Official RootsTech Bloggers

Jill Ball - Geniaus

Jill Ball. Geniaus, a proud Australian, has been a librarian, teacher and most recently Head of Information Technology in a Sydney Independent School. Now semi–retired she is devoting too much time to her passion, family history.

An amateur genealogist, this connected Granny uses Web 2.0 tools including Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, and Blogger to communicate with genealogists and family members around the globe. She shares her passion for integrating technology with genealogy through her blog Geniaus and with presentations in her home city of Sydney. Her genealogy can be found at Geniaus’ Family Site.

Geniaus is thrilled to be attending and blogging about The Rootstech Conference where she envisages a rich learning experience with the added bonus of meeting her virtual pals in person.

Lisa Louise Cooke - Genealogy Gems Podcast

Lisa Louise Cooke is the Producer and Host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, an online genealogy audio show at GenealogyGems.com. She is the author of the books Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies and The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, and the Google Earth for Genealogy DVD series, an international conference speaker, and writer for Family Tree Magazine.

Amy Coffin - The We Tree Genealogy Blog

Amy Coffin, MLIS, came to the genealogy field with a background in library and information science. She spent several years as an independent researcher, gathering information on many subjects for her clients. In time, she found genealogy to be here favorite subject and shifted her business focus at AmyCoffin.com.

Amy is the author and creator of The We Tree Genealogy Blog, which touches all aspects of genealogy. She believes knowledge of one’s ancestry is important to daily life. In her blog, she combines research experience with a healthy dose of humor to inspire others to seek their roots.

She volunteers as an indexer and arbitrator for FamilySearch and serves on the publicity and marketing committee for the California Genealogical Society and Library. She also is a proud member of several genealogical and historical societies throughout the country that preserve history and promote information access. Amy has written numerous articles on online search tools and the use of social media in genealogy research. She continues to write about and discuss information organization and user experience from a genealogical perspective.

DearMYRTLE

DearMYRTLE is the nom de plume of Pat Richley-Erickson, author of The Everything Online Genealogy Book (2001) and DearMYRTLE’s Joy of Genealogy (2006), and the DearMYRTLE’s Genealogy Blog. A retired post–secondary computer software instructor, Myrt speaks in person and virtually to genealogy societies throughout the US and the world. Participating in online genealogy since 1985, Pat began writing as DearMYRTLE in 1995. Myrt also host genealogy chats in Second Life where she is also active in the Second Life Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Dick Eastman has been involved in genealogy for more than 30 years. He has worked in the computer industry for more than 40 years in hardware, software, and managerial positions. By the early 1970’s, Dick was already using a mainframe computer to enter his family data on punch cards. He built his first home computer in 1980.

In 1988, Dick founded the Genealogy Forum on CompuServe, the largest online service of the time. In 1996, he started Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter as an e-mail publication and announced it to 100 surprised friends and acquaintances. Still available in e-mail, the newsletter is also now available on the World Wide Web. The present newsletter is read by more than 60,000 genealogists all over the world.

Dick has served as a director of GENTECH, director of the New England Computer Genealogists, and is the former Director of Technology at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Holly T. Hansen - Family History Expos

Holly T. Hansen is totally immersed in bringing the latest technical developments in family history to non-techies as well as seasoned researchers. As the owner of Family History Expos, she is constantly looking for new ways to help you “learn the tech to trace your roots” at her events. She works hand in hand with industry leaders and top notch presenters, so she’s never at a loss for valuable information for genealogists.

FHExpo’s theme this year is “Your Family History Starts Here!” -- Holly brings beginners and professionals together to share new technology and research methods for finding ancestors.

Holly received degrees in History and Information Systems and Technology from Weber State University. You can find her at Family History Expos.

The Ancestry Insider

The Ancestry Insider was a readers’ choice for the top four genealogy news and resources blogs, part of Family Tree Magazine’s “40 Best Genealogy Blogs” for 2010. He reports on the two big genealogy organizations, Ancestry.com and FamilySearch. He was named a “Most Popular Genealogy Blogs” by ProGenealogists, and has received Family Tree Magazine’s “101 Best Web Sites” award every year since 2008. A genealogical technologist, the Insider has a post-graduate technology degree and holds a dozen technology patents in the United States and abroad. He has done genealogy since 1972 and has worked in the computer industry since 1978. He was Time Magazine Man of the Year in both 1966 and 2006. Conference attendees are among the few nationwide to learn his secret identity. And he really is descended from an Indian princess.

Thomas MacEntee - GeneaBloggers

Thomas MacEntee is a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community. Utilizing over 25 years of experience in the information technology field, Thomas writes and lectures on the many ways in which blogs, Facebook and Twitter can be leveraged to add new dimensions to the genealogy experience. As the creator of GeneaBloggers.com he has organized and engaged a community of over 1,500 bloggers to document their own journeys in the search for ancestors. Through his business High-Definition Genealogy, Thomas is available for speaking engagements, workshops and other events. In addition, he can appear via WebEx for virtual presentations and distance education events. High-Definition Genealogy also performs market research within the genealogy industry and has proven track-record of mapping out the genealogy industry landscape for clients seeking to transact business and interact in the field.

Sue Maxwell - Granite Genealogy

Sue Maxwell is a genealogist and blogger specializing in teaching, training and mentoring others with their computer and software skills, family history, and genealogical research. Her focus has been on helping others find the joy in identifying and learning about their ancestors. Sue is actively involved in the genealogy community, currently serving on the Executive Board as Vice President of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA), a member of NGS, and UVPAFUG where she is a speaker and trainer. She serves as Assistant Director, trainer and tech support for her local family history center; is a regular trainer at the Riverton FamilySearch Library; and maintains her blog, Granite Genealogy, focusing on training information and materials. She retired after a 27-year career in management in the utility industry.

Joan Miller - Luxegen Genealogy

Formerly the manager of a medical research lab Joan Miller is a genetic genealogist with an interest in the use of social media and technology to complement traditional genealogy research. Her genetic genealogy activities include Y-DNA project administrator and coordination of the Alberta Family Histories Society (AFHS) DNA Special Interest Group.

Joan has been involved in genealogical research for over 20 years. She is a member of the Genealogical Speaker's Guild, and various genealogy societies. This energetic genealogist writes a regular column entitled "From the Geneasphere" for "Chinook", an award winning publication of AFHS and serves on the Public Relations committee of that Society. Joan is the creator of the Luxegen Genealogy Blog which was named in Family Tree Magazine's Top 40 Genealogy Blogs for 2011.

Her commitment to social media via blogs, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook has enabled Joan to forge connections with genealogists internationally. Joan will be joining with some of these colleagues in a panel presentation at Rootstech 2012.

Joan lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and enjoys varied activities in addition to genealogy. She volunteers with the public speaking and leadership organization Toastmasters International, plays indoor soccer and travels widely.

Find Joan on the web at the Luxegen Genealogy Blog and on twitter @luxegen.

Lorine McGinnis Schulze - Olive Tree Genealogy

Lorine McGinnis Schulze is a Canadian genealogist who has been involved in the fields of genealogy and history for more than thirty years.

Lorine is active in the genealogy community with several blogs, the main one being the Olive Tree Genealogy blog, and another blog, Ask Olive Tree. Here visitors can submit queries and challenging questions for an answer from Lorine.

Lorine is the author of many published genealogical articles and books and the creator and owner of Olive Tree Genealogy website.

Olive Tree Genealogy was one of the first websites to be given space at Rootsweb.com in February 1996. Lorine’s website was among the first to bring primary sources to the Internet with its passenger lists of ships from the Netherlands to New York in the 17th Century. Lorine specializes in early Ships Passenger Lists to America and Canada. She also specializes in New Netherland (17th Century New York), Loyalist research and Ontario genealogy research.

Lorine has been a frequent instructor in various IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Workshops for Internet research, Ontario Loyalist topics, and 17th Century New York. She is a volunteer host for several Ontario GenWeb sites as well as some USGenWeb sites. She also volunteers as an administrator for over 30 genealogy mailing lists and more than 2 dozen genealogy message boards.

Randy Seaver - Genea-Musings

California native Randy Seaver is a San Diego area speaker and teacher on genealogy research and family history. He is a graduate of San Diego State University in Aerospace Engineering, and a retired aerodynamics engineer with a 38-year career at Rohr/Goodrich in Chula Vista. His ancestry is mainly colonial New England and Upper Atlantic, with some colonial German, French and Dutch forbears, and several 19th-century English immigrants.

Randy's activities include serving the Chula Vista Genealogical Society (formerly President, currently Newsletter Editor and Research Chairman); speaking occasionally to Southern California societies, libraries and groups; teaching Beginning Computer Genealogy senior adult classes at OASIS; and writing the Genealogy 2.0 column for the FGS’s FORUM Magazine. He is a member of NGS, NEHGS, SDGS, CVGS, CGSSD, and SCGS. He blogs daily about genealogy subjects at Genea-Musings, The Geneaholic, and the Chula Vista Genealogy Cafe.

Nancy Shively - Gathering Stories

Nancy Shively is a "newbie" genealogist and the inaugural blogger for Family Tree Magazine's "Family Tree Firsts" blog. A former teacher, she has been a public librarian for the past 17 years, including several years in the library IT department. In her present library position she gets to combine her love of teaching and technology as a computer instructor specializing in working with senior adults. A native Oklahoman, she lives near Tulsa with her husband and is the mother of 4 grown children and grandmother of 3 adorable grandsons to whom she hopes to hand down the family stories. In addition to Family Tree Firsts, she writes about her family history journey on her blog Gathering Stories.

Schelly Talalay Dardashti - Tracing the Tribe

Schelly Talalay Dardashti focuses on Jewish genealogy as a journalist, blogger, international speaker and instructor. She has authored, since 2006, the top-ranked independent Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog, serves as the MyHeritage.com genealogy advisor (USA), authored the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog, and contributes to and edits the MyHeritage Blog. Her credits include genealogy and Jewish journals, magazines and newspapers in the US and elsewhere. She was the Jerusalem Post genealogy columnist (“It’s All Relative,” 1999-2005), and received the National Genealogical Society (US) 2010 “Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources.”

James Tanner - Genealogy's Star

Born in Utah, but with family roots deep in Arizona history, James has degrees in Spanish, Linguistics and Law. He has been involved in various computer businesses and practiced law for 36 years. As a genealogist, James serves as a volunteer and missionary at the Mesa (Arizona) Regional Family History Center. He is married and has 30 grandchildren.

James earned a B.A. in Spanish and M.A. in Linguistics with a minor in the History of the English Language, both from the University of Utah. He holds a J.D. in Law from Arizona State University. James practiced real estate law for over 35 years with an emphasis on trusts and estate litigation. He has owned several computer businesses including an Apple dealership and obtained various certifications as a computer technician. He started the Arizona Macintosh Users Group. For several years James taught at local community colleges, teaching classes in Spanish, Law and Computer Information Systems. He has more than 25 years of experience researching genealogy and has served for many years as a volunteer and a missionary at the Mesa Regional Family History Center. James also teaches classes on computer program related topics and has done extensive research in genealogy in many different states and countries.

Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog

Genealogy has been a passion of Julie's since 2007 and she has been a professional writer for as long as she can remember. She provides writing, editing, and design services to assist other genealogists in telling their family stories. Julie is working toward the American Records certificate through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and has completed the ProGen Study Group program. She is currently the Recording Secretary and Education Committee Chair for the Illinois State Genealogical Society and Treasurer for the Letitia Green Stevenson Chapter NSDAR, and serves on many committees for each organization.

You can find Julie at one of her three genealogy blogs: GenBlog, Writing Your Way to the Past, and Who Will Tell Their Story?.

Renee Zamora - Renee's Genealogy Blog

Renee Zamora is the writer behind Renee's Genealogy Blog. She has been blogging since 2005 and reports on what's happening on the LDS Family History scene. Technology and organizing, and how they relate to genealogy, are also recurring themes. Renee has been involved in genealogy since she was 15 years old, and primarily researches in the Warren and Washington Counties of New York. Renee currently serves as Secretary for the Utah Valley PAF Users Group (UVPAFUG). She has served as a Family History Consultant for many years, and currently works at the Alpine Family History Center. Renee is an employee of RootsMagic, Inc. She has three beautiful children, a wonderful husband and resides in American Fork, Utah.