1870 is not the end of your line.
You have traced your family as far as the records seem to go, and then the trail goes cold. It does not have to be where your story stops. I carry families past it, and I document every step, so you know exactly what is proven.
Free 15-minute call. No obligation. Tell me where you got stuck: 716-462-5573 · See pricing
- YouWhere your research stands today
- 1900Great-grandparents, well documented and cross-checked
- 1870: the wallWhere nearly every search stops cold
- 1860One more generation, recovered and named
- A named ancestorAnd who held them. On the record.
The trail does not end.
It changes form.
The paper trail does not truly end at 1870. Getting across takes years of knowing where the trail picks back up, and the patience to follow it.
You get a named ancestor, on the record, with every step sourced.
Simple. Thorough.
Documented.
Tell me where you stopped
The last ancestor you are sure of, the place, and any tree you have. That is enough to start.
I verify, then I dig
First I check that what you have is solid. Then I work the years past the wall, and every finding gets a source.
You get the truth, documented
A report with the tree, citations, and a confidence rating on every claim. What is proven, and what is still open.
You are trusting me with your family. Here is who I am.
B.A.Ed. · M.A.Ed. · M.A.CL.
I am George L. Davis II, a Buffalo educator with three degrees and over 20 years of getting answers other people gave up on. I started with my own family, carried our line past the 1870 wall, and I have done it for other families since. When you hand someone your story, you deserve to know they will treat it gently and tell you the truth: sourced, and honest about what is proven and what is still open.
Get your free consultPick where you are
stuck.
Break the Wall
I take the line that dead-ends around 1870 and carry it back through the era of enslavement, generation by generation, to a named ancestor and the household that held them. Patient, records-first, and every finding is documented.
For the researcher who has hit the 1870 wall and refuses to stop there.
Tree Audit
Bring me the tree you already have. I verify every link and show you exactly where it holds and where it breaks, so you stop building on names that were never proven.
For anyone with a tree they are no longer sure they can trust.
Every claim rated
Every name, date, and connection I report carries a source and a rating, so you always know where you stand.
A line that ended at 1870 now reaches a name in Georgia.
The family had gone as far as a couple freed after the Civil War. Two generations of the story were simply missing.
I carried the line back another generation and put a name to the household that had held the family, in a specific county in Georgia, on the record. Names withheld here for the family's privacy. Every step of that chain was sourced and rated, so they know it is real and not a guess.
Start small.
Go deeper when ready.
Tree Audit
One clear report: what is proven, what is shaky, where you are stuck
Credited toward any package if you go deeper
Roots Starter
Heritage Builder
Legacy Package
Reunion presentations and printed keepsakes are on the Family Tree page. Continued research is $80/hour after any package.
Anyone who guarantees it
is selling a story.
Some records did not survive. What I promise is that I exhaust every legitimate avenue, report only what is sourced, and flag every open question honestly. All research uses publicly available information only.
Questions, answered.
Can you guarantee you will break my wall?
No, and anyone who does is selling you a story. Some records did not survive. What I promise is that I exhaust every legitimate avenue, report only what is sourced, and flag every open question honestly.
Do I get to see your sources?
Yes. Every name, date, and connection carries a source citation and a confidence rating, so you can see exactly what is proven and what is still a lead.
Tell me where you got stuck.
The last ancestor you are sure of and a place is enough. I will tell you honestly what I think I can do.
Buffalo, NY · Nationwide