Family History is Your History!
Need help with your Family History Search? I can do the Research or Show YOU How!
Our Services
Research
Why Hire Me For Research?
To research your family history. You would love to know your family history but don’t have the time or inclination to do it yourself. We can decide what you want to know: connect with distance cousins that you didn’t know existed, research one line of your family as far back as possible, research all lines of your family, or find an unknown parent or grandparent. I can also continue to work on a family history project that you or someone else started.
To double check your or a family researcher’s work. Do you want an impartial evaluation of the research you have completed or you were given by a sibling, cousin, or more distant relative. Did you simply follow the hints on ancestry or attach yourself to someone else’s tree and hope that all is correct? If so, let me check on your sources to be sure the people on your tree are actually your ancestors and not distance cousins or even complete strangers with the same names. These inadvertent errors happen to the best researchers. I can check newly online sources using probate, military, and immigration records that are not easily accessed or understood.
Instruction
Why Hire Me As an Instructor?
Not only am I a trained researcher, I taught writing and history for over 22 years at San Jose State University. I have also taught older adults at Osher Life-Long Learning for over 5 years. I can take complicated and (some people might say) boring topics and make them fun and interesting to the average adult while simplifying the complicated without “dumbing down” the information. Year after year, my student evaluations mentioned that I make history fun. I can do the same for private or classroom instruction on how to approach genealogy and how to competently explore one’s own family history. I can teach you how to get started on your research project and how and where to look for different sources for your research project.
ABOUT MARY LYNN
Mary Lynn has a rich History in researching Histories.
I am a trained researcher not only in genealogy but also academically in history and linguistics.I have a Masters degree from UCLA in Medieval European History and a PhD from UCLA in Indo-European Studies. I trained for years to learn how to research esoteric topics in multiple languages.
The languages that I have studied include German, French, Swedish, Latin and Ancient Greek. German and Swedish will allow me to competently understand Danish and Norwegian sources also. The French and Latin will help me with Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian. My knowledge of the languages of Western Europe is unique.
I have researched my own family since I was 18 years old (for over 40 years). I have experience with in-person and online research environments. To be sure that I am up to date on new genealogical sources and websites, I completed Boston University’s Genealogical Principles course in Fall 2022, and I plan to complete the National Genealogical Society’s Advanced Genealogy course in 2023.
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TESTIMONIALS
Finding out who my ancestors are moved me to tears. I didn’t think it would touch my heart like it did. At the end of the session, I felt a sense of closure to the mystery that was my family.
– P. Cost
Thank you for connecting me with my family. You demystified my history; I know where I came from. As a result, I have located my family; we communicate frequently.
– M. Easter
Mary Lynn's Genealogical Research & Instruction 