Do you have a genealogy knot in Vermont and could use some help?
The Vermont
Genealogy Library has a fabulous “Research Request” service that can help you
with local genealogical expertise. Located
in Essex Junction, outside of Burlington, they do most of their assistance via
email so your location is not an obstacle.
Their service works best when their research is based upon the work that you have already conducted and when the question is a narrowly focused research question. This requires gathering much of your research into formats that can be emailed to them. Their first hour of research costs $35 and is primarily an analysis of what you have done already, and the development of a research plan to move forward.
After that, you can work on the research plan yourself or you can hire them to do that work. I can give a strong testimonial to this service, both for the value of another set of eyes looking over my work and for the local genealogical expertise which is almost invaluable in my opinion.
Here are the links to the main webpage and the Research Request page:
https://www.vtgenlib.org/store/research/index.php
My particular problem centers around my great great grandmother, Charlotte Barney Woodward (1821-1897) who lived her entire life in Castleton, Rutland, Vermont. I am trying to prove, to DAR standards, that Charlotte is the granddaughter of Joseph Barney IV, who fought in the American Revolution. Unfortunately, there seems to be no birth or marriage record (ugh) for her. Her death certificate has proved problematic also, as it lists her parents as Olive Fisher and “William” Barney.
The parents really were Olive Fisher and Joseph Barney V, and I can see that on the death certificates for many of Charlotte’s siblings. Since Charlotte’s father died when she was six years old, and she lives into her eighties, my working theory is that by the time she dies, no one remembers the correct father’s name. This same erroneous “William” appears on one other sibling’s death certificate and he also was long-lived and died two years before Charlotte.
My original research summary includes obituaries, the Vermont State Archives, the Castleton Historical Society and the Federated Church of Castleton (still waiting to hear back from the church). None of these have proved helpful. There is a family genealogy book that lists Charlotte as a daughter of Joseph Barney and Olive Fisher but that book is not acceptable proof. The Family Search One Tree also has her listed correctly, also not acceptable proof.
The research request service provided eight suggestions, which will keep me busy for a while. Many of them are Family Search based. I’m also planning on flying to Vermont and inspecting the original cards by hand at the Town Clerk’s Office.
Some of my research is going to be ‘negative-based,’ in that there was no William Barney in Castleton or Rutland County during that time period and there is no other marriage record for mother Olive Fisher. Documentation is key here.
You can see the knot of a problem and the Research Request service was very helpful. This group also researches some New York and Quebec challenges. If you have a Vermont issue, I encourage you to contact them. Have you found a similar service in other states?
