EC [Expert Connect]: How did you first get interested in researching your genealogy?

KM [Kathy Morrissey]: My interest was first ignited in grade school when we had a homework assignment to build our family tree.  I was always sad that my family tree could not go past my grandparents’ on my mother’s side.  We tried to get more stories from my grandparents, but we were never certain if their memories were correct.  I also remember my father trying to get more information about my grandmother’s family while in England but was asked to not look any further by the city office, similar to the chamber in the U.S.

When Good Morning America featured an ancestry search for their anchors, I became more interested and decided to try Ancestry.com.  I’ve built 2 trees, beginning with my husband on one tree and me on the other.

EC: Why did you use Expert Connect on Ancestry.com?

KM: My main goal was to locate the birth certificate of my maternal grandmother.  I wanted to find it as a gift for my mother.  All of us had heard the stories, heard various names and we wanted to try and connect the dots.  I had worked on it tirelessly for three years but just could not land on the specific document.

As I was approaching  Mother’s Day 2010, my mother (now 89), I realized how much time had passed without achieving my goal.  I really questioned myself about hiring an expert, I went back and forth (praying) on whether I should do this or not.

I decided to place a project request.  It felt like a ‘self-absorbed’ wish of my own.  As I shared with some of my coworkers what I was thinking, they confirmed my decision in getting the truth while I could still share the results with my mother.

EC: How was your experience with the expert that you had hired, Elizabeth Peters ?

KM: Elizabeth was excellent to work with! I had concern choosing someone without personal knowledge of them, but Elizabeth was the perfect choice. Her communication via the message board and email gave me comfort & assurance with my decision. I recommend her and hope to use her again in the future following another branch of our family tree.

Elizabeth was monitoring my project request.  Her first bid response was one of the highest.  It made me gulp a little.  But once I added more detail to the bid request, Elizabeth came back and gave me a flat rate cost for researching and, if found, delivering the birth certificate of my grandmother and the names of her parents.

We had heard so many stories of Lucy Horsfall (my grandmother) but we needed to connect the dots.  In our minds’ memory, we felt Lucy was a real life Cinderella story.  She did not have a stepmother, but she was monitored by her birth family even though she was placed as a servant girl.  We knew she was given a doll once, only to have the people take it from her and sell it in their store.  That is why, when Lucy was in her final years, needing care in a nursing home, my sister and I gave her a doll.  Her very own doll…..finally!

We were never certain of Lucy’s age.  Often we wondered if she lied about her age in order to leave being a servant.  Thankfully, Elizabeth located her birth certificate and we now know she never lied about the year she was born.  Lucy lived to age 101….it really was her true age!

EC:  What did you do with the research that your expert delivered (ie, upload that to my Ancestry.com Family Tree; print a hard copy book or other document; share with family, etc)?

KM: The documents are loaded onto our Family Tree.  I also sent copies of it to all family members.  For one cousin who had not kept in touch with us very regularly – it made her day to finally know the real birth date of Lucy and that all the stories we had heard lined up to paint a picture of Lucy’s life before coming to the U.S.
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If you’d like the help of a professional genealogist, see the “Hire an Expert” section on the Ancestry.com homepage, or visit http://expertconnect.ancestry.com.

EC [Expert Connect]:  What first got you interested in researching your genealogy?
WE [Willard Edison]: I started this out of memory and respect for my mother, who conducted genealogy research on our family from the 1970s until her passing in the late 90s. All her work was done snail mail to county recorder offices, historical societies, and by accessing Mormon records in Salt Lake City. I was only going to digitize her work for posterity.  In the process, my wife and I became hooked on genealogy as well. I’m sure my Mother is smiling from Heaven.

EC: What caused you to use Expert Connect on Ancestry.com?
WE: When my dad reached retirement age, he could not get his SS benefits until he made a legal name change. That’s when we all found out that our true last name was NOT the last name we’d all lived by throughout our lives, as he had not been formally adopted as a child as he thought he was.  Huge surprise.

This began a search for my true paternal grandfather. I could not get beyond 1916 in the deserts of Nevada and the area around San Francisco. In that research, I did find out my grandmother had several children who died within months of birth, which was original research no one in the family knew about, but I was out of leads and out of ideas. I thought “what the heck. I’ll spend a few dollars, hire a pro, and see what they can do. It will either confirm a dead end or lead us somewhere”.

As a professional security guy with a background in criminal investigations, I knew that the results not only depended on the quality of my expert, but how lucky she was as well.  There is just SO much information that sits quietly waiting for original discovery, in places I’m not even aware of. I was prepared for disappointing results, only because I had cases in my own investigative career that I could not solve.

EC: How was your experience with the expert that you had hired, Sharolyn McCoy?
WE:  Superb. The information I already developed had led me to Missouri, so figured I should hire an expert familiar with Missouri genealogy. Ultimately she actually did very little in Missouri, because she uncovered a treasure trove of information about my grandfather in California and Oregon. This is testimony to the quality of my expert. How she reached out and discovered/collected so much good information literally astounded me.  I can’t say enough about the hard work and effort my expert put into this project.
For almost 5 years, I tried everything I could think of to determine where my grandfather came from, what his life was like, how his life affected mine, and what happened to him. In less than a month, she answered all these questions and completely documented her research. My gratitude goes beyond money.

EC: What will you do with the research that your expert delivered?
WE:  I’ll share it with my one remaining sister, my children and their kids. Kids born in the 1990s and more recently do not even have a sense of their own history and life, because the world is changing so fast. If I can make my grandparents’ world real to my grandkids, it will all be worth it.

If you want an experience like Willard and want the help of a professional genealogist, check out the “Hire an Expert” section on the Ancestry.com homepage, or visit http://expertconnect.ancestry.com.

Crista would have needed nearly 1,000 of my hands – thumbs included.

It wasn’t just a giant family tree that Crista was trying to populate. She was gathering all of the living descendants of one of her own ancestors, a great-great-great-grandfather, for a family reunion. One very, very big family reunion.

Using a combination of Internet tools, genealogy tricks, and the kindness of relative strangers (who happened to be descendants of the same g-g-g-grandfather), Crista tracked down almost 5,000 living descendants of Samuel Milliner for the celebration of his 200th birthday last summer. Better still, Crista survived to talk about it – and to start planning another reunion for next summer.

Crista’s how-to tale is just one of the stories in the November/December issue of Ancestry magazine. You’ll also find features on how history affected courtship, spotting a child from another mother in a family tree, and the latest from columnists Myra Vanderpool Gormley, Howard Wolinsky, Megan Smolenyak Smoleyak, and more. Plus you’ll get to see what happened when we put our own family history wish-lists up for bid on Expert Connect at Ancestry.com (hint: we’re all celebrating a bit early this year).

Ancestry magazine subscribers should start receiving the November/December issue this week. (Not a subscriber? You’ll also find individual copies in larger bookstores and on the Shop button at Ancestry.com. Or visit www.ancestrymagazine.com for articles and more information).

As always, I’d love to get your feedback on the articles we write. You can reach me via email at jcroasmun@ancestry.com or become a fan of Ancestry magazine at Facebook and drop me a line there. And if there’s something you’d like to see Ancestry magazine cover in 2010, I definitely want to hear that, too.

Record Pickup – Hire a researcher in another state or country to visit a specific archive, collect the record you need and send it to you.

Local Photo – Pay a researcher in your ancestor’s hometown to snap a picture of a headstone, historic building or other landmark.

Ask an Expert – Post a question to a range of professionals and get the advice and direction you need.

Record Lookup –Work with a professional to track down hard to find records and retrieve a copy for you.

Custom Research – Recruit a seasoned professional to take on a complex project that may be beyond your experience or time availability.

Starting a project is simple and there are hundreds of experts available to help from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. More are joining everyday offering their unique services. These are terrific, dedicated people with a passion for genealogy and a real desire to help you discover more of your family history. With their help you just may find that brickwall in your research start to crumble.

Check out the beta site at expertconnect.ancestry.com. Please provide your feedback as you use the service. We are excited to offer yet another way to help you discover your story.