How We Start Your Search…

If you wish to contact Gorry Research please email or send a letter.  In relation to research queries, please give a brief outline of your information and your goals to initiate correspondence.  Paul Gorry will take on commissions only if worthwhile research is possible.  There is no charge for initial evaluation.

A consultation meeting may be arranged with visitors to Baltinglass.  This may be useful in particular if it involves genealogical or local history research in the general Carlow / Kildare / Wicklow area.  To avail of this service please make contact well in advance.

Here we go…

How to make initial contact

Drop us an email, briefly outlining your query (in a few paragraphs). The main things to include are your research objectives and the basic details of the particular ancestors you are concentrating on. Then we will ask you some pertinent questions and, following on our exchange, we will advise whether worthwhile research would be possible.

How about a letter instead of an email?

Sometimes people are more comfortable in writing a letter. That is perfectly acceptable, though a correspondence entirely by letter will slow down our communication considerably. If you wish to make the initial contact by letter you may like to include more detail, but please don’t send us reams of paper to read through! If you have email please include your email address. A letter should be addressed to Gorry Research, 84 Ardglass, Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, W91 RH59, Ireland.

Exchange of emails

People new to ancestral research often find it hard to understand the importance of verification of the family being researched. Unfamiliarity with online sources can send people off on a tangent at an early stage. We don’t want to be tracing the wrong ancestors for our clients, so be prepared to be “interrogated” to make sure you are on the right track.

What we need to know

We need to follow the steps you took that brought you back to the ancestors you are researching. It would help if you could separate your information into two separate sections. Firstly, a brief outline of any relevant family lore that has been handed down the generations. Secondly, the sources you used in your own research and what key pieces of information they gave leading back to the ancestors now being sought. Images of key documents would help.

Would access to your online ‘tree’ help?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Online trees often have several sources attached for each individual, but these give no indication of how they were found and how they were confirmed as relating to the relevant ancestors. It may be useful to look at them at a later stage but not while the information is being assessed.

What should I expect

Gorry Research normally takes on a search of between three and five hours, after which the client receives a report in a pdf file detailing the search, step by step, outlining positive and negative results. It would include images of relevant documents. It is impossible to predict at the outset whether worthwhile research would come to an end after an initial search or whether a series of searches might be possible. If further research is recommend, it is up to the client to decide whether to pursue it further. Research is charged at an hourly rate. The research is not done in one sitting. The results of one step may dictate the direction of the search in subsequent steps, so some thought goes into the process between bouts of research. Usually it takes several weeks (a few months) before the commission is completed.

Does Gorry Research charge for assessing a research application?

There is no charge for assessing a research application. Information will be assessed to determine whether worthwhile research is possible. Normally in-depth assessment would not be necessary in such a case. Voluminous notes or reports that would take a considerable time to read through cannot be dealt with in such a situation. Someone who has conducted extensive research and who wishes to have their findings assessed may commission a Research Evaluation (see below) instead.

Additional Services

Research Evaluation

A family historian who has conducted extensive research and who wishes to have their findings assessed may commission a Research Evaluation. As evaluations are charged at an hourly rate, the more extensive the reading material supplied, the more expensive the process will be. That is why it is best to provide a succinct summary of the specific queried findings, supported by materials (including document images) relating to them.

Face-to-Face Consultation

A consultation meeting may be arranged with visitors to Baltinglass. This may be useful in particular if it involves genealogical or local history research in the general Carlow / Kildare / Wicklow area. To avail of this service please make contact well in advance.

Compilation of a Family History Book

Creating a family history in book form is quite an undertaking. That is why Paul Gorry has taken on very few such projects. However, he will consider proposals. The first steps would be the conducting of a series of commissioned searches (as outlined above) to gather the raw material from which the story will be told. The research reports would be included as a series of appendixes in the book, providing the factual basis of the story. The story (or stories) would be told in chronological order, from the earliest identified ancestors down to the most recent generations. Gorry Research could not write a family history based on someone else’s research. A full discussion of the project would take place with the client before a family history book commission would be accepted.

Commissioned family history publications 3 reports

Where You Will Find Us

A consultation meeting may be arranged with visitors to Baltinglass. This may be useful in particular if it involves genealogical or local history research in the general Carlow / Kildare / Wicklow area. To avail of this service please make contact well in advance.

Location

Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, Ireland

Contact

email:   info@gorryresearch.ie

Website

www.gorryresearch.ie