Research

RESEARCH is an integral part of family history work. It can be very rewarding to do it oneself, making those amazing discoveries after long periods of searching. At times though, it is good to call on the help of others, be it informally or as a request to a specialist. The Society can help in all these areas.

For simple straightforward questions you may obtain free and knowledgeable assistance and advice through the Society’s Facebook page, which is moderated and acts as a forum for family and local history. Simply put your question to the Facebook page and you will get a response from one of our moderators, usually saying that they will open it up to the wider community for more help. Note that Facebook has replaced the forum that was on the old version of the society’s website.

For individual research, you may carry it out at home or in local libraries, but why not come to the Root Cellar and make use of the Society’s facilities and subscriptions to Ancestry and Find My Past. Friendly volunteers are there to help you, if needed. There is also an extensive library of genealogy and local history related books, most of which are available for loan. To help offset the Root Cellar running costs members are asked to contribute £1.50 and non Members £3.00 for each session of using Root Cellar facilities.

The Society also offers bespoke research carried out by experienced volunteers who use their family history skills to help you break down the proverbial brick wall.  Research is not limited to the Huddersfield & District area – we can help research across a much wider field. What we ask is that you include as much information as possible to help the team. Include details you have already found in your own research, helpful dates e.g. birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial. Give full place names where applicable – so for example there will be a Church Street in many districts of all the towns in our area and other towns throughout the UK.

Have a look at the ‘Chargeable Research’ tab for more details on this capacity, typically used for research up to four hours of research. This is a ‘Paid For’ service with charges as follows:

H&D FHS Members: £10.00 per hour, minimum one hour
Non Members : £12.00 per hour, minimum one hour

The next level of research would be for topics that need more hours to complete. This could include, for example, investigation into one or more topics:

• One or both direct lines of a particular person with as much supporting evidence as can be found, and might also include drawing a family tree, completing an ancestral notebook with all relevant information and preparing an online tree on Ancestry.
• The history of a house, which typically takes a lot of time with many hours of research both online and at local archives.
• Advice and assistance on researching family links using DNA.

Send in your request and a Society volunteer will contact you, either by email, telephone or in person at the Root Cellar, to agree the terms of the research required and the likely cost of the research project.