My Dead Rel Hunting Starter package is aimed at helping people get started with their family tree and their research on Ancestry.com. The process involves me:
- adding people to your tree based on your DNA matches
- creating a numbering and colour chart for your DNA matches to help you with future research
- using whatever documents I can find on Ancestry to substantiate the people I’m adding to your tree
- guiding you on how to give me Editor access to your tree and access to your DNA results, and providing information on how you can withdraw that access.
My Dead Rel Hunting Starter package fee is $880. (I am not currently registered for GST, so this is ex-GST.) This covers a maximumof 3 hours for admin, onboarding and communication (questions, updates, etc.), and a minimum of 8 hours for research.
The main aim will be to build your initial tree to a minimum of 15 people as follows:
- You as the core person (1 person)
- Your parents (2 people)
- Your grandparents (4 people)
- Your great-grandparents (8 people)
However, as I build, I will also be adding cousins, aunts and uncles across the various generations as well, validating these with whatever official documents I can find, so you should end up with quite a few more than 15 people! These additional people will enable me to link to more of your DNA matches and verify some of the above branches.
The second aim is to secure an Ancestry minimum tree rating of 9 out of 10, so that you can be confident that the documents and links are as reliable as possible. I can’t guarantee this as I don’t know what information I will or won’t be able to validate until the time comes, but a minimum 9 out of 10 rating will be the aim.
How does it work?
For the Starter package, the basic process is:
- You will need to create an Ancestry account if you don’t already have one. This can be a free account – you don’t have to have a paid subscription.
- You will need to have your DNA tested via Ancestry if you haven’t already done so. You will have access to purchase the DNA test kit once you create your Ancestry account. This is a simple ‘spit in a tube’ test which you post back to Ancestry for processing. (Please note that your DNA test is a separate cost paid directly to Ancestry and is not part of the research package I am offering here. Please also be careful to only pay for your DNA test – there might be an option to sign up for access to documents, etc., but you won’t need this while I’m doing the research for you.)
- I will send you some instructions on how to create a ‘starter tree’ so that you are the ‘owner’ of the tree rather than me, as tree ownership can’t be transferred.
- I will also send you some instructions on how to share your DNA results with me (via our Ancestry accounts).
- I will ask you to provide some basic details about yourself, parent(s) and/or grandparents – whatever little you may know – so that I start with the most likely ‘true’ facts available.
- I begin building your tree by adding the facts you provide and then validating those where I can via your DNA matches and whatever documents I can find online.
- The aim will be to validate the links back to your great-grandparents at least.
- I will add other people along the way, such as your cousins, aunts, uncles and second cousins, and possibly some great-great grandparents, where DNA matches bring these to light. These wider links will help validate the research, too.
- I will ask you to be open-minded about the results and accept that we don’t know what we will or won’t discover until I start digging.
- I will also provide you with my mapping chart for your DNA matches and my tables for numerically labelling your direct ancestors.
- Once the initial work has been done, the choice is all yours! You can:
- rescind my access to your DNA results and your tree and take over the research yourself; or
- rescind my access to your DNA results and your tree and leave your tree as it stands; or
- leave me with access to your DNA results and your tree and engage me for additional blocks of time (minimum 3 hours per block at my current hourly rate) to keep researching, as and when you like.
What if I can’t trace one of your lines back to your great-grandparents?
If I can’t confidently trace any of the minimum 15 people listed above for the Starter package (excluding yourself), I will refund you $25* for each one I can’t trace. By ‘can’t confidently trace’, that means I can’t find supporting documents to validate their existence in your lineage, and/or I can’t find a DNA connection to that same ancestor.
(* Please note that if you’ve received any form of discount on your Starter package, then that same percentage discount will apply to any refund.)
Having said that, it is also feasible that I may be able to add some great-great-grandparents in one line or another, depending on your DNA matches and other information available. So a dead end in one line doesn’t mean a ‘stop’ in another line – I will be validating and adding as many connections as I can over the research period. The above 15 family members listed are the minimum I will be aiming for.
As you can see here, I’m still trying to validate one of my own paternal great-grandfathers (Edward James Butler). I strongly suspect that he was left on the doorstep of a church in Ireland and raised by adoptive parents, but that hasn’t stopped me tracking down the rest of my great-grandparents, and many of my great-great grandparents (and further back) in my other lines:
Why Ancestry?
As I’ve worked on Ancestry for nearly two decades, learning another system is not worth it for me now. So with apologies in advance, if you don’t have an account with Ancestry, there’s not much I can do to help. (I do, however, use additional external resources when searching for information, but I only build trees on Ancestry.)
Please also note that I do NOT receive any kickbacks or financial return from using Ancestry or for mentioning them on my website here.
Are you ready to start?
Get the ball rolling by emailing me via my Contact form here.
Let me know where you’re up to with your family tree and DNA testing, and tell me about any particular family research interest(s) you might have, and I’ll get back to you generally within 2 working days, usually sooner.
(While initial contact will be via email, I’m happy to talk on the phone at an agreed time if that helps.)
Please note that all quotes are obligation-free and I don’t pick up the phone to hassle you into signing up. The choice is always yours whether to proceed or not. But in the hope that you do proceed …
I look forward to helping you with your dead rel hunting! 🙂
