United States Research
United States Research ForGenerations does professional genealogical research/Family History research for clients in the United States of America.
Researchers specialize in different geographic locations across America including:
New England States, Atlantic States, Southern States, and Western States.
Each of these locations differ in the times when records were mandated. The types of records available. The history of their settlement. Colonization, Migration routes, wars and other conditions affecting the areas.
Example – Initial colonization colonies covered different areas and affected the formation of states. Plymouth Colony, Connecticut Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Foreign countries involvements (British, Dutch, French, Spanish, and Russian primarily.) Sometimes the territories affected overlapped and affected where records were located, the types of records, duplicate records. Example land records or tax records by more than one group in more than one area.
The affects of war, and war records for the areas affected. Being part of territories that later changed or became states.
Ex. Virginia controlling areas in future Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Land grants as a result of military service in a particular place or time. Each of these things affect where to look for records, the types of records available and when they became available. Damage to records as a result of war, reconstruction or reconstructed records. Records duplicated on a town or city, county, state or federal level.
Some research may additionally be broken down into time periods.(Colonial 1600/1700’s, 1800’s, 1900’s) A session of research will usually focus on a specific geographic location and the records in that location.
For example. Research in Wisconsin might focus on the County of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and records related to a specific surname like Nichols in that location where the ancestors family was known to reside.
In our initial proposals we look at the research problem/person/family to determine where they are, the state and county and towns or parishes/churches and records to search for including vital and church records. Generally one surname is worked on in a research session unless another is in the same county or location and can be researched at the same time.
Attention to boundaries and their changes is critical. Ex. research in Philadelphia and surrounding counties can be very difficult as county boundaries changed over time even when the family did not move. This means research must shift from one county to the next for research. States and Counties may also be in close proximity to each other. Bordering states and counties may find families living in one area and going to church/work or having events like marriage or burial in surrounding areas which maybe another county or state or both.
Ex. The bride and groom’s families lives in Covington, Kentucky but the couple get married in Cincinnati, Ohio. They travel to the big city to get married and honeymoon there. Marriage does not appear in Kenton County, Kentucky records where Covington is a part of but rather in Hamilton County, Ohio where Cincinnati is a part of.
In addition to research being geographically organized their may also be more specifications done for different ethnic or racial groups. (example – Native American/Indian Research, Jewish Research, Basque Research, African American Research, etc.) For more on Ethnic/Racial research see that area.
Having researchers who know an area well saves our client unproductive time spent by other unspecialized, novice or hobbyist researchers looking in the wrong places or for records that don’t exist or not knowing where to look. Our researchers have the extra experience and knowledge to get the job done right providing you with more research and better quality research for your dollars.
Almost half of all professional research we do is U.S. United States Research. Discover how we can help you with this important research.
