Trying to find a top-notch genealogist to trace my family lineages. I
don't have time to do it myself, or expertise. Want someone with
plenty of 3rd party endorsements.. Person should be a member of one of
the following 3 associations: Association of Professional
Genealogists, BCG or ICAPGEN. Can anyone help me?

Dear fp-ga,

Considering the general nature of your request, it is difficult to
recommend a specific genealogist. However, as a member of the
Association of Professional Genealogists, I can say that you are
definitely on the right track in wanting to hire someone who is a
member of APG, BCG or ICAPGEN. Anyone who is a member of those
organizations has either certified (BCG) or accredited (ICAPGEN) by a
board of their peers, or has at the very least promised to uphold
professional research standards. Hiring someone who is a member of one
of those organizations also gives you some recourse if your
professional relationship with the individual turns out less than
satisfactory.

A good place to start is the online member directories of the
above-referenced organizations:

Association of Professional Genealogists - directory can be searched
by geographical specialty, research specialty, place where the
genealogist resides, etc. There are several researchers listed here
who specialize in Norwegian genealogy, although only one lives in
Europe (Germany). There are also quite a few listed who both live in
England and specialize in English genealogy.
http://apgen.org/directory/index.php

Board for Certification of Genealogists - member directory of
certified genealogists can be searched by name, location or special
interests. Two genealogists living in the U.S. are listed as
specializing in Norwegian research and both are list Norwegian as one
of their languages.
http://www.bcgcertification.org/associates/index.php

ICAPGEN - Accredited Genealogists - list of genealogists who have been
certified through the program
http://www.icapgen.org/Programs/aglist.htm

Depending upon your needs, it is not necessary to hire a genealogist
who lives and works in the countries of interest. If they specialize
in research in a particular country, they most likely have access to a
large variety of records from that country. They may have them on
permanent loan at their local Family History Center, the country may
have a large number of records available online (this is true for
Norway), or they may have a number of published records available at
home. Many professional genealogists will also subcontract out the
actual record-finding process for countries to which they don't have
access to other professionals. The positive side of this is that you
only have to deal with one genealogist, and that genealogist takes the
responsibility of the research of their subcontractors.

Some more specific suggestions:

1) On paper, this guy looks good. However, since there is no such
thing as a Registered Genealogist (RG), to my knowledge, this is the
type of individual you may wish to avoid:
http://genealogypro.com/anielson.html

2) If I was searching to hire a professional genealogist, I would look
for someone like this (you can find her listed in the APG member
directory):
Daniels, Jeanette K B, AG, CGRS - lives in Utah

Why I like her? She lives in Salt Lake City so has easy access to both
English and Norwegian records through the Family History Library.
She's certified as both an Accredited Genealogist (ICAPGEN) and a
Certified Genealogical Research Specialist (BCG). She specializes in
Norwegian research. The only drawback is that she doesn't also
specialize in English research, but that doesn't mean that she isn't
familiar with it. Most genealogists with her experience and
certifications should be able to handle all but the most complex
research - even in a country in which they don't specialize.

Does this mean that I recommend her? No. I don't know anything about
her professionally. But, on paper, she is what I would be looking for
in your situation. I'm listing her as an example.

To help you further in your search for a professional genealogist, you
may want to read the articles and guides referenced in How to Select a
Professional Genealogist at:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/professionalselect/index.htm

Best of luck in your search for a top-notch genealogist. If you are
looking for further specific information that I haven't provided,
please let me know.

Regards,

-inquisitive-ga

awesome answer inquisitive-ga

Should this genealogist be able to read documents in a language other
than English (e.g. in case you would like to trace your ancestors back
to Europe)?

It would be helpful to know how far back you currently can trace your
ancestors and where they were living.

fp-ga,
Countries of origin are England and Norway, so definitely English
speaking geneologist is a must, although it might be a bit much to
expect to find one who also speaks Norwegian. Thanks for asking.

My comment does not answer your question, but you may find some of
these links helpful:

UK:
http://www.sog.org.uk/

http://www.genuki.org.uk/Societies/England.html

http://www.genuki.org.uk/

http://www.cyndislist.com/uksites.htm


Norway:
http://www.utvandrersenteret.no/index.htm

http://www.cyndislist.com/norway.htm

http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/ROOTS.HTM


Have you thought about asking two genealogists (one in Norway, the
other one in England)? A local genealogist may find it easier to do
the research.

Just in case you know in which county your English ancestors were living:
http://www.cyndislist.com/eng-index.htm

thanks fp-ga, this is useful