Family history written from the sources
Every fact carries its archive reference.
We trace ancestors in parish registers, census lists and nobility files. You receive the result as files: a family tree chart to print for your wall, a family chronicle in PDF and a recording to listen to. Next to every fact stands the document it comes from.
A proof in three parts
This is how a single fact appears in a chronicle: a clipping of the document, the text in its original language and a translation. The archive reference stands below, so anyone can open the same scan in the archive and check both the finding and the conclusion.
Aprilis d 12. 1785. […] Niemczynka. 40. d 24. Apr. Ego idem baptisavi Infantem nne Georgium Woyciechum natum 20 huius LLCC Patris Bartholomei Morkiewicz et Anne Bolewiczowna. Levan. M.D. Joanne Chrzczonowicz cu M.D. Zofia Sekulowska[?].
Heading: 12 April 1785. Village of Niemenczynka. Entry 40. On 24 April I, the same priest, baptised a child named Jerzy Wojciech, born on the 20th of this month, son of the lawfully married Bartłomiej Markowicz and Anna Baniewiczówna (the priest spelled the surnames Morkiewicz and Bolewiczowna). The godparents were the honourable Jan Chrzczonowicz and the honourable Zofia Sekułowska (surname uncertain).
This record comes from the showcase edition, the chapter “The Markowicz and Trabuć families” from the author's own family. The file to download holds the historical part of that chapter: from 1779 back to about 1600, with 33 figures and 18 notes. Generations closer to our time are left out to protect the family's privacy. Where a reading is uncertain we say so plainly, as with the godmother's surname here.
What stays in the family
Family tree wall chart (PDF file)
A PDF file with the family tree, prepared for printing in sizes up to A0. You order the print yourself at any print shop.
Family chronicle (PDF file)
A book about the family, generation by generation. Each fact comes with a clipping of the record, the original text and a translation. You receive a PDF file to read and print plus an editable file.
Recording of the chronicle
The chronicle read aloud, to listen to on a phone. For those in the family who prefer listening to reading.
Everything is delivered as files. We do not print or post anything. We work with sources in Latin, Polish, Russian and German. We know best the Vilnius region (the former Święciany and Vilnius districts, today in Lithuania and Belarus), Kashubia, Dobrzyń Land and the Lublin region.
Where we search
Parish registers are the beginning. When they end or stay silent, we go further.
- Parish registers: baptisms, marriages and deaths, in Latin, Polish, Russian and German.
- Census lists and revisions: the inhabitants of villages and estates, house by house.
- Nobility files: the proofs and decrees in which a family demonstrated its descent.
- Court and mortgage records: disputes, pledges, purchases and sales of land.
- Old newspapers and yearbooks: official and court notices that name a family or a village.
- Wartime sources: the Arolsen Archives with documents on prisoners and forced labourers of the Second World War, casualty lists, registers of the repressed.
- Armorials and early chroniclers. Chroniclers are authors such as Jan Długosz and Maciej Stryjkowski, who in the 15th and 16th centuries wrote down the history of the country, its families and its places. Sometimes they mention the village or the family of your ancestors.
- Source editions: wills, parish visitations and other documents that historians have prepared and published in print.
For every finding we state where it comes from.
How our work differs
There are many genealogists who work carefully. Below is a comparison: what a commission usually looks like with a genealogist and what it looks like with us.
Price
With most genealogists Billing by the hour, from 46 to 129 USD per hour. Packages for ten hours of research or for two to three generations cost 699 to 1,290 USD. With hourly billing you learn the final amount at the end.
With Ex Archivis A fixed price for a described scope. You know it before we start. The Start stage, 2,000 pages of sources read plus a wall chart file, costs 499 USD.
Proof
With most genealogists A report listing the records found, with copies of the documents.
With Ex Archivis Next to every fact a clipping of the document, the original text, a translation and the archive reference. Anyone can check our work.
Scope
With most genealogists As many sources as fit into the hours paid for. 210 USD buys about two to five hours of work.
With Ex Archivis For 210 USD we read 1,000 pages of sources, entry by entry. The report also lists what we checked with no result.
What stays
With most genealogists A research report.
With Ex Archivis A family tree chart, a family chronicle and a recording. On the screen version of the chart you can click a person and listen to their story.
What the comparison rests on: the published price lists of four firms that research Polish records for clients abroad, read in October 2026. The hours for 210 USD are worked out from their rates.
Stages and prices
The work goes in stages. After each stage you receive a report and you decide whether we go on.
| Stage | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| First assessment | You tell us what you know about the family: surnames, places, approximate dates. Before you pay anything, we reply in a few sentences which sources survive for your parishes, how far back they reach and what can be expected. | free |
| Start | We begin with the earliest ancestors you know and work backwards. We read 2,000 pages of sources for your parishes. You receive a written list of the sources, a tree with everything we found, the records with translations and a PDF file of the wall chart, ready to print. | 499 USD |
| Dig deeper | Further blocks of work, each covering 1,000 pages of sources read. A report after each block: what was found, what was checked with no result, what the next block is likely to bring. The chart, the chronicle and the recording are updated after each block. | 210 USD per block |
| Chronicle | The family chronicle built from the research: a PDF file to read and print plus an editable file. One round of your corrections and additions is included. | 499 USD |
| Recording | The chronicle read aloud, to listen to on a phone. After a round of corrections we record it again. | 159 USD |
| Further changes | Each further round of changes at your request, with a new recording. A round is one list of changes sent in one message. Our own mistakes are always corrected free of charge. | 79 USD per round |
The lines of a family do not go back evenly. One breaks off at a lost register, another reaches the 18th century. Before we start we agree with you which lines matter most. We begin with those.
A block is charged whether or not it brings a new generation. Prices are the same for every client, in Poland and abroad. They are set in Polish zloty and shown here in US dollars at a rounded rate. The chart and the chronicle come in English or in Polish at the same price.
Honest about results
The further back we go, the more registers are lost and the more often the answer is “not in this source”. That is still a result: it closes a lead and saves the next spend.
- We do not promise a number of generations, because that depends on which registers survived. We promise what depends on us: every fact will have a source.
- We do not assign coats of arms by surname. Nobility goes into your tree only when a document links your family to a proof of nobility.
- An age stated in a record is treated as an approximation, not as a date of birth.
Tell us where the family comes from
Send what you already know: surnames, places, approximate dates and the documents you have at home. A few sentences are enough. We will reply with which sources exist and where it makes sense to begin.
info@exarchivis.comThe first assessment is free. We reply in English and in Polish.