Genlighten Blog — The hassle-free way to hire a genealogist

Wandering through a Wonderful Collection of Public Domain Images

9 January 2016 By cyndy Leave a Comment

We’re coming down the home stretch, getting ready to introduce the newest version of Genlighten at our RootsTech exhibit booth on February 3-6, 2016.

Dean is doing the heavy-duty Rails coding for new website, but I try to help with whatever I can and today I’ve been looking for photos to use as profile image placeholders until site users upload something of their own.

I found some interesting pictures on our favorite stock photo website but I also had a wonderful time looking at The New York Public Library Digital Collections to see if there was anything there that would work. Images in the Library’s digital collections that have no known United States copyright restrictions can be downloaded and used without the Library’s permission–but, of course, a credit with a link back to the site is a welcomed courtesy. The guidelines for using the digital files on the website can be found here.

The key to finding the public domain images was to limit the search. From the main screen, I checked the “Search only public domain materials” box before clicking on the blue magnifying glass search button.

Search box

The results showed that the filter was on

and when I clicked through to an image, I saw the “Free to use without restriction” note below the download buttons.

Download screen

I confess. Whenever I’m testing out a new database, I usually type in “banjo” or “fiddle” because old-time music is a love of mine, and I had fun looking at the banjo results on the New York Public Library site today–advertisements, sheet music covers, stereo cards, and vintage drawings, both color and black and white. My two favorite music-related images didn’t have the “Free to use without restriction” tag but I did stumble on one banjo image to download (it didn’t come up in the keyword search) and I selected a number of interesting pictures from the Farm Security Administration Photographs after searching that part of the database for “family.”

When you first log into the new Genlighten website–it’s not quite ready yet, but we’ll let you know when it is–you might find that there are two young men in your default profile image, both holding five-stringed instruments of the happiest kind. If the picture doesn’t take your fancy like it did mine, you can change it with a few clicks of your mouse! But now you’ll know the story of how it found its way there. 🙂

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The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Members of the Musgrove family, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania” New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 8, 2016. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/19563d90-da36-0132-ccc9-58d385a7bbd0

So, How Does Genlighten Work?

7 January 2016 By cyndy Leave a Comment

Screenshot showing the current Genlighten’s front page. (New site coming soon!)

“I don’t know exactly how your business works.”

Whenever I hear someone say that, like I did recently, I think, “Fair enough!” The word “Genlighten” doesn’t really tell the story, does it?

So, here I am this rainy Southern California Wednesday afternoon, thinking about a concise and easy-to-understand way to explain it.

Here’s one idea:

Genlighten.com is a marketplace for genealogy research. Providers create webpages to highlight their expertise and experience. Clients search and/or browse those pages with a project in mind to find the right person to hire. All projects are tracked on the site which means that message conversations are easy to follow, payments are secure, and documents and reports are delivered online.

Reading this from the perspective of a person who is new to Genlighten, four questions come to my mind, so I’m guessing others might wonder, too.

Why don’t providers just create their own websites?

Some do! For them, Genlighten is just one more way to advertise their services. It doesn’t cost providers anything to create a profile page (other than our 10% commission if they get work through us), so it’s a good way to broaden their reach.

It’s also a good way to build reputation. Genlighten clients leave feedback ratings and reviews for providers when projects are complete and this helps future clients feel confident in hiring.

And then, for researchers who don’t want the cost and challenge of maintaining a separate website, Genlighten offers a really easy way to establish an online presence.

Why don’t clients just Google to find research help?

Try Googling to find someone who can search for obituaries at the Indiana State Library. Or someone who can copy divorce files in Chicago. Or someone who can take digital images of Civil War pension files for a reasonable fee.

You might be able to find someone to hire that way, but it’s likely to take you a good deal of search time and some back and forth by email before your project is underway.

We have providers on Genlighten who can handle these three research tasks and finding them through the site takes just a minute or two. Sending a project request is just as quick.

We don’t have a provider suited to every project (although we’re working on it!), but it doesn’t take long to check to see if we do, so we’re a good first stop when it comes to hiring a genealogist.

Why not just contact the providers directly?

People have been successfully arranging research projects off Genlighten for years–true!–but there are some advantages to using our service to arrange and track your projects.

Messages go through the site and so important conversations between providers and clients are documented and easy to find. There’s never any question of who said what when and messages don’t get hopelessly lost in overflowing inboxes. Just log in and they’re there.

Fees are paid securely through the site–no need to mail a check or worry about someone having your credit card information. We never see it and it isn’t saved.

Reports and associated document images are delivered online (with a few exceptions) and so nothing gets lost in the mail and there’s always a backup copy available.

And, most importantly, we want you to have a positive experience when you hire a Genlighten provider. Most times, everything goes smoothly, but if it doesn’t, we do our best to help clients and providers bring projects to a mutually agreeable close. As a safeguard, we hold new providers’ fees in escrow for up to seven days in case a project needs to be reviewed (although we can make the funds available immediately if clients post positive feedback for a project) but, thankfully, we’ve rarely needed to step in to help in that way.

How much does all this cost?

Or, in other words, how do we make money? We currently charge providers a 10% commission on their fees. If someone completes a $25 project, we keep $2.50 and credit his or her account with $22.50.

We also charge clients a 5% fee on their payments, but for most projects, that amount just covers the transaction fees that the processing company charges us.

So, why “Genlighten?”

We chose the name “Genlighten” because it includes “lighten” as in “we’d really like to make the process of finding research help easy” and “enlighten” as in “we’d really like our providers to help you shed light on whatever research challenge you send their way.”

How am I doing? Do you have a better idea of how Genlighten works now that you’ve read this post? What questions did I leave unanswered? Let me know and I’ll go to work on them!

Cyndy
Genlighten Co-founder

Featured Provider: richroots

7 May 2015 By cyndy Leave a Comment

If you “know your family’s Italian, but don’t know whether your meat sauce should be Bolognese or Neapolitan ragù,” New Jersey provider richroots can help! His research specialties include Italian, immigrant, New Jersey, and Irish records but he’s also skilled at handling broad research projects the go beyond those areas. With over ten years experience in online and repository research, richroots can help break down brick walls or craft a family history from scratch. His Genlighten offerings include Italian dual citizenship application assistance, research at the New Jersey State Archives, record retrieval at the New York City Municipal Archives, and one-of-a-kind research projects designed to target clients’ specific needs.

How did you get started doing genealogy research?

I started doing genealogy after my maternal grandmother died. When I was helping clean out the house, I found a tree she’d been working on. I thought it’d be a great way to honor her memory to continue working on it – and I’ve been hooked ever since.

How have you developed your research skills?

A LOT of trial and error! Before I went professional, I learned as much as I could by working on my own family, and helping friends here and there. It helps that, though my ancestry is mostly Italian, my maternal grandmother (same one as above!) had a smattering of Irish, Welsh, German, English, Canadian – you name it! I learned a huge amount by just researching my own immigrant families and their movements. Once I became more serious, I joined local genealogy societies, the APG, and have attended week-long institutes, workshops, lectures, conferences… I think it’s important to always keep learning. The same way that no family history is ever “finished,” I don’t think anyone can ever know “all there is to know” about genealogy – but we can sure try!

Do you have a genealogy superpower? If so, what is it?

My genealogy superpower is – well, I was going to say Italian research, but I guess that’s obvious if you look at my last name! I guess my “untold” genealogy super power is being able to find things on mainstream genealogy sites, like Ancestry and FamilySearch, that other people have difficulty finding. Because my family’s surnames have been butchered so much throughout the years, I’ve somehow figured out ways around the search parameters using things like wildcards or other “sideways” ways to find information. For whatever reason, I can think of a dozen ways a first name or surname could be spelled (incorrectly) in seconds. I also use various search fields in different and unique ways. It’s hard to write – I can just find things! It makes me feel like a detective.

Describe a challenging research problem you’re proud of having solved.

I helped an adoptee find her birth parents. I can’t say much more about it, but I can say it was one of my most rewarding experiences as a genealogist thus far. I hope to be able to learn more about DNA in the near future to be able to assist future adoptees in finding their families.

Tell us a favorite story about one of your ancestors.

My third-great-grandfather, David Fisher, was an absolute wild one. He was married three times, had his last child at age 54, and laundered money from the state – but never went to jail! He was a tailor in Kingston (NY), NYC, and Jersey City. I have SO many documents about Mr. Fisher… but yet he’s my biggest brick wall! I am still desperately trying to figure out his place of birth. But – I love him. He’s my favorite ancestor. He seemed to make his own rules, lived all over, and once complained about his crazy neighbor for believing that his daughter was [the neighbor’s] typewriter. He’s my most interesting – and most salacious – ancestor that I’ve found yet… and I love the research challenges he present me.

What’s the most unique record source that you can access for research?

The New Jersey State Archives (discussed more below) has this glorious collection of manuscripts, including NJ Supreme Court cases from the 1700s and 1800s. One of my favorites was when “The King” sued my person of interest over calling a judge “an arse” pre-Revoulationary War. You can’t make this stuff up! The penmanship is beautiful, the documents are stunning, and, as you can see, you get great stories in the meantime! There’s another wonderful one about neighbors fighting over someone picking blackberries in their yard. Brilliant!

What’s the one must-visit repository visitors doing research in your area?

The New Jersey State Archives is a researcher’s dream come true. Not only is it easy to navigate, but the staff are absolutely glorious, each and every one. They have been so very helpful to me and pull out all the stops if you need assistance. Not to mention – there’s over 100 years of NJ vital records on microfilm, newspapers from all over the state, probate and deed files pre-1900… and there’s free parking and a delicious café across the street (Lucy’s). Honestly – what could be better?

What tools to you use to create the reports and images that you provide?

I’m a “keep it simple” kind of guy. I create my reports in Microsoft Word and use RootsMagic for my GEDCOM files. I take photos on my iPhone – I find that the quality is better than any digital camera I’ve used, handy to carry, and easy to transfer and upload files. I know there is wonderful genealogy software out there – and I am about to start using Evernote – but for the most part, I like my old reliables.

What advice would you give to someone trying to break through a brick wall?

The cliché advice – keep trying. But really – keep trying! In my years as a genealogist, I have seen some ridiculous and wonderful documents that I doubt descendants have seen – simply because of their unique location. Your people can show up in the strangest places – their letters in manuscript collections (maybe their neighbor was Civil War solider, and they wrote to him), or as part of someone’s civil war pension file, or within a BIA file at NARA, or as witnesses on their neighbor’s naturalization record… the resources in which you may be able to find your ancestor are literally never-ending, so don’t give up hope. Also, perhaps even more importantly – speak to a local genealogist, historian, or librarian. Simply their knowledge (of a different record group, or of the old forgotten cemetery in town, or an introduction to the oldest man in town – who maybe knew your ancestor or their children) may be what you need to break through that brick wall. It is not foolish to ask for help – usually, it’s more foolish not to!

What hobbies do you pursue when you’re not at the archives doing research?

What do you mean? Where else would I spend my time!? 😉 Really, though – I used to be an actor, so I’m a theatre junkie. I also love to travel. I lived in Europe for a while and go back as much as I can. I love spending time with my family and my friends. Life is short, so I try to make every day count. I’m so lucky I love what I do, and that my favorite “hobby” is my job!

Anything else you’d like to share?
I truly believe we learn more about ourselves when we learn about our ancestors. After all, it’s a mix of their DNA that makes us, well, us!

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