!! Some of the microfilms have been destroyed, and the replacements don't always have the entire original collection on them.
Any other Batavia Daily News articles that are NOT searchable online, are subject to the same pricing as any other records research. The original indexes are handwritten, so they are NOT searchable, they are not entirely in alphabetical order, and they are very difficult to scan through. Also, the Historian's Office has limited hours, and the index that is microfilmed at the library is even more difficult to read! A few years ago, the County Historian's Office changed their policy, and they no longer allow people to look through the original newspapers prior to the 1930s, so if that section of film is missing, the only people who can get copies from the originals are local government Historians.
CEMETERIES
(ANOTHER exception to my pricing rules!!!)
I am willing to walk cemeteries and take digital photos of any headstones that I find for you. I charge 50¢ per mile to get to the cemeteries, and then $10 per hour to walk the cemeteries. If I am doing multiple cemeteries, I will map out the route with the least miles, and let you know what the mileage will be. PLEASE REMEMBER that this is WESTERN NY.....I do NOT walk cemeteries in the snow!!! Even as little as an inch of snow can hide a fallen or sunken stone, so searching in snow can be a waist of your money and my time!
You have three options for photos: I can e-mail them to you at no additional charge; I can burn them to a disk for an additional $4 for the disk (recommended!); or I can have hard copies made at $1 per pic. The last option is by far the more expensive, and I really don't recommend it!! When I take cemetery pics, I like to take a LOT of shots, particularly if there is more than one headstone in each cemetery that you're interested in. I like to take distant shots and label them, to show the relationship between locations of multiple plots belonging to the same family. I recommend the disk because I take the pics at 5 mega pixels, which is a HUGE file per pic, and if I e-mail more than one or two to you, the file size would be huge, so I would have to resize them. That's not a problem for me, but you will have a MUCH better picture if I leave them in their original size!!
WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?????
Here is a list of SOME of the records that I have access to.......
Surrogate Court records, including Wills, Probate Records, Guardianship Records, etc.
Land Records
Immigrant Records (Oath of Allegiance and Naturalization)
Batavia Daily News articles (as well as the earlier Batavia papers) (the newspapers for Livingston and Wyoming Counties are NOT all indexed.....I'm not sure if they are indexed at all, so unless you know when the article would have appeared, it could take DAYS to find!)
Census Records
(I do have access to many of the Federal Census Records from around the Country, so if you need help with those, it can't hurt to ask!)
MOST Genesee County Cemetery Records
SOME Livingston and Wyoming County Cemetery Records
Family Files
(These are compiled by other genealogists: both the Richmond Library in Batavia and the Genesee County Historian's Office have SOME family files)
Local Genealogy and History Books
Vital Records
(NY didn't start keeping vital records until 1885, and even then, it's kind of hit and miss until around 1900!!) Also, it is VERY IMPORTANT to remember that vital records are located WHERE THE EVENT TOOK PLACE!!!! If your ancestor lived in and is buried in Batavia, but died in Rochester, their death certificate would be filed in Rochester!!!! Marriages OFTEN took place away from where people lived! If you don't know where an event took place, I probably won't be able to find a record for it!
If there is something NOT listed above that you would like me to check, just ask!!! I'm SURE that I've missed sources here, but that does NOT mean I don't have access to them!!!
For more information, please feel free to contact me at:
Joan Arnold
Jma8763@aol.com
HAPPY HUNTING!!!!
Helpful Links?
Genesee County Historian.
Genesee County GenWeb.
Batavia Library.(click on Local History)
Page made with love by Tia Falcone.