Welcome to Bont Family Research, a family-run team of genealogists based in Pencoed, a small town near Bridgend in South Wales. ’Bont’ is the Welsh word for bridge, aptly describing our role in connecting you to the past. Our goal is to make tracing your family history both affordable and accessible.
Our Lead Researcher, Jon Curtis, discovered his passion for family research while working at the National Library of Wales between 2001-2004. At a time when genealogy had not yet exploded online, the National Library was the hub for family research in Wales. Jon had the opportunity to meet researchers from around the world, all converging in Aberystwyth to trace their Welsh roots.
Jon’s role at the National Library of Wales involved working on social history digitisation projects, including ‘Gathering the Jewels,’ which digitised important documents and artefacts from libraries and archives across Wales. This work is now part of the People’s Collection Wales, a key resource for our research.
Additionally, Jon travelled across Wales to document the memories and souvenirs of WWII veterans and their families for the project ‘Their Past Your Future.’
With a background in digital projects and over 20 years of experience in senior digital marketing roles, Bont embraces a tech-based approach to genealogy. We extensively use online research tools like Ancestry and Geni and contribute to creating new digital records for others to access. Our digital expertise also enables us to offer clients services such as websites and digital storybooks.
While online genealogy sites have democratised access to family research, they have also introduced new challenges. Many online family trees contain errors that quickly propagate across other trees. At Bont, we strive to avoid this by subjecting all findings to secondary verification before sharing them with clients. This commitment to accuracy is at the heart of our work.
We specialise in Welsh genealogy and have assisted clients from as far as Australia, Canada, and South Africa in tracing their Welsh origins. Our location allows us to supplement our online research with visits to churches, archives, and libraries across Wales.
Though Wales is our home base, we have helped clients from across the UK. Our services are completely flexible, ranging from a single visit to a graveyard to a 12-month commission to fully research and document five generations of family history on a website.
We look forward to supporting your family research journey.
