A professional genealogist can be the ideal solution to discover more about your family history – whether it’s helping you navigate a research roadblock, bringing their specialist knowledge to bear on a specific aspect of your family tree, or even undertaking a massive research project to investigate and write up your family history for you.
Why hire a professional to help you with your family history?
While there is something enormously satisfying about doing our family history ourselves, there are most definitely times when most of us can do with a helping hand.
- Perhaps we have reached an impasse in our research and are just not sure where to look next?
- Maybe we’ve encountered documents that hold the clues we need – but we lack the palaeographical know-how to decipher the old handwriting.
- It could be that we need boots-on-the-ground help – for instance to visit an archive that we’re unable to travel to.
- Or possibly you’d like to treat yourself or your family to a professionally researched history of your family.
- Note that professionals, in addition to family history, often work in associated subjects – for instance, house history or local history, or in helping to provide a written family history publication or book.
- Think too: are you involved in a family or local history organisation, and do you need speakers to fulfil your programme, and is there a local professional who could meet this requirement too?
Professional researchers are able to help you accomplish all these things above and more.
Therefore, if you’re short of time, or if you’ve become ‘stuck’, now’s the time to call in a professional to help your family history research continue to flourish.
How to go about employing a professional genealogist?
Clarify what you want to find out, write a summary of what you’ve done, look for a professional researcher to help you.
First, be clear in your own mind what it is that you would most like to accomplish. What is it that you need to know?
Next, draw up a summary of the research that you’ve undertaken so far: the websites and records you’ve consulted, perhaps.
With this clarity you are now ready to research a suitable qualified professional genealogist to help you. There will be certain criteria that you’re after, specific to your research question. For instance, are you seeking help with military records? Seek a professional with the relevant specialism. The geographical location of the professional is an important consideration too, if you’re needing them to visit relevant archives for you. Lastly the time period may be important to consider too.
Most professional researchers will inevitably have a broad genealogical knowledge base, but many have specific subject areas – having honed their skills over the years and decades, gaining extensive experience in particular topics, record types, periods of time and so forth.
Why hire an AGRA member?
The Association of Genealogists & Researchers in Archives (AGRA) is the only genealogy professional researcher organisation that requires its members to have passed a rigorous peer-review process in order to become AGRA accredited. In addition AGRA members pledge to abide by a detailed code of conduct in order to provide a best-practice genealogy research service.
Long-established organisation: AGRA has been in operation since 1968, when it was established to ‘maintain and promote high professional standards in the field of genealogy and historical research’ (AGRA website).
Peer-reviewed membership: AGRA members go through a rigorous application process requiring that each applicant undergoes relevant training and a peer-review process – meaning that as a customer, you have the confidence that the standard of their work has met the required quality.
Code of practice & ethics: Each AGRA member agrees to abide by a detailed and thorough Code of Conduct, which underpin a good service – providing candid advice, clear reports, confidentiality and good channels of communication, updating clients as the project progresses: https://www.agra.org.uk/about-code-of-practice
Current knowledge: AGRA members also undertake continuous professional development, to ensure they are kept abreast of the latest genealogical research developments within their field.
Meeting expectations: Professional researchers should provide you with updates of the research as it progresses and a detailed, sourced report on completion – and these aspects are outlined in the AGRA code.
Who is the right fit for you? Choosing an AGRA researcher
Browse the directory of AGRA members - by location and research specialisms, to draw up a short list of professionals: https://www.agra.org.uk/memberbrowse
The AGRA ‘Find a Researcher’ directory search system helps you locate the person or people most able to help you with.
Research requirement – Are you seeking family history, family trees, house history, local history or one-to-one research advice? Note too that you can filter your search results to those professionals available for speaking engagements or for tutoring too.
Research speciality – This section of the ‘Find a Researcher’ directory search system is truly extensive. Topics range from ancestral tourism, through emigration, European ancestry and surname history, to photo restoration, DNA – and specialist repository knowledge and access (for instance from the Bodleian Library to the University of Cambridge Library).
Geographic speciality – Alternatively you may opt to home in on the areas where your ancestor(s) once lived. If so, explore the directory of AGRA researchers by county (counties and administrative areas within England, Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are specified).
Researchers based in – Or choose to filter by researchers based in a certain area.
To find out more, download the leaflet: ‘Why hire an AGRA genealogist?’.
Blog post in association with AGRA: last updated 2 September 2025.
