How we work
Last updated 31 October 2026
Every book from the Press is made the same patient way, in five stages. This is how that looks from your side of the table.
1. Conversation
It begins with what you already have. You tell us who the book is about and what the family knows — names, dates, places, the stories told at the table — even when the answer is "about 1890" or "not sure." Drafts, photographs, letters, an Ancestry.com tree link or a family-tree file are all welcome. Nothing is required except a starting point.
2. Gathering
We go looking for the documents behind the story: civil and church registers, census and immigration records, newspapers, and the family papers you share with us. Online family trees can be useful leads, and we treat them as clues to check — never as proof.
3. Writing
A book from the Press is written to be read. Your family's history is told as a narrative: who they were, where they lived, what they faced, and how the family came from there to here.
Every fact is tied to its source, so you — and your grandchildren — can see where each one came from. When records disagree, the book says so plainly rather than quietly choosing one.
Where they serve the story, the book carries maps of the places your family lived and plates of photographs from family collections and the records, with care for photo rights.
Nothing is final until you have read it. Each draft first passes our own review for accuracy and clarity; then you receive a reading draft. Approve it, or tell us what to change — a wrong name, a missing memory, a story Grandma always told differently.
4. Binding
Your corrections are folded in before anything is called final, and the approved book is made up as finished pages — with none of our working notes left in it.
5. Delivery
The finished book arrives as a PDF you can keep and share with the family. Printed copies can also be ordered and shipped to you.
Where your book stands
Your project page shows a simple status at every stage:
Received → Researching → Writing → In review → Ready for you → Delivered
If we need something from you along the way, we ask specific questions — and "I don't know" is always a fine answer.
Honest limits
- Gaps stay gaps. Some records were lost, never kept, or simply cannot be found. When that happens, we tell you what we looked for and what we did not find.
- Nothing is invented. We never fill a gap with made-up dates, names, or events. Where a passage is a reasonable inference rather than a documented fact, the book says so.
- Living people are private. We handle living relatives' details with care and never publish them without consent.