Welcome to my blog, Genealogy Jack, which I anticipate will be a potourri of research advice, personal research stories, and maybe even the occasional case study. It will probably evolve as I get used to the venue.
I am an experienced genealogist, lecturer and author who has been researching his own family roots for fifteen years and helping folks track their ancestors for more than ten of those years. I am also quite active in the genealogy community and currently serve as the President of the Florida State Genealogical Society and of the Florida Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
My pre-genealogy career was actually more of a series of careers - sort of a Swiss Army knife approach to full employment and occupations. My education was in Accounting & Finance, and I did spend years in that field, working as a corporate controller and owning my own company. But I also spent years as an Army Infantry officer (my younger years - eeeyaaah! Ranger!), as a restauranteur, a college instructor (and, briefly, Bursar).
Not being able to face my boredom with accounting any longer, and lacking the PhD to gain tenure with the university, I spent the last 15 years of my work-a-day life as a technical writer. That was not nearly as boring as it sounds - I got to play with new technology all of the time and got to show just enough creativity to keep me above my boredom threshhold.
Genealogically, I am a sixth generation Floridian (5th if you only count born in the state). I was raised on the dirt roads on the outskirts of pre-Disney Orlando. With that history and my strong family ties to neighboring states, I have researched extensively throughout the South. But I also have just enough early Yankee ancestors (and my clients have had more) to make me comfortable among the towns of early New England.
My wife's father was born in Scotland, and my own ancestors came from there and the rest of Britain, so I have also conducted significant work throughout the United Kingdom. Major client projects have also given me experience in Canada and, so help me, Sicily.
