TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-L Archives

Archiver > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM > 2011-10 > 1319481657


From: "Melanie D. Holtz CG" <>
Subject: Re: [TGF] Advice on Difficult Client
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:40:57 +0000
References: <COL107-W2B2BF46E59EEB05FBD60692EF0@phx.gbl>,<CABPpKTib7y6V7SfrkWw+NVbr+UNBWA7HHNTRqw=GSU+4EvTOBA@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CABPpKTib7y6V7SfrkWw+NVbr+UNBWA7HHNTRqw=GSU+4EvTOBA@mail.gmail.com>


I explained to him in the beginning that it would require going back and reconstructing the families to make sure we were on the right track. I found a huge amount of information for him for two couples and all their children, 9 or more in each generation. Today he says he "basically had all the information I found". That is not logical because he told me in the beginning the information he gave was all he had. I could forward him his emails but I'd like to find a more tactful approach.

As Kimberly, said researching collateral ancestors can often lead to the information you are looking for. In this case, it is getting us closer to the needed information because I found that one of Generation 3's sons married in another town. I looked for the marriage of Generation 3 in this new town (because it wasn't found in the town the client said they married in) and found it, providing names for Generation 4.

Would you all make a concilatory gesture, like working a few hours free?

Sincerely,

Melanie D. Holtz, CG(sm)
Holtz Research Services
http://holtzresearch.com

CG and Certified Genealogist are Service Marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by board certificants after periodic competency evaluations by the Board.








Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:42:39 -0500
Subject: Re: [TGF] Advice on Difficult Client
From:
To:
CC:

Melanie --

I'm not sure how to answer without knowing what he was exactly saying. Did he really not care whether you researched his ancestors rather than someone else's? Did he not realize that most names are commoner than we think, and it would be easy to work on the wrong people? Or did he think that having a couple of names constituted knowledge?

Normally the starting point would be an original record placing a *known* ancestor in a particular place at a particular time. (All right, I know, on occasion we've all started with less, but that's the best way.) You might produce a search result with multiple similar names. Or just asking him repeatedly how he knows X, Y, and Z.

Some people really don't understand research at all, and we have to try to do the work of educating them. I would also be interested in how folks deal with this situation in terms of when to cut their losses and just say, "Sorry, I can't take this case on this basis."

Harold


On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Melanie D. Holtz CG <> wrote:


I've had an exhausting morning with a client trying to get him to understand why sound genealogical research practices required that I start at the beginning of his ancestry and work backwards. He gave me very little information as a starting point. All I had was three generations of male names, two approximate birth years, and a town.

He feels I should have jumped to Generation 3 and begun from there as his main goal is to find where Generation 3 or 4 immigrated from. However, I couldn't be sure he had the right information on Generation 3 unless I built up to it.

Perhaps you all have a better way of explaining things?

Sincerely,

Melanie D. Holtz, CG(sm)
Holtz Research Services
http://holtzresearch.com

CG and Certified Genealogist are Service Marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists®, used under license by board certificants after periodic competency evaluations by the Board.
The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list.
-------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message


--
Harold Henderson
Research and Writing from Northwest Indiana
Professional genealogy from Chicago to Fort Wayne, Kalamazoo to Kokomo
Compiler, In Court In La Porte: An every-name index to the first legal proceedings
in La Porte County, Indiana
midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com
midwestroots.net



This thread: