Family History Daily would like to thank all of the talented family historians who have taken the time to contribute their stories and expertise to this site. Please click on the names below to see posts on Family History Daily from these writers–and follow the links in their bios to discover more from them on their own personal pages.

Guest Writers

Thomas MacEntee: genealogy industry thought leader and respected creator of Geneabloggers

Jordan Jones: President of the National Genealogical Society

Avrum Geller: Member of the Executive Council of the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc

Regular Writers

About Alice Plouchard Stelzer

Through her Creating Word Power business, Alice Plouchard Stelzer has been writing for over 25 years as a publisher, magazine editor, newspaper editor, columnist, and journalist. She has produced hundreds of newsletters for clients and been a public relations consultant. Alice has also been a mentor/coach for writers. She has taught writing workshops on journaling, creativity, autobiography/memoir, and turning memoir into fiction. Alice is currently living in the seventeenth century while she researches and writes “Female Adventurers who Helped Colonize Connecticut.”

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About Biff and Nancy Barnes

Nancy Barnes is the founder and managing editor of Stories To Tell, a team of editors and book designers who help authors to prepare their books for publishing. She is also the author of Stories To Tell: An Easy Guide to Self Publishing Family History Books and Memoirs. Building on a career as an award-winning teacher, she has specialized in the “creative nonfiction” of memoir and family history. Nancy also has experience in graphic design and commercial publishing, coordinating projects with marketers, designers, and printers. Her successful career path was recently featured in Starting Your Career as a Freelance Editor by Mary Embree. Biff Barnes, an Editor at Stories To Tell, is a writer, educator, and historian. He earned his MA in History from the University of San Francisco, and was a William Robertson Coe Fellow in American History at Stanford University. He taught history and writing for 28 years. His work appears in California Publisher, California History, California Living, and American West. Biff has extensive experience with historical research, oral history, and interviewing techniques. He provides editing and coaching to fiction and nonfiction authors as they gather and prepare their stories for publication.

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About Deborah A. Carder Mayes

Deborah A. Carder Mayes is a professional genealogist, speaker, writer, and researcher. She writes a monthly column, Beyond the Obituaries, for The In-Depth Genealogist online magazine, is co-editor of Allen County Ancestry, the newsletter of the Allen County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society and writes a blog, Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail .She enjoys helping people with their research and teaching about genealogy through speaking and writing. You can learn more about Debbie’s genealogical pursuits and services on her website, Deborah A. Carder Mayes Genealogy & Family History and blog, Rambling Along the Ancestral Trail. You can contact Debbie on her website, leave a blog comment, or by email at dcarder2@woh.rr.com.

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About Elaine Banks

My ancestry is mainly Welsh, though I live in England now. When you meet an Englishman, he asks, "What do you do?" but when you meet a Welshman, he asks, "Who do you belong to?". The Welsh have an atavistic need to slot you into the tribe. I have taken up genealogy in my retirement, mainly because it allows me to sit down for long periods of time, whilst drinking tea and eating digestive biscuits. While I could do this staring into space, I have retained enough dignity in old age to require an excuse. Family history is also my perfect pastime, in that it allows me to peer into other folks' lives without the public taint of nosiness; and since those other folks are my own family, sometimes the facts uncovered shed light on those half-forgotten whispers and mutterings overheard in my youth. Reason three for indulging in this hobby? The cousins-of-sorts I meet along the way. Infinitely generous with their information and their encouragement, even with their friendship and their accommodation. And the last reason, of course, is that I just can't help myself - the pleasures of the detective work, the joy of discovery, the satisfaction of joining-the-dots....I am in thrall to the most solitary of pleasures, because sadly NOT EVEN MY OWN FAMILY is at all interested in my passion. And that last reason is why I am tickled pink to be writing a blog.

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About Elmo Len Holmes

Elmo Len Holmes is a native of Dyer County, West Tennessee--now residing in Sugar Tree, Decatur County, Tennessee. He enjoys contributing to the local newspaper where he writes a weekly genealogy column and gives genealogy workshops. Elmo is an active genealogist, historian, author and churchman, and a graduate of the University of Tennessee and the University of Memphis.

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About Jodi Bash

Jodi Bash is a genealogist living in Houston, Texas with her husband and three children. She is founder of Family at Your Fingertips and is passionate about finding creative and tangible ways to connect with family history. She runs two blogs: Unclaimed Ancestors is an effort to connect old photos with descendants, and a way to scratch the ever-present research bug! A more personal blog at Family at Your Fingertips explores family heirlooms and the love of history. Jodi has been researching family history for over 15 years, and is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists. She holds a B.A. in History and English from the University of Texas at Austin, a Masters in American History from the University of Houston, and an M.B.A. from Rice University. You can reach Jodi at Jodi@familyatyourfingertips.com and follow her on twitter via @famatfingertips.

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About Miriam Kahn

Miriam Kahn, MLS founded MBK Consulting in 1991. The company performs legal and historical research for companies and individuals. The information is gleaned from the resources found in Public Record Centers and court houses, Libraries and Historical Societies. As part of their consulting services MBK Consulting provides workshops and training to libraries, archives, historical societies, museums and other cultural institutions in Genealogy and Local History Research Methods and Collection Development. In addition, Ms Kahn helps cultural institutions design preservation, disaster response, and continuous operations plans. Ms Kahn holds a Ph.D. in History from Kent State University, an MLS from Queens College in New York and an MA in History from Hunter College in New York. She worked as a reference librarian at NYPL, an Online Services Coordinator at the University of South Dakota Library and as the Preservation Consultant at the State Library of Ohio. She has been teaching as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University since 1992 and for library and archives organizations throughout the country since 1989. MBK Consulting’s website contains more information about research services and workshops www.mbkcons.com

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About Paul D. Howes

Paul Howes lives in New Jersey and when not indulging his obsession into family history is an executive coach. For most of his professional life he was an actuary and human resource consultant, having lived in six countries and worked in over 50. Paul has lectured on his award-winning study into the Howes, House, Howse and Hows names on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies for four years and was recently appointed the US National Representative for the Guild.

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About Schelly Talalay Dardashti

Schelly Talalay Dardashti is a journalist, genealogist, instructor and international speaker, who specializes in all aspects of Jewish genealogy (Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrachi0, including genetic genealogy. She is the US Genealogy Advisor for MyHeritage.com, where she also edits/contributes to the MyHeritage Blog . For more than 25 years, she has tracked her families across Belarus, Russia, Lithuania, Iran and Spain, and she is the “keeper of the records” for the TALALAY and DARDASHTI families. Her award-winning blog (established 2006) – Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog – is currently on hiatus, but still accessed by thousands of people each week for its relevant information. A native New Yorker, she lived with her family for many years in both Iran and Israel, and now resides in beautiful New Mexico. She served as genealogy columnist for the Jerusalem Post (“It’s All Relative, 1999-2005, print/online), and her articles have been published in the NGS Quarterly, Family Tree Magazine, Avotaynu, and a host of other general, Jewish and genealogy publications. She received the 2010 NGS Award for Excellence for “Ties That Bind,” in Family Tree Magazine.

About Susan Wallin Mosey

Susan Wallin Mosey is the administrator at an elder law firm in Aurora, Illinois. When she’s not at work she likes to do genealogy for fun and profit. Storytelling is one of her favorite aspects of genealogy, as can be seen on her blog, Pages from the Ancestry Binders. Another special interest is Amish genealogy. Sue has been doing genealogy as a hobby for about 20 years and has been putting together ancestry binders for others since 2011. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the National Genealogical Society. Sue lives in Yorkville, Illinois with her husband Gary. Her website can be found at www.ancestrybinders.com and she can be reached at swmosey@comcast.net.

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About Vi Parsons

Vi Parsons has a life-long passion for history, travel and teaching. As a teen, she taught children’s classes at church. About that time, she began her pursuit of genealogy, when she questioned her parents about her deceased ancestors. She became seriously involved in family history research with the birth of her first grandchild.. These combined interests merged into a joyful journey of studying and teaching genealogy. She received accreditation from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah for her studies in Beginning Genealogy. She was awarded a certificate in American Genealogy from the National Genealogical Society of Virginia. Vi volunteered for the Dragoo Family Association for fifteen years. She documented her Dragoo ancestors to France and England in the 1600s, published books on her Dragoo family history, the Dragoo Cemetery of Marion County, West Virginia, and her great great grandfather, The Legendary Indian Billy Dragoo. Vi co-authored Double Take, a book of short stories of childhood memories. Vi and her twin Violet C. Moore are the creators of Carr Twins & Co.

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