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MARA CATES-BRAGAR
is a Brooklyn-based
genealogist +
documentarian +
director of photography
As a genealogist, Mara specializes in genetic genealogy, adoption and unknown parentage cases, and Jewish genealogy in the United States and abroad.
As a filmmaker, Mara's films often embrace unconventional characters, who make the world a better, more interesting place simply by choosing to be themselves.
Mara holds a Master's Degree in Media Studies, Digital Filmmaking and a Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies from The New School of Public Engagement in New York City. Mara also received her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts from Eugene Lang College at The New School.
Mara offers a holistic and highly personalized approach to help you discover your past and find answers about your family.
Mara,
Thank you so much for being so invested in my family history. You really helped us make a breakthrough. I felt you were very helpful, knowledgeable and determined to find the information we were looking for. I also was happy as your fee was completely affordable. I will recommend you to anyone looking for a partner in their family history search.
Thank you again,
-Cindy T.
I was very fortunate to have met Mara. I honestly did not think I would get such a great result, since I had so little information to give her. Her genealogy expertise combined with her investigative skills, created a road map to the success of locating my family, who did not know I existed. I fully endorse Mara, a very kind and passionate individual that loves what she does.
-Robert G.
She has connected adoptees, sperm and egg donor-conceived individuals and those with unknown parentage or NPE (Not Parent Expected) status with their close biological family members. Mara has reunited relatives and survivors of Jewish families, whose lives were shattered by the Holocaust and centuries of persecution. She has located “lost” records, breaking down decades, even centuries of brick walls, discovered ancestral homelands, and uncovered, with the utmost discretion, the truth regarding deep family mysteries.
Mara is always up for the most challenging genealogy cases and perseveres when other professionals have given up. Many of her clients tend to have very little information about their families to work with at first. Mara's unique expertise as an academic researcher and oral historian, acute listener, and investigative interviewer differentiates her from many other genealogists providing services today. Her working-style combines traditional historical genealogical research methods, including unlimited access to rare archival libraries and pre-paid subscription databases, with advanced technological and scientific genetic genealogical decoding techniques.
Mara's genealogy research packages are flexible in scope and affordable. She would love to extend a complimentary consultation over the phone to anyone who is looking for answers about their family history.
Send her an email to schedule your free consultation today at maracates@gmail.com, text or call at 914-469-9061.
A CITY OF IMMIGRANTS
"A City of Immigrants" is a collection of photographs taken by Mara Cates-Bragar, in partnership with The League of Kitchens and the Museum at Eldridge Street in New York City.
