Michael Ritchey

Professional genealogist since 1997 

Professional Genealogical Experience:

Familysearch.org, Salt Lake City, UT, Feb 2000 - present:

Wiki Community Manager, Support Services Division. Designed, launched and managed genealogical reference wiki at http://wiki.familysearch.org, achieving 1M unique visits and 224,000 edits in 21 months. Grew volume of genealogical reference documents from 800 to 19,000.

Research Support Manager, Worldwide Support Division
Managed two workgroups: a 30-agent genealogical research support call center handling 400+ cases/month and a 7-agent research/microfilm photoduplication service handling 300 cases/month. Designed and built software tools allowing genealogists to find answers to their tough research questions.

Reference Consultant, Family History Library
Answered patrons' genealogical research questions at the U.S./Canada reference desk and through e-mail. Designed and wrote paper publications on research sources and methodology. Taught many research classes at library and regional conferences. Overcame bottlenecks in engineering, finance and management by rebuilding library patron desktop in html and CSS, enabling editing by employees who served customers. This radically improved customer service and the rate at which the team published research aids.

Accelerated Genealogy, Grantsville, UT, Sep 1997-present

Proprietor, Researcher. Conducted freelance research for clients using historic records on microfilm, fiche, books, and the Internet. Scanned images of 200-year-old handwritten records; enhanced these images with graphics software for optimal legibility. Analyzed historical records and recommended methodology for continued research. Wrote reports detailing research findings. Designed and coded Website using html and CSS.

Education:

BS in History, Excelsior College, University of the State of New York (2000). Most coursework completed as family history/genealogy major, Brigham Young University.

AA Honors, emphasis in English, Ricks College, Rexburg, Idaho (1995).

Specialties:

• United States
• LDS (Mormons)

Experience in Featured Records:

• Census records: U.S. federal and state.
• Vital records (birth, marriage, and death).
• Naturalization records.
• Ships' passenger lists.
• U.S. military records: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, etc.
• City directories. (The library I use has by far the best collection of U.S. city directories in the world.)
• Cemetery records.
• Church and parish records (including LDS).
• Land records.
• Probate records: wills, estate administration, guardianship etc. 
• Tax registers, voting registers, naturalization and other legal records.
• Immigration and Emigration records.
• Family Bibles.
• Biographies.
• County histories.(The library I use has by far the best collection of U.S. county histories in the world -- more than the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library combined.)
• Periodicals.

Teaching Experience:

Michael has taught genealogical methodology since 1995 through the following venues: 

• Family history centers (since 1995)
• Family History Library (since 2000)
• Computerized Genealogy Conference, Brigham Young University (2002, 2003, 2008, 2009)
• Genealogy and Family History Conference, Brigham Young University (2000, 2001, 2006-2009)
• Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference (2006, 2007, 2008)

Library & Regions Covered:

Michael researches at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. This gives him access to microfilmed records of the United States, including all U.S. states and thousands of U.S. counties.. As a former Reference Consultant (reference librarian) at this library, Michael is very familiar with the staff and the organization of records there, giving him an advantage in client research. 

Services & Rates:

• Consultation: $15 per hour plus expenses.
• Full-scale Research: $20 per hour plus expenses.
• Record Search: $20 plus expenses.
• QuickIndex: $15 plus expenses.

To Contact Michael or Order Research:

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