I have a cousin (distant) who is a certified professional genealogist, she has printed and
distributed copies of a family genealogy that says I am the child of my great
grandparents, 2 of my four sisters are my neices and I have mysteriously acquired 22
children by age 12 (I have no children).
It has been requested she correct the erroneous information, we even provided birth and
death certificates as proof and she still claims her work is accurate, as she is a
professional. The genealogy in question is in its 4th revision and each revision
Many times I have seen this, not just in my own little world.
I and most people assume a professional is 1) well trained in his/her field 2) has a
degree or certificate from an accredited education, technical or vocational institution.
I have yet to see any educational institution of any type offer degrees/certificates in
genealogy.
A true genealogist whether paid or not will do their utmost to give accurate information.
They do not 'make it up as they go'. In my opinion, many of the volunteers who
work in the USGenWeb Project are Professionals. They do their best to help anyone search
for their roots and they give the best information they can find and go the extra mile to
help out another. That is a professional whether they are being paid or not.
This is why I refuse to use the term PROFESSIONAL Genealogist for someone who does
genealogy research. They are for the most part, for a fee researchers and you must check
and try to duplicate their work and be insistent if you find ANY discrepancies.
My opinion, and yeah I know what they say about those! LOL
Laverne Hammock Tornow
FLGenWeb County Coordinator
http://www.rootsweb.com/~flgenweb/counties/
Citrus, Orange, Pasco and Pinellas
Sparkman Genealogy
http://www.sparkman-genealogy.com