As a genealogist, I often have to outsource my research to someone else for various reasons. I don't travel to DC, so I've long been looking for a reliable service to obtain the records I need from that jurisdiction. Gopher Records did not disappoint! Before I even ordered, they answered my questions quickly and completely. They made the ordering process extremely easy and everything that I could expect was laid out clearly beforehand. Once ordered, the records came back extremely fast and payment was made a sinch. The records themselves were complete, clear, and aesthetic - unlike other services [...]

I can't say enough good things about Bob and Gopher Records. All three of my orders were completed as promptly as possible (given NARA access restrictions) and the digital files he provided were of the highest-possible quality. What I really appreciate is that Bob will not give up if your file is not easily located. One of the pension files I requested was not available in the Washington, DC archives, so he was referred to St. Louis. After that facility also replied that the file was not there, he filed a FOIA request on my behalf with the Veterans [...]

Gopher Records did a fabulous job of finding all the available records for a great great grandfather who was a Union soldier. We learned about parts of his military record that were completely unknown to us before. One of the best advantages was we were not charged for records that couldn’t be found/weren’t there. Fast service. I highly recommend them!

I was able to get the mother's pension record for my civil war ancestor thus learning the previously unknown name of her husband and the father of my ancestor. Bob was quick to provide these records and easy to work with. I will use again if the need arises.

I give your service the highest score possible !! Thank You Bob Velke for your kindness . And the speedy service.I am completely satisfied ,.. My fourth great grandfather’s pension records , solved a family mystery .. He was indeed captured at Cumberland gap on September 17 and sent to prison . Thank you.again BobVelke !

Terrific service! I had the records in hand before I knew it. Impressive!

The service is excellent. Fast and thorough. The two brothers I was researching served in the same company of the Illinois 76th infantry (Kankakee French Canadian ethnicity). One was discharged due to malaria in Nov 1863, and his younger brother joined the same month. I'm curious if this was legally required to have at least one member of the family serving so that when one left, another took over, or was it because of patriotism towards the Union cause in the family?

We have just completed our seventh purchase through Bob and have been happy each time. Our orders have been delivered in a timely manner and we appreciate the due diligence that Bob uses in delivering results. Thank you so much for helping us increase the depth of information that we have about our ancestors!

Thanks so much to Gopher Records for the information obtained. We've searched for information on this ancestor for decades and it was truly a brick wall for us. Tried to obtain some of this info pre-Covid thru other routes and was unsuccessful. Through GopherRecords we got more than we could have asked for and that brick wall is down and new paths are open to us with this information. Lots of questions were answered and now lots of new questions to explore. My 82-year-old aunt almost cried when I shared with her and she [...]

I am so happy to have heard about Gopher Records' services. Two years ago I had tried to obtain a complete Civil War pension file on someone through National Archives and never heard back, never saw my credit card run, could not track my request on NARA's website, nor did NARA respond to emails. When I learned that Gopher Records could do this for me quickly and at a discount, I jumped on the chance. Because this veteran was a complicated case, a deserter who later re-enlisted in a different unit, and a bigamist with two widows filing [...]