An Investment in Your Family's Legacy
An Invaluable Treasure
A family history of this nature is not created quickly.
Each book represents months of dedicated research, careful verification of records, and the thoughtful construction of a narrative that reflects the lives of real people across generations.
With Heritage & Lineage, you will be receiving a rare, commissioned piece of work.
This work often involves:
• Extensive archival research using original historical sources
• The purchase of birth, marriage, and death certificates where required
• Travel to specific locations to access local records and archives
• Cross-referencing multiple sources to ensure accuracy
• Time spent understanding the historical context surrounding each life
• Careful narrative writing, shaping research into a coherent and meaningful story
• Ongoing collaboration with the family to ensure the work reflects both fact and memory
The result is not simply information, but understanding.
A Different Kind of Service
There are many ways to explore family history.
Some services offer quick family trees generated from existing databases. Others provide standardised reports or pre-formatted books based on limited research.
These approaches can be useful for initial exploration.
Heritage & Lineage offers something different.
Each book is written individually, based on original research, and shaped into a narrative that reflects your family’s unique history. It is not generated, templated, or produced at scale.
It is commissioned, researched, and written specifically for you by one person, Steven Williamson.
Find out more on the About Page, check out our testimonials and check out an excerpt from one of the numerous books we’ve created about a Japanese Prisoner of War who was discovered in a direct family line.
Time, Care, and Dedication
To ensure the depth and quality of this work, only two projects are undertaken each year.
This allows the time required to:
• Follow complex family lines across generations
• Resolve inconsistencies in historical records
• Uncover lesser-known details that may otherwise remain hidden
• Write a narrative that can be read, understood, and passed down
Every stage is approached with patience, care, and attention to detail.
An Investment in Legacy
For many families, the value of this work lies not only in what is discovered, but in what is preserved.
A carefully researched and written family history becomes a lasting record. It allows future generations to understand where they come from and the lives that shaped their family.
It is not simply a purchase. It is a long-term investment in memory, identity, and continuity.
Commissioning Your Family History
Each project is tailored to the scope of research, the number of ancestral lines explored, and the depth of narrative required.
A single family line offers a focused and detailed account of one branch of your ancestry. As additional lines are introduced, the nature of the work changes significantly. Each line must be researched independently, verified through original records, and then carefully woven into a single, coherent narrative.
This process requires not only more extensive research, but also deeper historical interpretation and narrative construction to ensure the final work reads as one continuous family story.
Our Commission Options
Each new research project begins with an initial commission, based on the type and scope of research required. Once research is underway, we can add additional family lines or extra research by agreement.
A single family line means one direct ancestral branch traced backwards from a chosen person — for example, father → paternal grandfather → great-grandfather → great-great-grandfather. Relevant spouses, children, addresses and historical context may be included, but researching the ancestry of a spouse or another branch counts as an additional family line.
Commissions start from £5,000, and an initial payment is required prior to starting the main research process. Before any payment is requested, we carry out a complimentary preliminary research phase to establish whether sufficient records and information are available and whether the proposed project is viable.
Once this initial assessment is complete, we will discuss our findings with you and prepare a bespoke research proposal. If you choose to proceed, an initial payment will then be required before the main research and writing process begins.
Please note – the pricing is for one book. If you wish to purchase more than one copy, we are happy to provide that service at cost price. You will also receive a pdf version of your book.
For the purposes of our commissions, a family line refers to one of the four principal grandparent branches of your family tree: your paternal grandfather’s line, paternal grandmother’s line, maternal grandfather’s line, or maternal grandmother’s line.
Each selected line is researched backwards through successive generations, bringing together genealogical evidence with the places, occupations, events and historical circumstances that shaped your ancestors’ lives.
The Ancestral Line
One grandparent line
A focused family history centred on one of your four grandparent lines, researched backwards through successive generations.
This commission offers the opportunity to explore one branch in considerable depth, uncovering the people, places, movements and experiences that shaped that part of your family.
The finished work is presented as a finely printed volume produced by Blissetts of London, and bound in traditional buckram cloth, in addition to a PDF copy. Upgrades are also available.
Commissioning
An initial payment of £2,000 secures the start of the research phase, with the remaining balance of £3,000 structured across the research and completion stages.
Total cost – £5,000
The Dual Heritage
Two grandparent lines
An integrated family history bringing together two of your four grandparent lines within one carefully constructed narrative.
You may choose, for example, both paternal lines, both maternal lines, or one line from each side of the family. Rather than presenting two separate accounts, the research explores how the branches developed alongside one another, where their experiences differed, and how their stories eventually became part of the same family history.
The finished book will be presented as a goatskin-bound heirloom volume, along with a PDF copy. Upgrades are available.
Commissioning
An initial payment of £3,600 secures the start of the research phase, with staged payments aligned to the progress of research and writing.
Total cost – £9,000
The Complete Family Legacy
All four grandparent lines
Our most comprehensive commission, exploring all four grandparent branches of your family — your paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother lines.
The research brings these separate branches together into one cohesive family history, following them backwards through the generations and placing their lives within their geographical, social and historical context.
Because of its breadth, this commission involves extensive archival research, cross-referencing, and verification, along with substantial narrative writing.
The finished work is presented as a goatskin-bound heritage volume, in addition to a pdf copy.
Commissioning
An initial commission fee of £6,5000 secures the start of the research phase, with the remaining balance divided between the research phase and final delivery.
Total cost – £17,000
Family Mystery Research
£80 an hour
For clients seeking an answer to a specific family-history question rather than a full narrative commission, we offer focused genealogical investigations.
This may include identifying an unknown parent or ancestor, tracing a missing family member, resolving conflicting records, investigating a particular event, or establishing family relationships through documentary evidence.
For example, previous research has enabled us to identify an ancestor’s previously unknown mother by bringing together evidence from civil registration, census records, parish sources and other historical records.
Every enquiry begins with a complimentary preliminary assessment. We use this initial stage to consider the information you already hold, identify likely sources and assess whether there is a realistic prospect of progressing the research.
If we believe we can assist, we will recommend an initial number of research hours and provide a clear estimate before any paid work begins. Further research is only undertaken with your agreement.
Commissioning
A minimum charge of £400 is made for a block of five research hours. We will discuss progress with you after this period, and assess projected further costs if needed.
A Considered Approach
To maintain the depth and quality of this work, only a limited number of commissions are undertaken each year.
Each project represents months of research, analysis, and writing, carried out with care, discretion, and attention to detail.
Note: Commissions can take up to one year to complete, and longer in certain complex circumstances.
Choosing the Right Scope
The appropriate level of research depends on your interests, your family history, and the extent to which you wish to preserve it.
Some clients begin with a single line, while others choose to create a complete and lasting record of their family’s history.
Further detail can be found in our Frequently Asked Questions, or you are welcome to get in touch to discuss your project.