Is geneaology a job?

Question

I mean, that's an actual study, but is that a job? (e.g. geneaologist)

Answer 1

It is possible to make a living from genealogy, but most of us are amateurs with day jobs. Fly fishing is like that. There are 1,000 weekenders for everyone who makes a living as a guide or selling flies.

Some of the ways I've seen:

Track heirs for a lawyer.

Write articles for genealogy magazines.

Trace family trees for rich people, or for family associations.

Tackle specific dead ends for amateurs who aren't exactly rich, but have a couple of hundred to spend on their passion.

(If the national association of people named Pack, for instance, hired someone to spend a year tracing all of the descendants of the 8 or 10 people named Pack in the USA in 1690, they would negotiate a large, set fee. I f I hire someone who works at the state archives in Maryland to spend 12 hours seeing if he can link up George Pack, who died in 1754, with Samuel Pack, who died in 1833, that is a much smaller job. I'd still pay a set fee, but the scope and duration are much smaller.)

Teach courses to serious amateurs.

There are other ways.

It's a bad idea to give out personal information to anyone, for any reason, unless you know them well. I always tell the guy at the pizza counter that my name is "Catfish", for instance. It gives me a thrill when the loudspeaker says my pizza is ready and it's nobody's business who that tall, devilishly handsome stranger is.

If your uncle asks for your birthday, fine. If your third cousin once removed, who you've never met, asks for it, be careful. If a police officer asks, you have to give it. If an historian asks, tell him 01 April 1950 and that your name is Catfish McGillicuddy. I do.

Answer 2

Yes.

The LDS developed the ICAPGen:

The International Commission of Accreditation of Professional Genealogist.

The Board of Certification of Genealogist certifies professional genealogist in the USA, Canada and many other countries.

Pricing can range from $35.00 an hour to thousands, depending on the difficulty of the search and amount of material gathered.

P.S.

If you are interested in becoming a certified genealogist, write to the following address for an application.

The Board of Certification of Genealogist

P.O. Box 14291

Washington DC.   20044

They do not offer genealogy courses; they only certify genealogist.

Answer 3

First.. of your prior 5 answers, 4 are telling you what they believe, one is a live professional, telling you what she KNOWS.  Not me, I am semi professional..

2nd.. re giving personal information? It is absolutely a risk, and very unethical if that info is not yours to start with.  I can talk for HOURS with you, about a (dead) mutual ancestor and his/her records.. without you knowing as much as IF I am related, much less how.  Personal info about living persons normally is not real genealogy, although it does have some purpose (ie finding someones gr child, since they do know the info).  In todays world, they will be skeptical and for good reasons as well.

I am not sure on criminal issues with genealogy. I have one family that I dissected to the bone, and a lawyer contacted me, needing that info for determining heirs, when someone died with no children.  One of our regulars here is currently working towards that profession. Persons selling "histories" at the mall are not doing genealogy.. they bought a franchise, of generic, plastic info.

I love tracing land records relating to families. I may work sometime for a land title company.  Many directions you can go with it.

Answer 4

There are many paid genealogist all over the world. The most popular are at your local library..they research names, walk cemeteries and spend many hours staining their eyes on old, faded, yellow documents. and as far as giving your personal info out..genealogist are like anything else..do your background work and make sure they are legitimate. Ask for references and contact people that they have formerly done work for.

Answer 5

well i know a man who does geneaology but its not his only job. He does it for the city but i dont know what else to tell you sorry..

Answer 6

Some people make a living(not sure if they do it full time) researching other people's family history for a fee. Others sit in malls with their databases of last names and print out generic family histories by surname for a fee(usually around 20-25 dollars) If you search Ebay there are people offering to do genealogy searches of your family history. So I guess so, there are people who do it for a living. Let me try and find one on Ebay.

Answer 7

Theoretically, but i doubt you'd get paid much.

You'd ;probably do best researching lineage for a University or somthing.  Still I don't think you'd make more than $30k tops.

Answer 8

It is a profession in it's own right, but you study hard for it, and normally have a previous interest in history. Genealogists have to be good to get anywhere though. There are a lot of professional genealogists around, but their services are so costly, they don't necessarily earn a lot, and since their work is contractual, so they don't always earn a regular wage either.

If you're researching your own lineage, you should be careful about what information you divulge to other people. Of course you're free to give people information about yourself until the cows come home, because it's your personal choice. Of course, you're leaving yourself wide open to identity theft though, so beware of con artists.

Also, if you're giving information out about your living relatives, you could get into a lot of trouble. they didn't ask you to research and put their details all over the net, so they shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes. I always keep information about my family close to my chest, unless they're long gone.

Answer 9

There are professional genealogists, yes. Some make very good money.  You can contact them at:

Association of Professional Genealogists

P. O. Box 745729

Arvada, CO  80006-5729

Board for Certification of Genealogists

P. O. Box 14291

Washington, D.C. 20044

ICAPGen

P.O. Box 970204

Orem, UT 84097-0204

http://www.byub.org/ancestors/records/fa...

FREE TREE MAKERS

www.myheritage.com

http://www.familytreeguide.com/

http://www.familysearch.org

It is called Personal Ancestal File or PAF 5.3

It is complete and free, no extras, no catches or hassles.

and you keep control of it on your computer and/or disk

forhttp://genealogy.about.com/library/nrela... relationships

Answer 10

It's a wonderful job...and you can far exceed $30K/year if you're good at it and have a solid area of research focus. First you need to study History and Library Science, then you need to find an area of a country or a region of the world to focus upon. There are people who do nothing but the Netherlands or Switzerland. Some people focus on research at the National Archives. Whatever you do, learn to love reading between the lines and creatively attacking difficult situations. The better you are at overcoming obstacles, the more valuable you are in the field.