A commissioned, DNA-grounded literary heirloom — 10,000 to 30,000 words of your family’s true history, archivally researched, beautifully written, printed and bound.
Not a database. Not a scrapbook. A finished book that turns your great-grandparents into living characters — something your descendants can hold, read aloud, and pass down for generations.
They came with nothing but their names and their faith and the memory of a village no one else in America had ever heard of. We give them the page they deserve.
Heirloom Heritage Co. · Chicago, IllinoisEvery project begins with your AncestryDNA results — ethnicity percentages, haplogroups, ThruLines, cousin matches. We interpret what the science actually means for your family, translating molecular data into ancestry that has names, villages, and dates.
We work directly with Italian civil records through Antenati, Polish and Kashubian church records from Gdańsk Pomerania, NARA military files, ship manifests, Chicago parish records, and U.S. census archives — sources that take years to learn to navigate.
We don't produce a database printout. We write. Every volume is a 10,000–30,000 word literary history in which your great-grandparents are fully rendered human beings — with the world they came from, the journey they made, and the life they built in America.
Typeset in EB Garamond and Cormorant, professionally printed and bound, delivered as a physical heirloom and a permanent digital file. Not a scrapbook. Not a template. A book — finished and beautiful — that you can put in someone's hands and watch them weep.
Each commission is a printed, bound, typeset volume — a literary family history written to outlast everyone in the room. Below, the Italian and Polish books of one Chicago family. Hold one, and you understand the rest.
The story of the Borghi and Marini families — sharecroppers from Apecchio in the Marche Apennines and Città di Castello in Umbria — from the mezzadria fields of the 1800s through immigration to Chicago, the Dawson Mine disaster of 1913, faith and parish life on the northwest side, and the woman whose story this book is for: Patricia Borghi, born 1949.
The story of the Formella and Wojtach families — Kashubian peasants from Gdańsk Pomerania who crossed the Atlantic in 1880, and families from Poland's eastern borderlands who found their way to Chicago's northwest side. At the center: Arthur Edward Formella, WWII radar technician on B-29s in the Pacific, whose sole surviving personnel file was decoded from a single original document never duplicated before the 1973 NPRC fire.
From your first conversation with us to the moment the book arrives in your hands, every commission follows the same rigorous workflow — refined through two completed volumes and built to protect both the quality of the research and the accuracy of the story.
A discovery call to understand your family and your goals. We collect your intake questionnaire, gain read-only access to your Ancestry account or raw DNA file, and begin background research on your surnames and ancestral regions.
We interpret your ethnicity percentages in full historical context, confirm haplogroups where available, map your ThruLines, and flag significant cousin matches. Your molecular ancestry becomes a narrative, not just a pie chart.
20–40 hours of deep archival work. Italian lines: Antenati portal, FamilySearch Italian collections, ship manifests, Chicago parish records. Polish lines: Pomeranian and Kashubian church records, NARA military files, naturalization records, census archives.
We write. Not summarize — write. Every ancestor becomes a character. Historical context is woven into the prose. A midpoint client review ensures we're telling the story you need told. The voice is literary, warm, and built to last.
EB Garamond and Cormorant typesetting. Professional layout. Your print order placed — two to five bound copies depending on tier. A final client review, then delivery: a box on the doorstep and a file that lives forever.
Greater Chicago is home to approximately 573,000 Italian-Americans — the third-largest concentration in the United States — and 930,000 Polish-Americans, one of the largest Polish communities outside Warsaw itself. Chicago's Irish-American community adds another 200,000–250,000. Together: over 1.6 million adults with deep heritage roots and stories still waiting to be told.
Our client is 45 to 70 years old, middle-to-upper income, with a grandparent or great-grandparent who arrived between 1880 and 1940. They are approaching a milestone — a parent's 80th birthday, a 50th anniversary, their own retirement — and they want to give something that will last.
They often have an AncestryDNA kit on a shelf, results they've never fully understood. We are how those results become something they can hold and pass down.
Every project is a flat-fee engagement — 50% retainer at signing, 50% on delivery. No hourly billing, no scope surprises.
A standalone interpretation of your AncestryDNA results — ethnicity narrative, haplogroup explanation, ThruLines mapping.
Ideal for · First step · Upsells to full volumeThe complete commissioned experience — one heritage line, 10,000–14,000 words, archivally grounded and beautifully produced.
Ideal for · Mother's Day · Father's Day · Milestone giftBoth lines on one parent's side, four to five generations, woven into one comprehensive narrative.
Ideal for · 80th birthday · Anniversary · RetirementAll four grandparent lines, full DNA integration, 30,000+ words. Mixed-heritage families including Irish lines served within this tier.
Ideal for · Estate legacy · Major family milestoneAll prices are flat-fee · 50% retainer at signing · 50% on delivery · DNA privacy agreement included in every engagement
Most commissions begin one of two ways — as a gift for someone you love, or as a legacy you leave in your own name. Either way, the work is the same: the full, true story of where a family came from.
For a parent’s 80th, a 50th anniversary, a milestone that deserves more than a dinner reservation. The book arrives at their door — and they finally see their whole story on the page.
Give Their Story →Preserve where you came from for the grandchildren who will never meet the people who made them possible — the narrative legacy that outlasts everyone in the room.
Begin Your Own →A conversation about your family, the occasion, and which line to follow.
We confirm the scope and tier; the agreement is signed and your place is reserved.
DNA, archives, and a literary narrative over roughly fourteen weeks, with two review checkpoints along the way.
A printed, bound heirloom at your door — with a permanent digital edition alongside it.
Open it at the next gathering and read aloud — the stories find the people they were written for.
Every commission includes printed copies; order more for siblings, children, and grandchildren at cost, anytime.
A permanent digital edition travels to family near and far, and safeguards the work for good.
Shelve it, display it, hand it to the next generation. It outlasts everyone in the room.
Years on, new records surface and new chapters begin. The Companion binds them into a matching addendum, so the story never closes.
Tell us who you are, which community your family comes from, and what occasion — or what feeling — brought you here. We respond within two business days.
Every commission is given the full research, writing, and craft it deserves.
Your DNA data is never retained after project completion · No third-party sharing · Private by design