Reviews

Mike is a pleasure to work with and I cannot thank him enough for his help. Mike took me on as a client at an incredibly busy time and always came through faster than expected and at the lowest price of his quoted range. Mike's professionalism and attention to detail made this a very pleasant experience. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for high quality genealogy services at a reasonable price.

I originally engaged Mike’s services to sort some confusing family history which he did in a very professional and understanding manner. I’m using his services again to help me obtain Canadian citizenship by descent. He is wonderful to work with and his pricing is very fair.

I used Mike to help document my great grandfather’s Canadian citizenship for purposes of my Canadian citizenship by descent application. I could not be happier! Mike is professional, responsive, and highly qualified.

I hired Mike to solve an 81 year old family mystery. My mother was adopted in 1945. Mike narrowed down the identity of my biological maternal grandfather to four brothers. Mike was professional, efficient, and ethical. He provided a thorough and useful report including his research methods, sources, and results. I am grateful for his work and highly recommend him.

Mike reached out immediately to assist me with my genealogy search, and was easy to work with. Would recommend to anyone looking for genealogy help!

Mike took on the task of identifying my grandmother's biological father through his expertise in DNA genealogy. He is very knowledgable in this field and was able to confirm that the father was one of two brothers! I highly recommend him for his work and have already asked him to work on another DNA genealogy identification!

I selected Mike's service due to his familiarity with French Canadian genealogy, and I couldn't be happier with the results. Mike was very prompt in his responses and kindly answered all of my questions. I even came back to get a record transcription. I would highly recommend Mike for your genealogy research.

Mike was very thorough and fast in researching my question. I'm extremely pleased with the level of communication, the depth of research, and the quality of the resulting report. His rates are very reasonable, and I would happily hire him again in the future.

I hired Mike to help me with some family genealogy. He was incredibly knowledgeable. I got more than I had hoped from using him as a source. I am so grateful!

This has been an incredible example of someone providing a professional service above and beyond what was expected. Mike did a fantastic job of communicating throughout the process and, while he didn't find what I was expecting, he did find the truth, which happened to be even better than what I was expecting. The reports he provided are extremely thorough and he found documents and records that I wouldn't have known to look for, and then pieced everything together in a linear fashion to make it understandable. I'm excited to know now that I'm a Canadian citizen, (born in the US with no idea I had Canadian descent,) and now I just need to prove that lineage to the IRCC. I have no doubt that's possible with the findings from Mike.

Quick and highly effective.

Working with Mike was great, timely, and effective. Would recommend to anyone.

Mike is amazing. My partner and I went to him to help us get information regarding specific branches of our family for citizenship purposes. He was SO FAST and meticulous. The stuff he put together was amazing. He definitely went WAY above and beyond for us. He is also just super nice, helpful, knowledgeable and professional. The reports he made for us were so incredibly detailed and he found more records than we needed! There was one record he couldn’t get, only because it’s in FL and must be accessed in person. He even gave me the contact information for someone local to the area to help me.

He really knows his stuff! He found all kinds of interesting tidbits that we never knew. If I decide to trace back the rest of my family, I am definitely contacting him.

Mike was incredibly helpful and FAST. We appreciate how much he helped us. Thanks, Mike!

I cannot say enough good things about Mike Sainsbury. Working with him has been one of the most genuinely supportive and affirming experiences I’ve had during an emotionally exhausting and complicated genealogy process.

Mike went far beyond what I expected from a genealogist. He was not only meticulous, thorough, and deeply knowledgeable about Canadian records and lineage research, but also fair, honest, and transparent about what could and could not be proven. He never oversold certainty, never rushed the process, and never treated setbacks as failures. Instead, he approached each obstacle with creativity, patience, and integrity.

What truly sets Mike apart is his kindness and empathy. Genealogy isn’t just documents — it’s family history, identity, grief, and hope all tangled together. Mike understood that. When I hit major roadblocks and felt discouraged, he encouraged me to keep going, validated how hard the process was, and reminded me that setbacks are part of serious research, not a reflection of effort or worth. That kind of emotional intelligence is rare and incredibly meaningful.

He treated my case with care and respect, communicated clearly, and made me feel like my story actually mattered — not just as a file or a project, but as a person. If you are looking for a Canadian genealogist who is exceptionally skilled, deeply ethical, and genuinely compassionate, I would recommend Mike Sainsbury without hesitation. He is the kind of professional who restores your faith in the process — and in people.

Mike helped me solve a long unsolved mystery. He is very professional. I thoroughly recommend him.

Mike Sainsbury is wonderful! If more than 5 stars were available in this rating system, I'd give them all to him! He is thoughtful, kind, thorough, detailed, well-credentialed, super competent and humane in his pricing. What more could I ask?! I give him my highest recommendation and gratitude!

I can thoroughly recommend Mike Sainsbury and his business dfh DNA Family Help. Mike was recommended to me when I hit a brick wall trying to trace the ancestry of my paternal grandfather. With expertise in genetic genealogy, Mike was able to pinpoint who he thought the father or my adopted grandfather was. Targeted DNA testing confirmed his hypothesis and solved a 100 year old adoption-related mystery!

Mike is a great professional. He provides his clients with excellent reports, thorough, very well documented and referenced. I definitely recommend him and would work with him again for further genealogical research.

Exceptional Research & Outstanding Service!

I recently worked with Mike Sainsbury to research my family history, and I couldn't be more impressed with their expertise, professionalism, and attention to detail. The report on my ancestor was incredibly thorough, well-researched, and thoughtfully analyzed. It was clear from the depth of information and conclusions provided that an immense amount of effort went into both the research and the final report.

One of the highlights was the included GEDCOM file, which is exceptionally comprehensive and has helped me visualize and organize the data in a meaningful way. It’s an invaluable resource that will continue to benefit my research.

Beyond the exceptional work, I truly appreciated Mike’s responsiveness and promptness in completing the project and answering my questions along the way. Their dedication and passion for genealogy are evident, and I highly recommend their services to anyone looking for meticulous and insightful family history research.

Thank you again for your outstanding work!

Mike Sainsbury at dfh DNA Family Help provided my husband with a wonderful Christmas gift - a deep dive into his background, and a chance to work with Mike to get closer to finding the identity of his grandfather, as his mother was adopted. Mike provided a podcast “teaser” that I played on Christmas Day, announcing the investigation and the techniques Mike would use to explore my husband's background. They met and discussed an approach. Mike used advanced techniques to narrow possibilities and introduced my husband to an additional database and sources of information. Mike built on my husband’s ancestry DNA results and refined them with the context and research details he gathered. Along the way Mike was always extremely responsive, professional, conscientious, and obviously genuinely interested in and passionate about genealogy. My husband now has information about my mother in law’s background and with Mikes assistance is continuing the search for his ancestor. He feels reinvigorated by the work Mike did with him and we feel confident we can reach out to Mike for further assistance. Mike is extremely collaborative and really tailored his work to my husband’s needs and wishes, building on some initial investigation my husband had started. We got an amazing price for the high quality, in depth work Mike did which included a detailed report with information about references and resources. This was the best gift I could have given my husband and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Highly recommend and five stars for Mike Sainsbury.

I can’t thank him enough for all the work he has done ! He is very professional, open and straightforward! He was VERY easy to work with, and always made sure you knew exactly what he was doing and how long! It was so easy to communicate things with him , and I can’t thank him enough for all the work he has done for me! I’ll forever be grateful!

Mike and his services are top notch.
I am adopted and was looking for confirmation to who my maternal Grandfather is.
Mike quickly was able to provide these answers , his report is amazing !

Mike communicated through email and phone . Kept in touch throughout his research as well.
Client services top notch.
Finally I felt heard and  that I had the best chance for answers.

Fortunately through my DNA , there was enough for Mike to work his magic and confirm my Grandfather.
Genealogy is challenging, yet as an adoptee , I feel there’s an added level of unknown frustration. I can now move forward finally, researching the correct person.

Highly recommend that you reach out to Mike , if there’s a way …he will find it.
Thank-You Mike.

Cindy L
Ontario

I was happy and impressed with the quick analysis of my genealogy DNA question. I'm hopeful it will help move my family research forward.

Mike has given me a very detailed report on my 3rd greatgrandmother.  An amazing array of source records were quoted.   He has provided me with everything I asked for and more.