KinHelp: A Professional Service.

For quality help with your family history, apply to KinHelp, run by Gordon Johnson, author of Census Records for Scottish Families at Home and Abroad, (3rd edn. Sept. 1997), and other publications. Gordon is regarded as one of Scotland's foremost authorities on genealogy, with many decades of experience to draw upon.

KINHELP offers Scottish oriented genealogical services  providing expert advice and guidance; searches for families and events; researching a surname and locating many people with that surname throughout Scottish history. This can save you considerable time and effort in putting together the background of your Scottish ancestry. It can also provide the basis for you to write a family history. Prices start at 50 pounds (GB/UK pounds)

Business Service:

If your company has a name of Scottish origin, we can provide a report on that name throughout Scotland's history - useful for promotional activities!

KinHelp also offers SURNAME research services, at levels to suit your pocket. We will conduct an investigation in a wide range of published sources of national significance in Scottish history, from mediaeval to modern times, locating people with your surname, determining where and when they lived, and what they were doing, which can enable you to add authentic background to your family facts. All findings - either scanned and e-mailed, or  photocopied and posted to you - will note the exact source of the information, thus guaranteeing its provenance.

Select your own payment level for surname or other searches. Each search is complete in itself, unless a different budget is agreed in advance.

-Level One (minimum charge): 50 British pounds (c.99.00 US dollars. see: <http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi> for exact conversions) - a limited search of main Scottish sources, as appropriate, with one free airmail package of any photocopies taken during the search. Additional packages, where needed, are an extra 5 pounds (8 US dollars) each to cover costs.

-Level Two: 100 British Pounds - a wide-ranging selection of major sources examined, selected as appropriate to the enquiry, with automatic photocopying of findings, airmailed free to you, complete in clear polypockets, suited to any ring binder.

-Level Three: 150 British pounds - the above full range of major sources, PLUS research in many specialised or locally significant sources. These may range from 17th century court books of Orkney & Shetland and 16th century protocol books of Glasgow, to a 15th century register of Cupar Abbey, results airmailed as above.

KinHelp has successfully helped many clients with their individual needs. We make a speciality of the period before 1855, but can deal with any period, either direct or using colleagues elsewhere in the country.

STANDARD RATES - NO HIDDEN EXTRAS:

KinHelp charges standard rates which allow for an assessment of your requirements, searching at library and archive facilities, and detailed report by e-mail as well as airmailing copies of detailed findings. The dollar rate includes currency conversion costs. Credit cards are NOT accepted. Cheques/Checks, etc. must be put through as British currency payments.

THERE ARE NO EXTRAS unless agreed with you in advance (e.g. registrars charges).

-Choosing KinHelp guarantees top-class professional expertise for your genealogy needs.

-KinHelp values its reputation, and has a policy of advising clients where further research is unlikely to be productive, and advising against research that seems unlikely to succeed.

-We can also proof-read your draft family history to ensure historical and grammatical accuracy, for a reasonable fee.

KINHELP'S PRINCIPAL:

Is a professional librarian who took early retirement from a senior local government post to do genealogy researching and writing. A recognised expert in family history, he writes and lectures on the subject, and has over 10,000 people on computer file of his own family's pedigree .

THE KINHELP PRIVATE RESEARCH LIBRARY:

is being continually expanded to increase the range of source material we can swiftly access, especially in the pre-1800 period. This collection is for KinHelp's research purposes, but visitors can be accommodated by arrangement..

Selected additions of Scottish historical records to our private research library include:

1. Canisbay session Records 1652-1666 (parish of Canisbay, Caithness)
2. The Burgesses and Guild Brethren of Ayr, 1647-1846. (pub. 2002)
3. Rental Books of King James VI Hospital, Perth [mainly 16th and 17th century] (pub.1891)
4. Register of burials in the Chapel Royal or Abbey of Holyroodhouse, 1706-1900. (pub. 1900)
5. Records of Inverness, vol.1: Burgh court books, 1556-1586; vol.2: Burgh court books, 1602-1637 and minutes of town council, 1637-1688.
6. Minutes of Kirkwall Town Council 1667-1700 (Orkney)
7. Lands and their Owners in Galloway (5 vols), by P.H. McKerlie (pub. 1879)
8. The Records of the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, 1589-1596; 1640-1649. Stair Society, 1997.
9. Presbytery Book of Strathbogie (Aberdeenshire), 1631-1654. (1843)
10. Powis Papers(Aberdeen), 1507-1894 (1951)
11. Inverness Kirk Session Records 1661-1800.
12. Shearer, A. - Extracts from the Burgh Records of Dunfermline in the 16th and 17th centuries (indexed by me, and online on this site)
13. Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Scotland. [early documentation]
14. The Old Scots Navy, 1689-1710, pub. by Navy Records Society, 1912.
15. Early Records of Aberdeen: 1317, 1398-1407.
16. Judicial Records of Renfrewshire (2 vols, 1878).
17. Piping Traditions of the North of Scotland. [eminent pipers of the past]
18. Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1589-1718 (9 vols.)
19. The Protocols of Glasgow, (10 vols.) [mainly 1500s]
20. Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638. (pre-reformation Scottish clergy)
21. Notes on a wax medallion and relative autograph letter of Paul Jones.... (extensive documentation of John Paul Jones' predations on the coast of Scotland and England)

RESPONSE TIMES:

Outwith holiday breaks, we allow a maximum of ten days to e-mail either the full reply or a progress statement, but two or three days are the norm for initial findings; sometimes same day for certain searches . If further information is required, e.g. relevant certificate, sasine, or wills need to be obtained, you will be advised on this, with expected costs.

SEND YOUR INITIAL QUERY :

by e-mail to: gordon@kinhelp.co.uk

or write by snailmail with cheque/check to:

 Gordon Johnson
 KinHelp,
 Glenorchy,
 Papigoe ,
 WICK,
 Caithness KW1-4RD

PAYMENT:

Checks/Cheques, payable in GB pounds should be sent, airmail, to the above address, and an e-mail reply will be sent shortly after the payment arrives.

Credit card payments - are no longer accepted due to increased bank charges. Most foreign bank cheques are acceptable, provided the amount is made out in G.B. pounds

We will agree with you on a search strategy geared to the agreed budget. Work will commence as soon as practicable, but the report will not be completed until your payment is cleared.

Bank money orders are not cashable in the UK.  Postal money orders are only cashable if in UK pounds.  Dollars (cash), and dollar cheques, cost a bank fee of about 5 pounds to convert, which is why the dollar fee is higher than the pound equivalent. A single payment therefore costs you less!

Always and foremost, our target is to provide a service that you will be glad you used!