Would I be wrong to do this?

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Hire a professional genealogist. I haven't used one for well over a decade. I've been very much into DNA cousin matching. However due to a bad experience adding smart matches recommended by My heritage- I've only added one ancestor in the last 4-5 years to my tree. Here's where I go into 'would it be wrong to do so' mode? I've approached one genealogist whose suggested £525 or £105 in 5 instalments to do research for me. Research on one ancestral line that might only lead to tracing that line back one generation,but hopefully more. I have the savings to be able to do so, but I'm having big guilt feelings about spending such a large amount of money. Would I be wrong to do so?

If you can afford it then it might be interesting.

Note that, in theory, the results mightn't be of interest to just you but rather to everyone related to you.

My concerns would be getting good documentation to whatever they find. My Mom's cousin researched their family ancestors but he only noted the relationships he found, he didn't document what evidence existed to support the family tree he documented. (I'm sure he actually found records to support his findings, it's just that other people might like to see the supporting evidence, too.)

I currently have > £8k savings. The family member most interested in family history was my father. He died last year. A professional genealogist would find the necessary documentation . One of the worst things about virtual genealogical research are the dodgy family trees, often with no sources, that get copy and pasted by other people into their own family trees online.

I can't speak to the financial aspect of it. I haven't employed a genealogist.

And I can understand that your father may have been, in the past, the person most interested.

But it sounds like, right now, you are interested. If you can afford it (that is important) than why not satisfy your own curiosity.

And maybe some relatives would be interested, too...if not now, perhaps later?

Key words, though: IF you can afford it. So far I've only harvested information collected by others. That costs me time but very little money.

Up to you. Do you value the results of this service to be worth 6.56% of your savings regardless of the results? Maybe they'll find a bunch of stuff and you might be thrilled to know it for the price, but maybe they find next to nothing or nothing at all that you couldn't have found yourself via google/Facebook or something and you don't feel you got a great value for $ at all. You'd have to be prepared for a disappointing result And accept that learning it would be worth the $ you spend.

Only you know what your income, savings, value system and so forth are and whether you're okay with spending this amount on this project. Only you know your age and health and how long you need to make money last or not and whether this would be wise or advised or acceptable or not.. and whether you value it over all other things 6.56% of your savings might be spent on, including health related necessities.

Up to you. But something tells me if you're questioning it then you might not feel it's the best use of this amount of money at this time.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

If you have the money, go for it.

Thanks for the replies. As with all hobbies/interests some will be into it,others won't. There are libraries that hold genealogical records. I went into a library in Charlotte when I visited my father back in 1995.It was huge compared to my then local library in Essex. My local library now is even smaller. There are also record offices covering areas/counties, but I don't live in an area where my known ancestors came from Physically I'd struggle to get to places locally. Let alone regionally or UK wide.

Online resources can be a mixed bag in terms of quality of information. The quality of family trees uploaded by individuals can vary widely. Then there are the increasing number of private trees and profiles.

Research wise I'm better thinking outside of the box(eureka moments) than I am methodical and organised. A lot of my hesitancy is psychological rather than a question of not having the the money that's needed.

Interesting that this seems so important and valued to you.

I don’t mind knowing what I know about my family tree or having met a bunch of relatives and older ones throughout my childhood, but I can’t imagine pouring time and resources into trying to learn about long since dead ancestors.. and as for the living ones - there are a lot of them I couldn’t give a flying f**k less to ever hear from or know anything about ever again. Hell, if it were in option I’d pay 525 GBP to never give them any thought again! Imagine all the productive things I could focus my attention on vs ever think of them again!

Not an option tho.. and fortunately I don’t think of them often and do think of them less and less as time goes on.

100% guaranteed I spend money on things I value that would boggle your mind, though. Whatever floats your goat, I guess. If this is your thing and you Need to do it for your own happiness, then do it if it’s not going to create financial hardship.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I think we all have hobbies/interests that have other people thinking WTF is he/she etc interested in that?! Genealogy has been a long running interest. At one point I was very into making tapes based on musical type/year/theme etc. Nowadays it's quizzes and tests of all kinds(playbuzz to high range IQ),reaction time and intelligence. Financially I can afford it, so have paid for the research to be done.

Hmmm...

You didn't seem to mention books.

I have purchased a number of books containing genealogical records. Many turned out to not intersect my ancestry but others gave me good information on my ancestors. Plus there are historical societies.

(Using a small number of such sources I conclude King Charles III and I are twenty-third cousins.
I've never seen him at any family events, however.)

I've looked at a few books. They've been generally rather than specifically helpful.

Via Relative finder

There may or may not be books that could be more helpful.

Have you checked the catalogs at places like:
https://genealogical.com/ and
https://www.higginsonbooks.com/collections/genealogy
and there are other sources that publish stuff, too.

I'm not saying there are helpful books, but maybe there are helpful books—and if a few of the books you find are useful, it's probably cheaper than hiring a genealogist. ...then when you've harvested the easy, cheap stuff, maybe hiring a professional could move things further.

^ Thank you. I will check those sites out. An example of the problems that can occur with family trees at Ancestry.

Mary Goatley = 5 different birth dates, 4 different marriage dates, 6 different spellings of her father's name, 4 different birthdates for her father, 4 different mother's name,3 different birthdates for her mother, 7 different husbands, 2 different marriage places

Are you sure there isn't more than one "Mary Goatley"?

It is surprising to me how many people with identical first and last names exist in the U.S.

If you are talking about "Mary Goatley" from the 16^th century then there could be some complications due to: their bureaucracy wasn't that formal, yet; some sources went with an actual birth date, others with baptism date; she married more than once; they're not sure and are doing their best.

Oh, yeah!

Other complications could be some illiterate folk were involved. And name changes due to marriage.

I have an ancestor who was a soldier in the U.S. Revolutionary War. Reports on his birth date vary by years. He was illiterate and lived a long time. Mistakes happen. (I suspect he might have lied some, too...the amount he was paid for being in the military was ridiculously low, but might have seemed large to him! I suspect he might have lied about his age so they thought he was old enough to enlist.)