How do you hire a professional genealogist

Question

I have established a good portion of my tree, but it's actually becoming confusing again. How can I hire someone to help me?

Comments

Hi Heather. It looks like you are off to a great start.  What is causing you confusion--what are you having the most trouble with?

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I was... lol
When I try to research about anything it pulls up clemons from everywhere else and I only have a limited amount of basis to build upon and then it makes me second guess myself, and then just become confused!

Answer 1

Hi Heather, there are a lot of very experienced genealogists here who are always willing to help.  Just ask a question on g2g about a specific ancestor and someone will get on it.  Hiring a pro genealogist can be costly.  Let us have a run at it first.  And try not to be frustrated!

Comments

Thank you Heather for the star.  I think that you are concentrating too much on the DNA aspect.  Let's try to take one person at a time and go from there.  For example I looked at Isaac Clemons-1088 that you created yesterday.  Upon checking for matches I found 3 other profiles for the same Isaac that are already here on Wikitree.  I will propose merges and check others also.  And we must find sources too.  Don't worry - we'll get through this!

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Thank you thank you!!! Yes I just feel like I get somewhere and then it takes a turn on me. I just want everything to add up. There's people who have trees similar to me and then there's change and I get confused. The Clemons family is so hard to untangle, but I want and need to do it! I would love to know where I come from and for my children to! I appreciate your help so much, thank you thank you!

Answer 2

If that is what you really want to do, there is some good reading on the attached

[https://www.apgen.org/articles/hire.html]

Comments

Well even if it was someone from here. I just get to a point where I think I have it all and then more curve balls get thrown. I would really like to know all of my family, I have not met almost any of my family, and I don't (and have never known) where I came from. I have other branches of my tree to work on. I want this established for my future generations. I will continue to work on it as well.

Answer 3

Heather,

I found a few records that appear to be documents for your family.  Maybe this will help you to get started:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHG-BVG2

"Kentucky, Vital Record Indexes, 1911-1999," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKHG-BVG2 : 11 February 2018), Walter Clemons, 1933; citing Birth, Breathitt, Kentucky, United States, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort.

Name: Walter Clemons  Event Type: Birth  Event Date: 1933  Event Place: Breathitt, Kentucky, United States;  Mother's Name: Mable Oliver

Here is a record of the people who attended the funeral of Walter Clemons in 2006 in Indiana at  https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKGT-FF1R.

It lists a large number of siblings and sons and daughters-- although there are so many sons and daughters listed, I wonder if there are some mistakes.  It should provide clues, though.  One of the sisters has a last name of "Ritchie" with a first name that is spelled "Tillidie" -- but it's probably supposed to be a nickname for Matilda.

On the 1910 US census for Spring Fork, Breathitt County, Kentucky is the family of Boone Oliver.  

"United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJ6-WZR?cc=1727033&wc=QZZ7-9RH%3A133641601%2C134988501%2C135070201%2C1589088959 : 24 June 2017), Kentucky > Breathitt > Spring Fork > ED 14 > image 16 of 20; citing NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Boone Oliver, Male, age 35, Married,  White,  Head, born about 1875 in Kentucky; Father born Kentucky; Mother born Kentucky B 8

(*Note- I added a few extra explanatory words in the record above.  The ones below are people in the same household, but I didn't add the extra explanatory words like "age" and "born about", etc. in the records below.)

Lester Oliver Female 33 Married White Wife 1877 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

Monore Oliver Male 9 Single White Son 1901 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

Mabel Oliver Female 7 Single White Daughter 1903 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

(Note the below household next door may not be related, but it probably is connected in some way, since iit's probably not a coincidence that there are Clemmons living next door to Olivers.  There is also another household of Olivers on this page of the census.)

Next Door:

George Clemmons Male 34 Married White Head 1876 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

Nancy Clemmons Female 33 Married White Wife 1877 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

Bryan Clemmons Male 5 Single White Son 1905 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

Andy Clemmons Male 4 Single White Son 1906 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky B 8

I notice that you accidentally created a duplicate Mabel Oliver -- so it looks like Samuel Clemons married two different Mabels -- Oliver-7371 and Oliver-8225.  Someone else manages the first Oliver profile, but she is already attached to Samuel, and I assume it's correct.

Let us know if you need any help entering, sourcing or untangling any of the information.  It is pretty daunting at first!

Reba

Comments

HOLY COW thank you so much! My family is so confusing and it makes it even more daunting! I can't tell you how much I appreciate this! Walter Clemons and Mable Oliver are my great grandparents. The olivers come from my great grandmother's side, I believe. I think I need to start with Walter Clemons and work my way up and just write it all on paper and then see what I can find about each person. I never thought trying to find out my family would ever be so hard. I am so glad to be doing it though and saving the headache for my children, and their children, and so on!

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Heather, 

Here is an obituary that I'll bet has a lot of the answers you need -- including the name of Walter Clemons' wife (Cleary Campbell).  http://www.tributes.com/obituary/show/Samuel-O.-Clemons-104946675  

I can't be sure that this is the right family, but it sure looks promising, with names like Manuel Clemons and Mabel Clemons, etc.  The obituary is for Samuel O. Clemons, October 13, 1965 - July 2, 2017.  I think he might be the brother of your father.

Here is another (1920) census record for the Olivers.  It does seem like there is a discrepancy in the records for Mabel's birth year.  (I am guessing that 1907 is correct, rather than 1903.)  The census takers made many spelling and other errors, and the people trying to digitize the census records sometimes make typos or just can't read the handwriting, so there are many spelling differences.  (For example, "Monroe" Oliver on the 1920 census below is spelled "Monore" and is listed as having been born in 1901 on the 1910 census (in my response above.) and in 1905 on the 1920 census. 

"United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR6G-HJ7?cc=1488411&wc=QZJP-Y7P%3A1036472601%2C1036908301%2C1036681501%2C1589332311 : 16 December 2015), Kentucky > Breathitt > Precinct 12 > ED 55 > image 11 of 22; citing NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Boon Olliver, Male, age 38, Married, White, Head, b. about 1882  in Kentucky; Father b. Kentucky: Mother b. Kentucky 

Leaster Olliver, Female , age 40, Married, White, Wife, b. about 1880 in Kentucky; Father b. Kentucky;  Mother b.Kentucky

Monroe Olliver Male 15 Single White Son 1905 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

Mabel Olliver Female 13 Single White Daughter 1907 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

James Olliver Male 8 Single White Son 1912 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

Walter Olliver Male 7 Single White Son 1913 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

Levi Olliver Male 2 Single White Son 1918 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

Isom Olliver Male 0 Single White Son 1920 Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky A 6

Do you have Mabel's Findagrave memorial page already?  https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41325859 

Anyway, I have had fun chasing your ancestors, but I had better get back to searching for my own....

Reba

Answer 4

The best root to go would be through the reccommendations of your local genealogical association.. Otherwise,  there are many out there that will charge are great deal and perhaps just flood you with research easily available on the web.