FAQ - IS GENEALOGY EXPENSIVE?
We have heard many visitors to the Genpals Chat Forum say they would like to begin their family history research, but they just don’t have the money. Yes, genealogy can be an expensive hobby but it doesn’t need to be. From our experience, the one thing which seems to scare the beginning genealogist the most is thinking they have to purchase every certificate they need for births, marriages and deaths at the onset. While some researchers can afford to run out and buy every certificate for their great grandmother’s 14 siblings who they just found listed on the 1870 New York Census, most genealogists budget their purchases. Many people will purchase one or two certificates a pay period, a month or even a year depending on financial needs. Certificates average about $10 in the US, £7.50 (GBP) in the UK and about $25 (AUD) in Australia, for example. Purchasing one or two certificates a month is with-in most people’s budgets and provides you with the source information you seek.
Just as one does not need to go out and purchase every certificate they need in one shot, one does not need to go out and purchase the latest genealogy software either. There are many good family tree programs available for free downloading. Most of these offer many, if not all, of the same features as the programs for sale. We have provided a listing of some of the most popular free downloads on our Forms Charts and Software page.
“But don’t I need to get a subscription to Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, Burke’s Peerage and every other subscription site ad nauseum?” No, you do not. There are many chat rooms on the internet where people are willing to share the resources they have such as census data, military records and ship lists. Most people are happy to e-mail the images they find to you as well. Also many libraries have subscriptions to sites such as HeritageQuest which can be accessed using your library id or a special code given you by the library staff. Along with this there are numerous free look-up services staffed by volunteers who donate their time to do free look-ups. Message posting boards on sites such as RootsWeb, Genealogy.com and Ancestry.com are also a great venue to find information on those elusive ancestors and many connections with distant cousins are made on these sites. You may even find a cousin 3,000 miles away who has the certificates you are looking for and is willing to share them with you.
If you live near a major city, college or university, the libraries there often have genealogy sections. The New York Public Library has an entire floor of one wing dedicated to genealogical research in its main branch on Fifth Avenue. Libraries, even many local ones, often offer computer resource centres now where patrons can use a computer, usually for a set time limit, for free. You may even be on a public library computer right now. If you do plan a trip to a major city such as New York, London or Sydney you can visit the government records office and sift through their indexes and view image films. Even if you can’t afford to purchase a certificate at that moment, the indexes and image films will give you most of the information you are seeking until you can.
Of course the most comprehensive free resource is the local Family History Centre (FHC) and FamilySearch website operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The FamilySearch website offers extensive research data including indexes to their libraries, census information, the IGI (International Genealogical Index) and literally hundreds of thousands of ged.coms. For a very small charge, usually about $2.50 USD, your local FHC can order books, films and micro fiche containing everything from censuses, passenger ship records and birth records to books on how to conduct your research.
Holidays, birthdays and special event days also offer a great means for collecting things such as data disks. Tell the kids, “Instead of getting me a tie for Father’s Day, I would really like the 1880 US census disks.” Drop subtle (or not too subtle, depending on your personal style) hints at work if you have a holiday gift exchange. “Gee Marge, I hope whoever gets my name in the gift pool this year gets me the 1861 census disk for Bristol. I saw it on e-Bay and it was only £5.” When your spouse asks what you would like for your birthday, say, “A full subscription to Ancestry.com.” Yes the gold chain he was going to get you would be nice, but wouldn’t the subscription be a greater benefit?
No, genealogy does not have to be an expensive hobby. One does not have to go out and purchase the latest genealogy software packages along with every certificate they find they need in one shot. You do not need to redo an entire room of your house with filing cabinets, hire private secretaries and get subscriptions to every pay site on the WWW. There are many more ways to help cut the costs of doing you research and, as time goes by, you will learn these. We hope the suggestions offered on this page will be of benefit to you. Good luck in your research.
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