The Process
Six phases. One careful path from question to answer.
Boutique research isn’t about volume — it’s about taking each project as far as the records will honestly carry it.
Phase 01
01Conversation
A free 30-minute consult. Bring whatever you have — a name, a half-remembered story, a stack of photographs. We talk through what you know, what you’re hoping to find, and whether a research project will get you there.
Phase 02
02Research plan & proposal
Within a week, you receive a written research plan: clear goals, the records and archives we’ll pursue, an estimated timeline, and a flat fee. Nothing begins until you approve it.
Phase 03
03Active research
Work happens in archives, repositories, and online collections — Ancestry, FamilySearch, FindMyPast, NARA, state archives, parish books overseas. You receive weekly progress notes so you see findings as they emerge.
Phase 04
04Analysis & writing
Findings are weighed against the Genealogical Proof Standard: thorough search, complete citations, analysis of evidence, resolution of conflicts, soundly reasoned conclusion. Then it gets written.
Phase 05
05Presentation
You receive a bound, archival-quality report — citations, document images, a sourced family tree, and a narrative of the story we found. We schedule a final review call to walk through it together.
Phase 06
06After delivery
The research is yours. So is the digital archive. If a future question comes up — a new DNA match, a previously sealed record opening — you have a researcher who already knows your family.
A note on timing
Most projects take 8–16 weeks.
Archives respond at archive speed — and good genealogy involves waiting on requests, returns, and occasional travel. We’re honest about timelines from the start, and you’re never billed for waiting.
“The fastest research is rarely the right research. We work at a pace that lets us actually see what the records are saying.”
Carolin Walden