Testimonials

We have known Kelly for a couple of years now and she has demonstrated a keen ability to find information about family members. Moms side of the family is wide spread and a lot of common names pop up. Kelly has been able to sort through the information and we now have a clearer picture of moms side of the family. Kelly was very good in her discussions with mom who now has more information about her family.
Hope, Joe & Robin, TN

I Spent years looking for a dear friend that I had lost contact with since 1951! I tried everyone I could think of from genealogical societies to the police with no decent results. Finally someone mentioned Kelly Leary saying; ” if anyone can find someone, it would be her “.  Not long after contacting Kelly she was able to give me a detailed family record of my friend and even put me in touch with their family! Sadly, my friend had passed away just prior to my contact with Kelly but I am grateful for the closure. Kelly gets results!
Emil Polito, FL

I met Kelly roughly 7 years ago and was impressed with her knowledge of genealogy research. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with cancer and traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas. While I was in the hospital, she would call me regularly to just visit. During these calls, I would tell her that I was stuck with several people in my family tree. She would try to find them to no avail. Now years later I discovered that the names I was given were incorrect. No wonder we couldn’t find them! As soon as I told her the
names, she found him and sent me census, birth, and military records! She’s an excellent genealogist as well as a beautiful person. I would recommend her to anyone doing genealogy research.
Gail, Florida
 
Kelly’s writing has a unique way of making ancestors jump off the page.
Not only is her research thorough and professional, she brings a friendly
and fun face to history. She has been a great friend throughout the
discovery and writing process and her impeccable research skills have
found and opened new doors to my family history that I had never dreamed of.
Cathy, Florida

 

Kelly goes above and beyond!!! I was searching on my own for family records and spent enough money on other sites and promises. I found Kelly through a search of Joyce family records. She immediately helped me with questions. Kelly had eliminated possible relatives and confirmed the correct ones. Her knowledge of little tips is invaluable! She would not quit looking!! Kelly has connected me to ancestors I did not know I had. But beyond that, she told me who they were, where they lived, what kind of work they did, when they married, and when they died. A DNA search does not provide theses details that are important to me.
I have strongly recommended her to family and friends. If anyone is thinking of doing an ancestry search, Kelly is where to start!
Jeff, North Carolina
 
When I became interested in genealogy in my 70’s I had no idea how to
begin …I couldn’t believe my good luck when a friend gave me Kelly
Leary’s name. Kelly has worked with me for a couple years and has done a fantastic job showing me how to research and organize. I’m now 78 and she has such patience with me. She even writes down each step so I can review when she is not with me.
I am blessed to have found her for my genealogy needs.
Sandra, PA / Florida
 
Kelly Leary displays a remarkable ability to marshal resources. She
does so in such a way that her “Behind The Story” material is almost
as fascinating as the story of the life she is recounting. She has
made an indelible impact on the world of genealogy. Her research
surrounding the Irish diaspora puts her in a class all her own. As
both a colleague and a friend I consider Kelly Leary to be the epitome
of what good genealogy is all about. Oliver, Tennessee

Kelly Leary is a fine genealogist who has been a great help to me in my family tree research. She has a wealth of knowledge about sources and effective search techniques. What I really like about her is that she is very professional with high standards and has tenacity that inspires me to be persistent in my efforts. I recommend her highly. Fred, Michigan

Several years ago, I decided to try to apply for Irish citizenship. I knew my grandfather was born there, and I had a few details about when and where, and thought it would be fun to try to put the pieces together. As it turned out, it was simply an exercise in frustration: I didn’t know how to get records from Ireland, and without all the exact details of where he was born and lived, I wasn’t able to contact the right people to find out. When I got in contact with Kelly, she walked me through the whole process: she knew where to get records, how to apply, how to assemble the application packet, and told me exactly how long it would take. Following her directions, and using the records she was able to get for me, the whole process went smoothly, and I now have both my citizenship as well as an Irish passport. John, Massachusetts
 What Kelly was able to accomplish in a short period of time with so little information was absolutely amazing!  My 83-year old Dad knew very little of his birth mother who died in childbirth. I contacted Kelly to see if she could develop a biography of her and answer questions he had his entire life.  Kelly’s scope of knowledge and attention to detail was beyond what I had ever imagined. I don’t believe anyone would be able to obtain the amount of information without her expertise. She provided birth/death records, photographs, family tree etc. as well as interesting details of extended family.
I was able to present this fabulous keepsake to my dad for Christmas- one that will last forever and a history that my children will be able to pass down for generations.
We all agreed it was the best gift ever! Maureen, Michigan
 
“I am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Kelly Leary.
She is brilliant, professional, untiring, generous, delightful and her patience is endless! I was hopelessly overwhelmed after 6 years of gathering information and not having any idea of how to verify, source, or compile it all. It was daunting and I was lost. When I met Kelly she reassured me that I could do it with a little help. With this new confidence we made great progress.  I value her tremendously as a fabulous teacher,  I.T. tech, expert genealogist  and wonderful human being.  In my life’s book there is a precious chapter on people I’ve been blessed to know…and Kelly is my newest entry.”  Tina, Florida
 
“Kelly is very passionate about genealogy and is very easy to work with.  She is very thorough and delivers amazing results.  The amount of information provided about my family exceeded my expectations.”  Rita, Ohio 

“It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I didn’t even know Kelly Leary.  And it’s to my everlasting happiness that our paths crossed when and where they did.  Although we are thousands of miles apart and 5 time zones, we were both working on developing a family tree via Ancestry.com.  I was carrying out my Father’s interest by posting his hand written notes and photos to our family tree.  Kelly was busily adding her research to another person on the same tree, a person who I didn’t even know existed.  She contacted me, and viola (that’s my Dad talking), we began a wonderful journey developing this family tree. Make no mistake, Kelly has all the professional skills – she is both diligent and speedy, thorough and creative.  She has many contacts and researchers she uses to ferret out documents in far away places.  By the time she finished her research, she had produced a wonderful family album of well over 100 pages.  She also provided a time-line and a history to present the family information in context with the times.   She presented photos of most of the people in the family tree, documents of baptisms, marriage certificates, passages to America, Census data, WWI and WWII military information, and even SSDI and cemetery data.  Best of all, though, she added anecdotal stories that fleshed out the data into real people leading real lives.  Besides providing a wealth of material on this family tree, Kelly has shared her knowledge, opinions, and ideas so that I have been able to move past roadblocks on other branches of my family tree.  I am using the time-line idea to research why other ancestors left Austro-Hungary and Russia.  It turns out that the politics of the day is of vital importance in making the decision to begin life anew in another country.  I am very happy to recommend Kelly as a genealogical researcher.  She will surprise and delight you with her discoveries.”  Flo, Hawaii

“I love it when a plan comes together! I was born 76 years ago in Providence,RI.  My grandfather, Luke Fleming, died when I was 8 months old, so I never really knew him.  We lived for a time with my grandmother, Maria, and she told me many times that both she and my grandfather had come over on ships from Ireland.  During those years I was more interested in playing baseball than listening to old folk’s tales, so I never absorbed any more than the briefest details.  It wasn’t until I reached my senior years that I began to wonder about whom they really were and why they had come to the US. Enter Kelly Leary.  Kelly told me she could do some research for me to help define my roots.  She began to work.  Over time she obtained my parent’s birth and death certificates and traced their history.  She obtained my grandparent’s death certificates and then found my great grandparent’s birth and death information.  She even found information on my great-great grandparents.  One day Kelly called me quite excited.  She had found Luke’s baptismal certificate.  That took some doing because Luke was born in 1868 before Ireland required birth registration.  Luke was born in the parish of Ballintubber/Balymoe in County Roscommon and lived in a place called “Snipehill”.  Kelly found lots of other information but this story only needs those two facts.  We went to Ireland in 2011.  After touring the entire country with a group of eight, my wife and I decided to rent a car and spend five days chasing my roots.  We ended up in Ballymoe and made inquires at the only store in town.  They directed us to a large building across the street, which, it turned out, was a children’s recreational center founded by Father Flannigan of “Boy’s Town” fame.  Father Flannigan was born in Ballymoe.  We asked about Snipehill and where the Church might be.  They called a gentleman who lived in town and he came over immediately to inform us that the Church was most likely The Church of St. Bride in the neighboring town of Ballintubber and that Snipehill was a now defunct farming community down a dirt road, left after a rock with flowers around it, just before the railroad tracks. We went to the Church first.  The Pastor’s assistant allowed us to see the church records and there, on a page written in 1868, was my grandfather’s baptismal record.  Further back in April of 1867 was my great grandparent’s marriage certificate.  The Pastor provided us with certified copies of both.  Next we found the “rock with flowers around it” and went 3 miles down a one lane dirt road (thank the Lord no one came the other way) until we came to the railroad tracks.  A man was coming out of his house and we inquired as to the location of Snipehill.  He advised us to cross the tracks and walk 100 yards to a bridge across the Suck River and look to our left.  That was Snipehill.  We stood there for a long time imagining how my grandfather grew up on this farm and at age 18 decided to leave home and seek his fortune in America.  It was a solemn moment that would not have been, but for Kelly.  I have taken the information Kelly provided and applied for Irish dual citizenship.  I won’t know for a year but I am confident, with the records that Kelly uncovered, that I will receive Irish citizenship in due course.  Then the plan will really come together.” Dick, Florida

“Personally I have been doing genealogy for 37 years. I am a veteran that completed a family search back to 1502 in France and all without a computer. Those were the days before the internet. As a retiree, I now operate a private research group of 500+ researchers.  Our group is so very impressed with Kelly Leary, who is new to our group  this year.  Kelly signed on with our research group while getting her Certificate in Genealogical Research. Her ambition, her desire to assist fellow researchers, and her never ending energy is unlimited.  Within a brief period of time, Kelly adopts the family as her own, and targets areas of interest not only to complete the project, but to flesh out the bones of the family. In her diligent work of being a professional, she unites the researcher to their ancestors. Kelly is a unique talent.  I highly recommend her to those serious about their family history. Kelly is our star!!” Patti, Florida

“How happy we are to have the information about our Irish Grandmother before we go to Ireland! We are now able to visit the area she was born. Kelly even found the street where her family lived.”  Susie, Florida

“The only professional Genealogist I would recommend is Kelly Leary of  K.B. Genealogy and Research.  I met her through  the advice and  recommendations of a top research person in the  genealogy field.   Before my association with Kelly Leary I was making very little headway  on my Irish research do to the fact that I am the only surviving person  in my generation of my parents and their Siblings. I was purchasing  baptismal records from Ireland that proved  useless.  The charges I  incurred with K.B. Genealogy were more than reasonable, the information  was accurate very well documented and the whole experience  was  very instructive for my further research.  Thanks to Kelly there were a  lot of positive answers which led to a lot more questions and  answers from my own research.” Jim, Florida

“I would like to take this time to thank you for a professional job well done. As you know I first tried to get my Irish Citizenship on my own, which was a complete waste of time and money. I then called a former classmate who’s profession was to look up peoples ancestry for the U.S. Government, and he failed. As a last resort I went to the Irish web site on citizenship and found a few names, of which your name appeared. Your name was listed here in Florida, and purely by chance I picked your name, because your location was close to where I lived. Kelly, your tenacity in putting this puzzle together was nothing short of miraculous. Where others failed you succeeded. Again I would like to THANK YOU, and say I would highly recommend your services to anyone serious about getting a second citizenship, and passport.” Emile, Florida

 “Applause, Applause, Applause!  “Thank you Kelly” does not adequately express our gratitude for helping us find our Irish Grandmother’s roots.Armed with only our family lore, my cousin and I searched for our “Emma’s” family records both here and in Ireland.  During this two year process we examined court, church and ancestry.com records to no avail.  We were able to find only the 20thcentury census information, and some of that was inaccurate.  Determining her arrival in the United States, her birth records and her parents in Ireland was a mystery.  We even traveled to our beloved Ireland, hired a genealogist and were still disappointed as we could not uncover any records.  In retrospect, it was an adventure to head to Ireland in search of our Emma of the O’Connor Family.  Just imagine how many O’Connor’s live(d) in Ireland!!Following a brief, yet very encouraging meeting with Kelly Leary we realized our search was, at long last, on the right track.  Kelly began her work and within a very short period of time, just a few days, found everything!  Our great-grands burial records, gravestone photos; siblings of our Emma; immigration records and most importantly, Emma’s great niece – alive and well in Baltimore!

Kelly, your enthusiasm is contagious, your skill as a genealogist is to be admired and your sense of humor makes the entire process very enjoyable.  It was an honor and pleasure to work with you.  It is a privilege indeed to now hold the keys to my ancestral world!  Now, for that next adventure in Ireland!” Louise, Maryland

“I am very grateful to have found Kelly for my family research and Irish Citizenship goals. I had talked with other genealogy researchers and did not have a good feeling about them. With Kelly, I knew immediately that she knew what she was doing and was ethical.

She was patient and thorough, stepped me through the entire process and gave me advice that was invaluable. She also helped me get in touch with long lost relatives and helped me understand my family tree in ways that exceeded my expectations.

In the end , my citizenship endeavor was successful. The family history report was beautiful, and thorough. I am forever grateful.” Tom, Pennsylvania