Research

According to a widespread opinion, all you need to do to find your ancestors is to access a special database, fill in your name and get the result immediately. Unfortunately, this database does not actually exist. Instead of it there are hundreds of state archives scattered all over the country, which preserve ancient yet to be digitised paper documents. Not only it takes time to visit those archives, they usually have specific restrictions on the number of files that each guest can study during one working day. The number of people sitting in the hall is also limited, which causes queues.

The files account for thousands or more pages, and one investigation requires to look through around fifty books. To avoid looking for a needle in a haystack and wasting the customer's budget, we always try to narrow down the search at the initial stage by conducting genealogical surveys and analysing all the data available in the personal family archives.

If the initial data submitted by the customer is sufficient, we can proceed to the next stage. If not — we conduct additional search for the initial information from family members. This includes both genealogical surveys, studying family archives, and work with all available sources of information (Internet, internal library, etc.).

For example, to start an archive search, we need to learn the date and place of birth of your ancestor before 1917. If there is no supporting documents or confidence in the accuracy of the date, it is better to choose another strategy — to start the search within the Soviet period (documents from registers, military commissariats, etc.).

The next step is to develop a search plan, according to which our employees carry out investigation in archives. We send requests to remote archives, and organise business trips for our specialists.

Then we estimate the prospects of further investigation on the basis of a primary family tree scheme, hypothesised kinship and official historical facts.

If necessary, we establish partnership relations with foreign archives.

This process is painstaking, long-term and creative. Sometimes, among hundreds of books you will only need to find one page with one line in order to get further research directions. Within the pre-revolutionary period, we revise the census of the population, church-books and confessions, within the Soviet period — archives of military commissariats, state structures, registry offices and registers of tenants. We have enough experience and energy to conduct this work for as long as it is necessary, constantly increasing the number of details for the best results.

Restoring the genealogy diving deep into the history for every 100 years from 1917 requires hard work. Our experts look through around 60 thousand pages within only one family line. On average, one project requires to analyze 100-200 thousand pages of archival documents, and in some cases — up to 500 thousand pages.

The basic genealogical information is in the metric records. In the Czarist Russia, information about newborn babies, christenings, marriages and deaths was registered by priests in church parishes. Such records were organized into books of 500-1500 pages. On average, only 50 samples of such books survive within a century.

Today in our country, there are more than a hundred of regional archives with pre-revolutionary funds with huge collections of various documents. Therefore, it is necessary either to send a qualified specialist on a business trip or to look for the local performers, which is much harder. In addition, due to a number of historical reasons, the required part of archival documents may turn out to be stored in the neighboring area, which can be figured in place by narrow-profile specialists.

In order to save time and money, some researchers often use the following method of searching: skipping every twenty years to find records about the father of one of the ancestors and then to search further with the same time interval. Such work can be done relatively faster and cheaper. However, the quality is matching: low reliability (due to the high probability of confusing facts with namesakes because many people in villages lived under the similar family names) and a "dry" family tree (which lacks the full list of family members). We exclude using this method. We study every page in archival documents, find the entire list of relatives and restore the complete structure of your ancestors’ families.

We had to almost completely give up working with the official requests to the archives. Most commonly, such requests turn out to be unpromising due to the low motivation of archive staff members to carry out such a difficult and labor-consuming work. As our practice shows, only one request of ten receive any answer, which, unfortunately, can not always be trusted.

Of course, rare exceptions exist, but anyway half-yearly delays for each request for extend the research for many years and often leave it unfinished. Thus, the number of studied pages is one of the major factors responsible for high cost of quality genealogical research.

We always find the clues in the research and work on the biography of family members (the most significant is the 19th century, which left numerous archival, historical data and memoirs). We assume the possible participation of family representatives in milestone historical events, and we search for the confirmation on the basis of contemporaries’ memoirs and documents from this era.

The answers received from the archives are carefully analysed. We build genealogical chains and logical relations. We restore the scheme of the genus, put the history of generations in the context of the general history, describe the daily routine and lives of your ancestors in a given time period, in accordance with the corresponding social status and specific place of residence. The entire genealogical materials, collected during the research, are provided to our clients with photocopies or extracts, backed up by archival key numbers.

After drawing up the plan of the book, an experienced writer joins the project. We strive to make not just a cold report on archive search, but a family encyclopedia, that would become an interesting reading for the descendants, relatives and friends.

To implement this unique genealogical book project we only employ professionals.

The genealogical book can be issued in the form of family chronicles, an encyclopedia or an album. We offer various options and materials for the binding: from fabric and leather to precious metals and gemstones. This edition will become an exclusive masterpiece, produced by historians, genealogists, journalists, as well as artists and designers.

The family tree is designed by an individual order and can be executed in a form of a picture on a wall, parchment, scroll, letter, etc. Our artists will offer materials and individually designed scheme composition, as well as other related elements, and our designers will select the appropriate style and decoration.

The crest depicts figures and objects symbolizing its owner — the armiger (man, family, city, country, company, etc.). Our company makes up modern crests, taking into account the wishes of our customers, if they don’t violate heraldry traditions.

Heraldry is very diverse, although it follows the strict centuries-old traditions. In the Russian Empire, only  the privileged class had the right to obtain a family crest, while in Medieval Europe crests were common not only in the aristocratic circles, but also among rich citizens (merchants, artisans, etc.), as well as church representatives.

To create the film, we will carry out a special documentary video shoot in places of your ancestors’ residence, objects, interiors and artefacts linked with the individual family history.

As an option, we are ready to carry out a video reconstruction of historical events. The client can even play the main part in the film! The mounted documentary will also be included into the genealogical research presentation film.