International Research

No matter where your ancestry may originate, ProGenealogists is ready to assist you in tracing your family history! Our expert team of professionals is comprised of specialists who conduct research anywhere in the world. Our most common international research requests are in the following areas: 

• Canada
• French-Canada
• France
• Ireland
• United Kingdom (England, Wales and Scotland)
• Germany
• Western Europe
• Central & Eastern Europe
• Scandinavia
• Latin & South America
• Caribbean/West Indies
• Philippines
• Australia
• New Zealand
• South Africa    

Every country is unique when it comes to genealogical research. Record sources often times vary, certain time periods can affect record content and availability and language and handwriting styles can affect the way in which your research is conducted. This is why ProGenealogists is the number 1 stop for international research—our specialists are familiar with all of aspects of research for your ancestral country!

Am I Ready for International Research?

Before we begin tracing an ancestor in foreign record sources, we generally always need to know an exact place of origin. There are sometimes exceptions depending on the time period your ancestor was born and which country they came from. However, for the most part, just knowing that an ancestor came from Ireland or Germany is not enough. In fact, even knowing that an ancestor came from Paris, Berlin, Kiev or any other large city may not be enough.

In most foreign countries, the majority of record sources were kept on a local (town or parish) level. Therefore, one must know an exact town or village. Sometimes knowing a county or state can be enough to locate an ancestor, but again, this depends on the country and time period they lived in. In cases where a large city is listed for an ancestor’s origin, it is important to remember that most immigrants came from rural towns and villages. Many times, specifically in U.S. sources, immigrants would list a large city as their place of birth simply because it was a more familiar point of reference. The reality is that we often find that they came from a smaller village in the general region of a larger, more familiar city.

If you do not know the specific place of origin for your ancestor, or only know a large city or region, then we may need to start with our immigration research service. Immigration research generally deals with records created in the country of immigration, such as the United Sates. Many records were created in the U.S. about immigrants that can often their exact places of birth. Our immigration researchers are among the best in the world and have been successful with even the most difficult immigrant problems.

If you are not sure if you have enough information to launch an international research session, please fill out our free online estimate form and let one of our experts analyze your information and provide you with recommended research service.

Where We Access Records

Records for international research are accessed from three main repositories: 1) the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, 2) International Archives and Repositories, and 3) the Internet.

The Family History Library

We are located in close proximity to the Family History Library of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Family History Library (FHL) is known worldwide as the focal point of family history records preservation. The FHL collection contains more than 2.2 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records, 742,000 microfiche, 300,000 books, and 4,500 periodicals that represent data collected from over 105 countries.

International Archives & Repositories

While the FHL has a great collection of international records, it does not house all of the records for all the countries in the world. Therefore, archives and repositories of the specific area being researched often need to be consulted. We have strategically placed researchers all over the world, which allows us access to a vast amount of records outside of the FHL.

The Internet

Online databases multiply left and right on the Internet. This includes databases of international records. Online records are accessed when they are available, thereby significantly cutting down the time and cost of record retrieval.

Why Hire ProGenealogists to do International Research?

One might question the logic of hiring a company located in the U.S. to do international research. The reason is simple. ProGenealogists’ associates have had many years of training and expertise so that they can efficiently and accurately discover and document your family history in the vast sea of information available. They know what records are available and where to find them. Plus, our vast network of researchers extends into many countries around the world, which allows us to access the records we need.

Many of our researchers are experienced in researching on-site in countries around the world. Although we do have agents in most places, there are times when it is valuable for one of our specialists to travel directly to your ancestral homeland. There they can not only access records that may otherwise be impossible to examine, they can canvass cemeteries for ancestral tombstones, locate ancestral homes and property, contact possible relatives and more! On-site research is an excellent way to really have your family history come to life! 

Country Overviews

Canada

Canada, like the United States, has a culturally and ethnically diverse heritage. Immigrants have come from all over the world, although the British Isles nations contributed heavily until the late 19th century. Most of us with Canadian roots will find them in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, the most populous ones. The kind of resources and methodologies employed while researching in Canada varies depending on location and time period, and often on the religious and ethnic group that the ancestors were part of. Canadian resources are varied and include items such as land records, vital records, passenger lists, church records and more. ProGenealogists has access to a vast array of Canadian resources and can assist you no matter where in Canada your ancestors lived.

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Great Britain

Great Britain provided many of the early Western immigrants to North America and so it is logical that many of our lines originate there. There are many excellent resources available to learn more about our ancestors in England, Scotland and Wales. Indeed, research in these countries can be particularly satisfying in the 19th century, where the combination of census, church and civil registration records that can often help us put together genealogies much quicker than other countries. You can read more about these resources at ProGenealogists's Great Britain website.

ProGenealogists is ideally situated to study your British genealogies. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has amassed a huge body of English resources available through their extensive microfilm and book collection. The library holds records such as church registers, probate records, land and tax assessments, manor records, military records and more. If one wished to do the same research in Great Britain then this would often require travel to many repositories all over the country! The nations that make up Great Britain have kept great records to allow the genealogists of today to trace their ancestry as far back as the 16th and 17th centuries. ProGenealogists can help you make that connection!

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Ireland

The country of Ireland has in some way taken on a Romantic notion for many of us today, a far cry from the attitudes that prevailed when the first wave of Potato Famine immigrants arrived in the 1840s and 1850s. Today, it seems, everyone wants to be Irish and visit their ancestral hometown in Ireland. ProGenealogists has an extensive website on Irish research. Despite the history of Ireland, there are still many records available to make the connection to a specific town or townland. These records include civil registration records, church records (both Catholic and Protestant), land records, tax records and more. Yes, it is challenging to make that connection, and it often takes longer than it would for many other countries, but 19th and 20th century immigration problems are usually solvable using a combination of resources on both sides of the pond. ProGenealogists has immediate access to virtually any record that is needed for Irish and Irish immigration research through the extensive records of the Family History Library and colleagues available onsite in Ireland.

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Central and Eastern Europe

Many of the immigrants who arrived from Central and Eastern Europe did so in the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. Eastern Europe contributed many millions of immigrants of diverse cultural and ethnic heritages. Among the largest ethnic groups were Poles, Ukrainians, Hungarians and Slovakians. These immigrants settled all over North America, and contributed to the rapid population increases in the large cities of the United States. In general, it is necessary to know a specific town, village or parish of birth before meaningful research can be conducted in the records of those countries. Additionally, it is critical that the religious affiliation of these immigrants be identified.

Given the social and political upheaval that has blighted this part of the world over the course of time, it is often surprising to find just how many records still exist. The large majority of Eastern European research focuses on church registers, but depending on the region in question, there are often other resources available. The Hungarian Census of 1869 being a case in point. You can find many resources and assistance through our country specific websites for Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. We hope to soon put up more material for regions such as Ukraine and the states that make up the Balkans, as well as specific ethnic groups such as Jews. Many of the records that are needed to make headway in your Eastern European ancestry are readily available to ProGenealogists, so please do not hesitate to contact us if you want to learn more about your heritage!

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Latin America and Spain

Latin America, is of course, culturally dominated by the Catholic Church, and as such it is no surprise that church records of that denomination represent one of the primary resources employed when studying our Latin American ancestors. However, there are many other records that can be studied, and these records vary from country to country. For example, the 1895 Census of Argentina is an important resource in that country while research in Uruguay often focuses on the civil registration records of the early 20th century.

If your research in Latin American records is successful, don’t be surprised to find that your heritage is far more diverse than you might expect. While it is true that Spanish language immigrants represented the majority of Western arrivals, there are many communities across this part of the world that are derived from an ethnic group such as the Irish, Welsh, German or English!

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Scandinavia

The countries of Scandinavia provided many immigrants to the United States, particularly in the latter half of the 19th century. Many of these immigrants settled in the American Midwest and prairie states, and have contributed to the unique heritages of those states. Many also ended up in the Canadian prairie provinces. The timeframe in which these immigrants made their way to North America affords the genealogist a great chance of making a connection back to Scandinavia. Sweden, in particular, has excellent emigration records. The key to documenting your Scandinavian ancestors in European resources is to first identify a specific town or parish. The patronymic naming system employed in these countries mean that there is a relatively small number of surnames used, which can make searching for your ancestors in large databases a fruitless task. However, the good news is that once a parish of origin has been identified, a genealogy can often be extended a number of generations with sufficient time available.

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Germany

ProGenealogists has put together an extensive website on German Genealogy for anyone wishing to trace their German heritage. The German-speaking states contributed a huge number of immigrants to North America and have thus had a large impact on the culture that exists here today. Research in German records requires that a specific place of origin is identified before research can proceed and study your more ancient ancestors. Church records in Germany have by and large survived, often from as early as the 1500s.

ProGenealogists has access to many of these records at the Family History Library although it is important to note that the records for some states have been more heavily microfilmed than others. We have solved many, many German immigrant cases and then extended the ancestry further in the surviving church records. This involves careful study of the immigrant family in North America and then the expertise of a German-language researcher who can read the challenging script found in German records prior to the 20th century. If you after trawling our German website you still find you need assistance, please feel free to ask us for a free estimate document your German origins.

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