When I realized I had exhausted family research avenues on my own, I decided I needed a professional genealogist to help find my great-grandfathers parents in Luxembourg. One of the best decisions I ever made! Kristine Smets found more in a few days than I found in several months of searching Ancestry.com and other online databases. Kristine found a newspaper article about my great-grandfather visiting a half-brother, whom I never knew of, which was the link needed to discover his parents in Luxembourg. I am extremely impressed with what she found and the detail of information given in all of her reports. Kristine is timely, and her ongoing communication is impeccable. I can’t thank Kristine enough for the amazing work she did researching my family. I highly recommend Kristine if you need help researching your family.

— Jo Ann A., California

In 2017 my wife and I purchased a historic Bolton Hill town home. We often wondered if these 100+ year old walls could talk, what stories they would tell. My curiosity soon got the better of me as I found myself helplessly googling our new address to find any bits of our house history. My efforts produced only a small list of names, the majority unearthed from spotty historic society bulletins. I explained my situation to Kristine and worked with her to tailor a house history search that would produce a list of previous owners. The results were overwhelming. Kristine produced a 32-page report detailing the life of my house, from the first owners of the land upon which our house was built on to the most recent deed to our home. The list included all previous owners, snippets of their occupation and historical significance, the names of each family member (including names of African-American servants / cooks who lived in the house). Kristine understand that the house was rented out for a period of time, compiled an additional list of renters’ names and businesses such as a doctor’s office, which once resided in the house. Kristine provided all the small bits of info she uncovered during her search such as an image of an advertisement in the Baltimore Sun from the early 1900’s for a previous resident selling a grand piano from our address. The level of detail blew my mind. It was more than I expected to receive and in addition to fulfilling my agonizing curiosity, we now have a professionally tailored provenance of our house history that we can sink our imagination into and pass along to the next owners. I believe all historic houses should have their story pieced together. What a great investment! I’m still impressed at how Kristine was able to link all these disparate data sources together and bring them to life for us. She provides a very unique service and we are truly grateful to have found her.

— Pete Ma, Maryland

Kristine Smets researched my family’s Irish genealogy in advance of a long anticipated trip to Ireland with three generations of family members in 2016.
Kristine’s research was thorough, detailed, and easy to use. She was tenacious about accuracy and following every lead. Kristine found sources of information that I could not imagine existed. Kristine fully invested herself in the project – she seemed to care as much as we did (or more) about finding information concerning our ancestors. Her final product included a beautifully written comprehensive report, an extensive accounting of her detailed research findings, and electronic copies of all source materials. It is a treasure trove of our family history. To us, the value of Kristine’s work far exceeded the cost.
Kristine’s research made our family trip to Ireland come alive. With her report in hand, we found remote family sites in Ireland and even located my mother’s second cousin, who took us on a tour of old homes, grave sites, and a fishing pier where my great grandfather worked as a fisherman in the early 1900s. My mother, my children, and I will never forget the trip.
In working with Kristine, I learned that a professional genealogist can discover facts that are not available through internet services, such as Ancestry.com. Just as importantly, through a disciplined approach to research, a genealogist can reveal and correct inaccuracies in family trees that appear on these websites. Kristine helped me set the record straight on my family tree. I highly recommend Kristine to anyone who desires to learn more about their family history.

— Tom, Baltimore

Chainlines and Kristine Smets exceeded every expectation I had. She helped me explore a long-ago chapter of my family’s history, and her exacting and thoughtful work opened new doors of meaning and connection for myself and my loved ones.

— Terry O'Hara, Maryland

When Kristine Smets opened her notebook, flattened the page, and started to make notes in her neat, left-handed script, I felt as if she was taking hold of a part of my life and cupping it gently in her hand. Sure enough, within a matter of days, she had produced the marriage certificate of my great-great grandparents with no more fanfare than if she had found the missing sock of a pair! Kristine is a perceptive and detail orientated genealogist, and it has been a pleasure to work with her.

— Judith Krummeck, Maryland, author of Old New Worlds, forthcoming from Green Writers Press

Kristine’s research was thorough and well documented. She has education and experience enough to know where to place her priorities when researching, and was able to discern when to carry on research on a particular line and when to leave it. Thoroughly happy with her work.

— Polly FitzGerald Kimmitt, Massachusetts, Certified Genealogist®

Working with Kristine was a pleasure. She is a consummate professional. Her work on our family history included researching and organizing data, searching for images, and even translating bits of text. Because of her skill and efficiency, we’ve now “met” several generations of ancestors previously unknown to us. We are so pleased!

— Katherine Kotik, Massachusetts