These are some of the difficulties which arise in genealogical searches, but are far counterbalanced by the results achieved. Enthusiasm and patience are certainly necessary qualifications of the successful pedigree-hunter, and endowed with these virtues he has not much to fear, for the driest details seem replete with interest when regarded in the light of dawning discoveries.
Nor can a pedigree-hunter work at genealogy alone; many fascinating subjects, such as biography, history, and heraldry, must almost necessarily more or less follow in its train, opening up a vista of further interest and a field for new discoveries.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Published by Elliot Stock, Paternoster Row, E. C.
CHAPTER XII
HOW TO SAVE EXPENSE IN PEDIGREE-HUNTING
There is no doubt that if any one wishes to expend a small fortune in record-searching he may find opportunity of doing so; if, on the other hand, even shillings are an object to him, he can carry on his work for very little expense.
The English Record Office, with its vast stores of information, is free to all searchers; so are the British Museum Reading and MSS. Rooms; also the other great London libraries.
At Somerset House, where so many of the wills are stored, the fees are one shilling for each document searched. An ardent genealogist might find that this ran away with a good deal of money; but if his object is purely literary, as is so often the case with pedigree-hunters, then a docket can be obtained entitling him to search gratuitously in Somerset House at stated days and hours, as may be arranged.
The Dublin Record Office is not free to the public, the class of documents it contains differing from those in the London Office. Irish wills, as we have seen, are stored there, and the fee for the perusal of any document is one shilling.
Here again, however, “the literary permit” can be obtained; it is usually issued for a month at a time, and is renewable. But whether there or in England, no free search is permitted, unless the required documents are nearly a century old, and in every instance the search must be undertaken with a purely literary object in view. If the pedigree-hunter wishes to make good his claim to property, or has any other legal project in his mind—well, he must pay for his investigations.