Second opinion & check

“Not all that glitters are gold!”

Did you know that most family trees, that have been maked by laity, contains serious errors? It can even contain complete wrong generations because it was set wrong ancestor of formant lines.

I create a second opinion to already performed studies. Be it historical or family trees.

I also perform other types of data verification.

Why It’s Worth Hiring a Genealogist

“Genealogist” is not an official title!

Historian is an academic title. That’s why it’s always worth hiring a professional historian who specializes in genealogy.

 

The Difference Between Dr. Lampreht and a Genealogist

I create professionally researched family trees that go beyond just first names, surnames, and dates. As a historian with a PhD, I analyze historical documents holistically—examining their language, terminology, circumstances of origin, social and local context, as well as all data that enables the reliable identification of a person.

It is precisely in the details that the answer to the most important question is often hidden: Who was the person we are looking for?

In historical sources, people with identical or very similar first and last names frequently appear. My personal record was five men named Franz Mohar. All five were married, lived in the same village, were farmers by profession, and three of them were married to a Maria. If you only transcribe the first and last name from a document, it can quickly lead to a mix-up and, consequently, to an incorrectly assigned ancestor. The latter happened a few years ago to a client who had been researching the wrong family line going back more than five generations!

In my work, I therefore pay attention not only to what is written in the document, but above all to what the document actually tells us.

My goal is not merely to create a clear list of ancestors. I want to reconstruct the story of the individual and their family from the documents—where they lived, how they made a living, under what circumstances they were born, married, and died, and what life paths led your ancestors through the generations.

I verify every connection between generations based on available historical sources. As soon as the documents allow for unambiguous identification, I substantiate it with facts and context, not just the similarity of names.

The difference is simple: A family tree can show who your ancestor was. Historical research, however, can show who this person truly was.

If you would like a family tree that is not just a collection of names and dates, but a thoroughly researched and documented history of your family, please feel free to contact me.

The Main Differences Between Dr. Lampreht and a Genealogist

 

Dr. Lampreht:

  • First and last name,
  • Birth dates,
  • Marriage dates,
  • Death dates,
  • Cause of death,
  • Occupation and social status of the individual,
  • Geographical and administrative details,
  • House names (vulgo names) and house numbers,
  • Kinship connections,
  • Marital status,
  • Godparents, wedding witnesses, and other persons named in the source,
  • Latin, German, and older Slovenian terminology,
  • Old forms of first and last names,
  • Terminology of ecclesiastical and administrative documents,
  • Historical circumstances and other relevant data.

 

Genealogist:

  • First and last name,
  • Birth dates,
  • Marriage dates,
  • Death dates.

Example 1 of family tree corrected by me.

 

Example 2. Here I would like to present another family tree. A gentleman had it made by a self-proclaimed genealogist.

I didn’t even need to visit the archive to list all the inconsistencies for the gentleman.
Let’s begin:

  • Red arrow: Andreas was born in 1869. He got married in 1985. That means he was 116 years old! He died in 1931. So, he got married 54 years after his death. Incredible!
  • Orange arrow: Michael was born in 1773. He got married in 1895. That makes him 122 years old! Incredible!
  • Green arrows: Casparuš, Gertrudiš, and Agneš. In Carniola, diacritical marks were not used before the year 1850. If this were true, Slavic linguists would need to rewrite history. Even though I offered a monetary reward for proper evidence, none was provided!
  • Blue square: Instead of photocopies of documents that could serve as proof, there were only references to church books. Such references are worthless!

I also noticed that marriage and death records are missing. The reason is obvious: the relevant church books were never reviewed. This means that the research was not carried out thoroughly. The unnamed genealogist reviewed at most one-third of the material. Why didn’t he do a full review? Because it takes a lot of time. So from the beginning, the self-proclaimed genealogist decided to mislead the client. The client, acting in good faith and hoping for a lower price, consciously chose an unqualified person.

Please remember:
Not everyone can do genealogical research! Pay attention to qualifications – if the researcher has not completed a degree in historical research, they won’t be able to perform proper research.
Cheap research does not exist! Those who buy cheap pay dearly. This is especially true for genealogical research. This example clearly proves it.

 

Example 3 Family Tree with a error:

Did you find the mistake?

Matevz was born in 1830. His father was born in 1740, and his mother in 1751.

So the parents were 90 and 79 years old at the time of his birth.