Help! Where do I look now?

Where do you go when you need help with your family tree?  Maybe there’s a designated genealogist among your relatives, or in the tradition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, you phone a friend.  Or you might write to a family history magazine with your query and hope it gets published.  But as those avenues don’t always provide the solution you’re seeking, or in your timeframe, what should you try next? 

The ideal is to ask an expert, or someone with at least some more experience in the field you’re researching.  Perhaps surprisingly, you can find people like that who are willing to help without charging you.  This post will explore some of the options that you can try.

First of all, however, it’s worth looking at how to describe your problem to others who know nothing of your family.  Great-uncle Jimmy’s merchant navy career may be legendary among your immediate relatives, but your potential helpers are meeting him for the first time, so be precise in what you ask, and give enough information that will allow them to identify a possible source.  Rather than say “Looking for navy records for Jimmy Black who died in 1951”, try “Looking for merchant seaman’s records of any kind for James Alfred Black, born 1918, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, died 1951, Liverpool”. 

Many of the online help sources you can use are organised like notice boards, so use a brief subject line such as “Merchant Navy records” to highlight the likely source of information you’re looking for.

And now, where are these sources you can turn to with your queries?

Most archives and record offices will have general help sections on their websites.  These will have information about the records they hold and the kind of details these may provide about your ancestors.  If your question is simply a matter of understanding what records they have, or the nature of their contents, this is a good place to start.

If your query is more detailed, try one of these:

#AncestryHour  Every Tuesday at 7pm UK standard time, Twitter hosts an hour of discussion, questions and answers purely about family history.  Anyone can join in and ask a question, and you may even get an answer during the hour from another genealogist!  If not, you’re likely to get some solid suggestions of where to turn for advice.  Use the hashtag #AncestryHour to see the posts and comments.

WalkMyPast  Imagine you’ve discovered a long-lost branch of your family, and now you know why they’ve been lost for so long – they emigrated to the other side of the world!  You would love to visit the quayside where they arrived, see the house they built, or the farm they worked, but it’s just not feasible.  Fear not, help is at hand in the form of “genies” – volunteer genealogists who live in or near your family’s new home overseas.  With WalkMyPast, you can identify a genie who is willing to transcribe headstones, take photos, or look up records on your behalf.  Search the site by place to find out who you might contact to ask for assistance.  Genies are located around the world including places in Europe, North America, the British Isles, and the Antipodes.

Who Do You Think You Are? magazine offers both traditional and digital forms of help with your brick walls.  Its online forum is divided into different areas of focus where you can share problems and queries in fields such as military history and photo identification.  You can also swap your unwanted certificates with others who have similar interests, and join in discussions about various genealogical topics, or the latest episode of the magazine’s associated TV programme.

A perhaps lesser-known part of FamilySearch.org’s offering is its research groups.  These cover countries ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe, and specialised topics like genetic genealogy and Jewish research.  Joining one or more of these groups can connect you with like-minded family historians and give you opportunities to ask your questions.

Each of the above online resources is free to register with and use, and they allow you to not only receive help but to give it in return.  Being part of a virtual genealogy community can open up avenues of research and inspire you to try different methods to solve those family history mysteries that have baffled you for too long!