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This ‘Provider Spotlight’ entry appeared on the ‘Expert Connect’ service provided by Ancestry. Ancestry subsequently ended this service in February 2011.
Provider Spotlight – Elizabeth Peters
Since Expert Connect launched at the end of June, a number of professional genealogists have had a few months to try the service. They have found some great new clients and completed a number of family history research projects.
Elizabeth Peters registered in late July on Expert Connect, and has already completed over 20 projects.
Elizabeth operates her business, Search Your Past, out of Kent, England. We asked her to describe how she became interested in genealogy and share her experiences as a professional.
“I first got interested in family history when I was 15 and my great-gran died. It made me think ‘what was the story of this woman?’ Now I think of all the things I could have asked her! I think that it is amazing that I have known someone whose father went off to fight in the First World War. It provides a real link for me to that generation which has now gone.
When I graduated from University I really wanted to work as a genealogist and sent off lots of CVs to different places. Six months later, out of the blue, I got a call from a company in Canterbury asking if I wanted to train as a professional genealogist. I ended up working for that company for 3 and a half years and worked on hundreds of different cases which has proved to be invaluable experience. It helped me learn many different techniques to find missing ancestors and to break down brickwalls which is what I love doing. Solving the puzzle is definitely the ‘buzz’ for me.
Since leaving that company I did bits and pieces for friends until I was recommended to a client in March this year. This spurred me on to try to make a go of it by myself. I carry out the research by myself using the various online sources and at Kent archives. If I need a record looked up outside of Kent I know lots of different researchers I can call on all over the country after my time working at that first employer.
Expert Connect has helped me find lots of new clients and has enabled me to make this a full-time job, something I didn’t think would be possible. I have just had my membership application to AGRA approved so I will be able to add this to my profile.
I have had quite a few interesting cases from Expert Connect but I am most pleased about the cases where I have found missing relatives for people. I also like the cases where I have helped people get going again when they have hit a bit of a puzzle in their research. Like the lady who had all of the information that I gave her but hadn’t been able to piece it all together because the mother of the family had used her first name on one census and her middle name on another and the children had been sent to live with different uncles and aunts. A marriage certificate and a family tree diagram helped show how the different families connected so she could carry on her own searches.
Outside of genealogy I have lots of nephews and my husband’s grandchildren keep me busy. I am also a member of my local Morris dancing group. I play the tin whistle for them and I love all the old folk songs. It is another form of social history that I love. I like the idea that we are playing songs that have been played, in some cases, for hundreds of years. These old traditions help to keep me in touch with my roots.”
We are grateful for Elizabeth’s service to the clients she has found on Expert Connect and wish her continued success.
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 10:28 am
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