← Project Scroll · Services · How we research
Professional services · Michigan and Indiana
Genealogy research. Answered from the record.
Project Scroll’s research desk takes commissions: a lost ancestor traced, a family history or register built from original records, a family legend tested against the record, or local history research for an author, a film or a community group. Based in the St. Joseph River Valley of southwest Michigan and northern Indiana, working anywhere the records reach.
- New findings from the records
- 183
- Stories, every one sourced
- 65
- Research notes with a DOI
- 6
- The first read
- Free
What we research
One question or a whole family, a legend or a building: if the records can answer it, we will find where they are and read them properly.
Lost ancestors
One clear question, answered from certificates, deeds, censuses, county histories, maps and newspapers, every statement marked with its source.
Family histories and registers
Every descendant of one couple, or every ancestor of one person, built from the records and written to be checked.
Family legends tested
The famous ancestor, the three brothers who came over together, the land that was taken. We find where the story began and what the records say.
Local history for authors, films and groups
Research to a brief, with a sourced report you own: background for a book, a film, an exhibit or an anniversary.
House and building histories
Who built it, who lived there, what stood there before: deeds, plats, fire-insurance maps and directories, read in order.
A second pair of eyes
A manuscript, chapter or article checked against its sources before it goes out.
Where we work
The St. Joseph River does not stop at the state line, and neither did the families. We read the records of both sides of it as a matter of course, and wherever the records are online, anywhere.
- Cass County, Mich.
- Berrien County, Mich.
- Van Buren County, Mich.
- St. Joseph County, Mich.
- St. Joseph County, Ind.
- Elkhart County, Ind.
- Anywhere the records are online
The records we read every day
- Michigan county histories
- General Land Office tract books and plats
- Michigan and Indiana vital records
- Valley newspapers
- Fire-insurance maps
- Atlases and wall maps
- Censuses and directories
How a commission works
No surprises: you know what the records are likely to show before you spend anything.
- Tell us what you haveA name, a place, rough dates and what the family says. The form lays it out.
- An honest first read, freeWe tell you what the records are likely to show, and what it will take, before you commit to anything.
- The work, markedEvery claim cited; every gap written down beside what was found.
- You own the reportNothing about your family is published or shared without your word.
What you get
A written report in plain English, built the same way as every story on this site. Each statement carries a label, so you can see at once what the record says and what is our reading of it.
- DocumentedA record says it, and it is cited.
- ReadingOur interpretation, kept apart from the facts.
- OpenWhat the records do not yet answer, and where to look next.
Every source is listed with where the original is held and a link to it where one exists. The full system of marks is set out under Scrollsigns™; the standards behind it under How we research. Read a sample report.
The same standard as the site
The desk’s own research is public, so you can judge the work before you ask.
183 findings
Facts found in the original records that no earlier publication we could find has, each with what we searched.
A specimen register
What a family history built from the records looks like, generation by generation, every fact cited.
Your family stays yours
Nothing about your family is published or shared without your word. Photographs and papers are handled gently and returned as sent.
Start with a question
Tell us the name, the place and what the family says. The first read is free, and we will tell you honestly whether the record can answer it. Also from the studio: imaging and restoration of photographs and documents, family-history book design, photography, LiDAR landscape models and short films. The studio.