A client purchased our services for a photo of their ancestor's grave site.  We performed a diligent search of the target cemetery records when available.  We perform a physical survey of the cemetery in the case of no available record or we locate the plot according to the records.  We photograph the stone/marker.

If a stone/marker could not be located, was absent, damaged, unreadable, etc., we have sought permission from the cemetery to photocopy or photograph their record(s). In most cases this has been allowed when such records still exist.
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If the stone/marker had been overturned the cemetery was requested to restore the stone/marker to its original position for future photographing. Additional fees are required for follow up to requests for stones to be restored to original positions.

Genealogy Smarts has no control over the action or inaction of a cemetery who may or may not honor a request to restore stones that have been overturned.  Follow ups sometimes produced the same results as the initial visit, that the stone remains overturned.

A photograph of the overturned stone and an assumption that the stone was for the person indicated in the record when records were available or when not available surrounding stones were photographed for the client.
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When the stone/marker was unreadable (due to age/weather) and stood at the spot of the recorded burial a photo was taken of the suspected stone.  Parchment paper etchings will not be performed as most cemeteries now disallow this due to the damage that can be caused.
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A client hired us to locate and copy the deed for a particular property that they believe was owned by their ancestor, William Scott.  We went to the custodial of the deed records performed a meticulous search for that property deed, however no deed was recorded as the buyer or seller under the ancestor's name.  A search was then made of his wife's name, Elizabeth Scott, no record was found.  A search was then performed for his children's names (7 children) and no deed is found.  The maiden name of the wife was then searched and a record was found "Heirs of Elizabeth Smith-Scott" it was not listed under "Scott" but under the name "Smith".  This process was completed in over 30 hours of searching in the deed room for the various names.
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3)  CONFLICTING INFORMATION - Do not assume information that has been passed down in books are fact.

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A)  Sometimes the record does not match what was previously recorded in "historical" books.  Clients need to be prepared for this especially in this age of technology where documents are more readily available for scrutiny.

?F?amily members may have unknowingly provided inaccurate information to an author, a family member could have knowingly provided inaccurate information to an author, the author made assumptions that one person by the same name was the same person when in fact turns out there are two, or even three by the same name.  All of these have been experienced by Genealogy Smarts. 


​​An example is given in the case of Charles Scott.  It is recorded in a family history book about his wife's surname that he was in fact named Walter Scott.  All the rest of the information pertaining to this family matches the known record, ie his wife's name, her siblings, her parents their previous residence, etc.  However it was known that the sister-in-law who is quoted in the book as the informant was not a fan of Charles and probably for that reason did not give his proper name to the author and instead gave the name Walter Scott as the dead husband to her dead sister.  Since both the sister and her husband were dead at the time of the book being prepared for publication and the information was presented as fact the author gave it in her book as fact.  The error was only discovered by accident when the said sister's daughter looked at the book in a library years after its publication and seeing her aunt quoted and the misinformation given about her father's name that had been published. 

??This type of error can never be corrected to any great extent and can only be passed down to others in the daughter's family and in their own account of their family lineage.  (His name did not contain Walter in any case.)  It is unfortunate but this type of misinformation can occur, sometimes unknowingly and sometimes with malis of forethought as was this case.  Had the daughter not found the error in her life time and passed it down to her grandchildren the name Walter Scott may have been the one researched for not the actual name Charles Scott. 

??C)  In any event, if a conflict in information is discovered by Genealogy Smarts in the course of serving a client, the client will be given all information found and why one set of information weighs heavier in fact in the opinion of Genealogy Smarts than the other.  The wedding record confirms the name of Charles Scott.  This is why Genealogy Smarts looks for more than one source before determining if something is "fact" or "legend".  The surname of the wife and the name of the book are purposefully omitted here because all family history books have their value and one error should not discredit the author's due diligence in compiling their book, in this case a lie was presented as fact and each marriage contained in the book could not be expected to be verified through the records by the author.