Trace Your PastReviews of trace.com

I paid over $2,000 for Trace services, agreeing to Trace’s written research plan solely in agreement that the researcher would search records onsite at Alabama State Archives in person. Here is a copy/paste of the first sentence of the research plan: “Researcher will travel to the Alabama State Archives to conduct onsite research, as the client indicated that they have not been able to do so yet.” I was shocked to discover when I received the final report nine months later that the terms of the plan were breached. In the nine months from agreement/payment to final report, I was not informed that the researcher was not going to do onsite research at the Alabama archives. In fact, in Feb. ’22, I had been led to believe that the plan was moving along as agreed. A monthly one-liner update dated 2/23/22 stated: “Researcher is making arrangements to travel to Alabama archives.” Yet the researcher never went, and no one ever informed me. I learned with the final report materials that the researcher had instead searched unindexed poor quality records available on FamilySearch. My research objective was not met, a risk I was aware of. What I wasn’t counting on was deviation from the agreement and Trace’s failure to communicate. I sent an email reply to the final report asking why I was not informed that the researcher would not go to the archives, and I never received a reply. It gives me no pleasure to write this review about the company that states on its homepage “risk-free genealogy from the most talented professionals on Earth,” and “You choose the right research path for you,” and “Dedicated customer support team.” There is no de-risking with Trace. Quite the contrary. Pursuing a research project with Trace was a total gamble. An expensive one which I regret.

Trace's DNA Academy offered a clear and engaging course with case study application. The course help me streamline my analysis of DNA data and concisely summarize findings.

DNA Academy was a very thorough, yet easily understandable, course. They provided many helpful forms and templates that will make my genealogy research easier.

I requested a one generation link from OH to VA(WV) in the late 1700's in then Augusta/Pocahontas Co. I was assured that they had 100's of researchers and they would solicit bids, collect them and present them to me. After paying $200 for that and waiting nearly 8 weeks I reached out after hearing nothing. They literally pulled one researcher out of a hat it seems, who didn't live in that region, they claimed she had expertise in OH, but the research was in VA. They wanted over $1500 to create a "Research Plan" without performing any actual research. I had existing research I submitted they must not have reviewed and even told them of 4 target ancestors I needed to confirm or eliminate as potential fathers. UPDATE: Since your wrote your response, I clearly need an opportunity for rebuttal. You have 1000's of researchers, and found me ONE and only one. I can't imagine there's only 1 researcher who is familiar in VA research. You refused to tell me if the researcher resided in that region where the potential of having to also pay someone travel and perdiem for onsite research could exist. Regarding your response that the $1500 was cost of the research was NOT a miscommunication as I questioned this on the phone with Jeremy: Let me copy and paste your actual quote: Research plan: Due to the detailed and complex nature of the information provided by the client, the first step of this phase of work will be to create a timeline of the details provided for the subject, his four potential fathers and other family members. These timelines can then be used to strengthen the case for and/or eliminate one or more of the paternal options. Subsequent phase(s) of research can build upon the timelines created in this phase of research. Please note any subsequent phases of research require separate research plans and budgets. It is not possible to accurately estimate the number of research hours that will be necessary. As such, this research is limited to 15 hours. If additional hours are needed to complete there search of the client’s objectives, research will be paused to obtain approval from the client. If research of the outlined objective(s) can be completed in less than 15 hours, any remaining budget will be credited towards a subsequent phase of research. AGAIN: This proposal clearly states TWICE that this was only a preliminary cost and subsequent research would cost additional money. So yes, it is true. Regarding your response about not duplicating my work, this type of work almost always must be done onsite to find additional info beyond what is already available to an online researcher who is working somewhere other than at the site of the actual work. I have a database of 40K people, I have exhausted online sources. So unless you would like to re-do and re-quote and change the items you spelled out in your written quote, I will tell others that you not being factual and honest in your response to my review. Feel free to contact me offline if you still believe only one person could bid on or satisfactorily complete such a simple project request.

Always good! The lookup used to be good. Much new data was once received.

The research was very thorough and good follow-up report. I would have appreciated an opportunity to interact by phone or email at various intervals with the researcher. More importantly a followup after the research was presented to clear up any questions or loose ends on my continued search.

In December 2021 I sent Trace a little under $2,000 to find information about my great-grandfather's father and his parents. I received their report 7/12/22, which consisted of no new information. Essentially they followed up on the leads I had found and found nothing new. Granted, my great-great-grandfather apparently did not leave much of a paper trail, and nonentities cannot be proven. I just thought that professionals who advertise themselves as able to penetrate genealogical brick walls should be able to find something amateurs are unable to. Very disappointed, and I realize Trace will provide a paragraph explaining how they did their very best, but the fact remains that they now have my money and I've received nothing worthwhile in return.

Trace provided me with what I asked for and a little bit more. I asked for research on my Great Grandfather and his two wives, and their respective children. in addition to this information I was also given the names of his parents and the parents of his wives. This allows me to dig deeper on my own for now.